Wolves’ start to the Premier League season has been as bad as the previous one ended. With Fosun standing firm with manager Gary O’Neil at the moment, where does the manager’s future hang? We’re discussing the latest with BirminghamWorld on how Wolves can turn things around.
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00:00Charlie, looking at Wolves and obviously the managerial situation now, Gary O'Neill obviously
00:07hasn't had the most amazing start this season. Obviously, if you look back as well, it looks
00:12even worse for him. The back end of last season, especially after that huge chance in the FA
00:17Cup quarter-final against Coventry where it sort of went wrong and a massive chance to
00:21go to Wembley again for Wolves in a fantastic FA Cup semi-final day out. And it sort of
00:28crumbled from then. They had a brilliant spell this time last year as well, going into
00:34the festive period. They came out fantastic four in Wolves over Christmas and into the
00:39new year. And then it's just sort of petered out. And then this season obviously hasn't
00:44started well at all. I mean, obviously dealt with the tough fixtures, but also on top of
00:49that, the goals they've conceded have been monumental. I mean, it all sort of reasons
00:55with O'Neill that he is calling out the ownership. You know, you're selling your best players
00:58year on year. It's not a sustainable model at all for Wolves to remain in the Premier
01:03League. So what's the sort of latest on O'Neill and his stance? I mean, he has been dealt
01:09the shorthand it seems again, but so have the last few Wolves managers and it's sort
01:13of ended in a bleak situation for all of them.
01:17Yeah, it's been a bit of a running theme, isn't it at Wolves? And is it a case of it
01:21not actually being the manager's problem, but the club's problem? Lots of the players
01:25coming out for Gary O'Neill this week and saying that he's a great coach on the training
01:29field and that the results just don't seem to follow. But potentially just the situations
01:34you mentioned with the transfers, not being able to bring in replacements for people like
01:38Pedro Neto and Maximilian Kielman, two very important players last season, two players
01:43that were in their best form when Wolves were on their incredible run before, of course,
01:47they did lose to Coventry. It all seemed to go downhill from that point. But at the moment
01:51with Gary O'Neill, it seems as if after West Ham defeat, he's going to carry on as manager
01:56for the foreseeable. He should be able to take on Ipswich Town and then Leicester City.
02:01These two matches, though, if Wolves go and lose them both or fail to win them both, it
02:06might be enough potentially for the ownership to change their minds. But the current situation
02:11is that O'Neill will remain in charge and The Telegraph are reporting that Wolves will
02:15actually back O'Neill in the January transfer window, which is a massive difference to what
02:20the Wolves fan base seems to be thinking. A lot of people calling for Gary O'Neill to go. I
02:25wouldn't say everybody wants O'Neill to go, but the vast majority do, which is understandable.
02:32Deep in the relegation zone, four points deep at that, about to play two teams that
02:37can be six-pointer matches in a relegation fight. You want to have potentially a new
02:41manager bounce or you want to at least have some confidence to get rid of O'Neill in that sense.
02:46But then, of course, who are you going to bring in as a replacement? Graham Potter doesn't want
02:50the job. David Moyes is unlikely to take it. And then there aren't really many other options out
02:54there that could slot in straight away. So it's a difficult situation for Wolves.