With Wolves now stabilised under Vitor Pereira, the focus has shifted to rebuilding the bond between the club and its supporters — a connection that had frayed in recent times. We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld, for the latest from Molineux.
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00:00With Wolves now stabilised under Vitor Pereira, the focus has shifted to rebuilding the bond
00:08between the club and its supporters, a connection that had frayed in recent times, probably
00:14since the departure of Nuno Espirito Santo.
00:17The demands of the Premier League are relentless, the pressure is constant and the quality is
00:22ruthless and any lapses are punished.
00:25Every match carries real weight and Wolves must continue evolving to stay competitive.
00:31Wolves are on the right path though, but the work is far from done.
00:34Vitor Pereira has brought a sharper tactical identity, greater resilience and a sense of
00:40purpose back to the squad.
00:42Winning tighter games, coping with the brutal fixture schedule and competing with clubs,
00:47boasting bigger budgets are all part of the journey.
00:50Wolves have regained some crucial momentum, but to truly move forward and re-energise
00:55the fan base, they must aim even higher.
00:58Recruitment will play a major role this summer.
01:01A few clever additions, particularly to bolster midfield and defensive depth, could elevate
01:06Wolves to the next level.
01:08I spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World for the latest from Molyneux.
01:12Charlie, let's start by looking at Wolverhampton Wanderers and just touching on the sort of
01:19impact of Vitor Pereira now.
01:21You know, he can't sort of go understated.
01:23He, a lot of the games that when he first came in and they started to turn things around
01:27slowly, he was giving a lot of credit to the players, a lot of credit to the belief
01:31within the camp.
01:33I mean, he deserves so much credit really in terms of not just on the pitch, but off the
01:38pitch as well.
01:39He's sort of reconnected with Wolves supporters.
01:42Just compare it to, you know, what he came into the situation under Gary O'Neill.
01:47It obviously wasn't ideal.
01:48It wasn't quite a toxic environment.
01:51You know, we've mentioned before the sort of captain curse as well with all the captains
01:55getting red cards late after games and loads of scuffles.
01:59And, you know, the attitude was really diabolical.
02:02It was, they were heading one direction at one point.
02:05You know, it's fair to say, and they have been for the last couple of seasons.
02:09Do you think Wolves have turned a corner now?
02:11Obviously, Vito comes in.
02:13They can start looking up.
02:14They can start believing that next season could be a turning point.
02:17And they can once again start to avoid these relegation scraps.
02:22Yeah, it's been an incredible impact that Vito Pereira has had.
02:25I think a lot of people expected a rise from Wolves eventually.
02:29The squads, the quality of players, probably too good to go down in reality.
02:34But the job was still there to be done when he took over.
02:37Wolves were 19th in the Premier League.
02:38They'd just lost to Ipswich Town.
02:40Big relegation contenders as well.
02:42Gary O'Neill, of course, only winning two of his first 16 games in charge.
02:46Vito Pereira has just completely exceeded all expectations.
02:51To get four wins in the Premier League in a row for the first time ever is an incredible achievement.
02:55Being the form team in the entire division, not just in the bottom half of it, is amazing in itself as well.
03:01And a lot of that has been without star man Mateus Cunha.
03:04There was a lot of talk of, can Wolves only do it because Cunha is there?
03:08And he's able to get them out of the lurch with his impressive goals from outside the box.
03:12And field comes to mind, even though they didn't win the game there, he still scored a fantastic goal.
03:16He had those moments in him.
03:18However, when he's been out suspended, Wolves have still been able to pick up these results.
03:21And I think a lot of the credit for that has to go down to Vito Pereira.
03:26He's not had a proper season yet to really adjust with this squad.
03:30He's only had one transfer window.
03:31Yes, a fair amount of money was spent in that window on Agpadu, Giga and Munezzi.
03:36But he's still not had a proper mark.
03:38And the fact he's already succeeding so much is incredibly positive.
03:42You mentioned as well the kind of relationship with the fans.
03:45The fact he's going to the pub and meeting fans in Wetherspoons in Wolverhampton.
03:49I mean, you can't really say that about any other managers in the Premier League, can you?
03:53If any at all.
03:54He's just got that.
03:55He's got the understanding of the working class mentality of the football club.
03:58And he understands what it means to them and the fans, you know,
04:02shelling out their hard-earned money every week to watch their team.
04:04He understands that.
04:05He gets it and he wants to build that connection, which is so, so important.
04:09What I like is his no-nonsense mentality.
04:12With Cunha, he came back from suspension, but he didn't bring him straight back into the team
04:16because he wanted to show him that no player is bigger than the football club.
04:20Even if you are set to be sold for 60-odd million in the summer,
04:23even if you are the clear talisman of the team, you've got to work your way back in.
04:27You can't just behave in the way that he didn't expect to come back into that 11.
04:30So, so important to have that mentality.
04:32It shows who's boss.
04:33And Wolves are reaping the rewards.
04:35Could be an important cog in the Vito Pereira system.
04:38And as someone like Ryan Aitnuri, if they can tie down his future,
04:41it could be more important than new signings, you could argue.