So, it turns out it really was the dreaded vote of confidence. Less than 72 hours after the Wolves chairman, Jeff Shi, insisted the club was united behind Gary O’Neil in a column in the local newspaper, the Express and Star, the manager was informed his time was up.
This was no surprise to O’Neil, who, amid the increasing din of discontent in recent weeks, has spent time volunteering various mitigating reasons for what has been a shambolic season, seemingly in preparation for this moment. Including, but not limited to: amateur defending, a lack of physicality in the squad, indiscipline, Wolves’ rigid business model, a deficiency in Premier League quality. The problem for O’Neil is they were not deemed extenuating circumstances. They were never going to be.
A brutal run of three wins in 26 league matches, since a late collapse at home to Coventry in the FA Cup quarter-finals, tells its own story. Those victories came against Fulham in November, against bottom-placed Southampton a fortnight earlier and Luton, now 19th in the Championship, in April. Wolves wanted O’Neil to work – they gave him and his staff new four-year contracts only four months ago – but have acted for fear of joining Luton in the second tier. The good times, victories over Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and, in the FA Cup, local rivals West Brom, feel like a distant memory. Many Wolves supporters already worry that it is too late.
One particular soundbite, after the humiliating 4-0 defeat at Everton at the start of this month, sticks out when considering how things spiralled. “I’m happy to take full responsibility for my part in where this team has reached at this moment,” said O’Neil, who until then had generally accepted he was at fault for his team’s performances and, indeed, shortcomings. It is a point worth noting, however. O’Neil’s part in this is just that and while his reputation as one of the country’s most exciting coaches has taken a hit, Shi and the sporting director, Matt Hobbs, must also be culpable for this mess, which was apparent for the second time in six days at the final whistle, as the frustrations of another defeat – their 11th of the season – descended into chaos and infighting.
Wolves have to hope Vítor Pereira, the 56-year-old Portuguese expected to succeed O’Neil who has had nine clubs in the past 10 years, can organise a defence. And quickly. Wolves have conceded a league-high 40 goals, half from set pieces. The club sacked their set-piece coach, Jack Wilson, after an embarrassing 5-3 defeat at Brentford in October. After that defeat at Goodison Park, O’Neil bemoaned his players’ failure to get the wall in the right place for Ashley Young’s free-kick. Against Bournemouth, Toti Gomes was undone by Marcos Senesi’s ball into the channel, fouling Evanilson in the box for the first of three comical penalties conceded in that game. Wolves have experimented with various combinations at centre-back, with playing with a back four, and with a back five.
O’Neil broke character after Saturday’s home defeat against Ipswich, refusing to take the blame for the defending in the buildup to the goals that, ultimately, cost him his job. He indirectly criticised Nélson Semedo, a full-back exposed at centre-back, for being overpowered by Liam Delap in the buildup to the first goal and the slack marking from the corner that allowed Jack Taylor a free header in the 94th minute. Semedo was given the captain’s armband after Mario Lemina was stripped of the honour for his post-match meltdown at West Ham, in which he butted heads with O’Neil’s assistant, Shaun Derry.
“When we get in good situations and spoon the ball off the pitch, I can’t help them with that,” O’Neil said. “[Dara] O’Shea booting it down the pitch for Delap and us not dealing with it, that’s not me. I can’t fix that.”
In some ways it was appropriate O’Shea, unknowingly, pushed O’Neil to the exit. Wolves identified O’Shea as a centre-back target after allowing their captain, Maximilian Kilman, to join West Ham but were beaten to his signing and instead pressed ahead with a £23m deal for André, the Brazil midfielder who was withdrawn at half-time against Ipswich, and a £10m deal for the goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, who it is hard to argue is an upgrade on José Sá. O’Neil wanted to prioritise a centre-back, a winger, after the departure of Pedro Neto, and a forward, in that order. Wolves pinned their hopes on Yerson Mosquera, who impressed on loan at Villarreal last season, but the centre-back sustained a season-ending knee injury in September, leaving them light. Wolves have sold £240m worth of players across the past three transfer windows in the name of self-sufficiency but have little to show for it.
Despite Shi’s public backing, it seemed inconceivable O’Neil would limp on to Sunday’s trip to Leicester given the manner of their latest capitulation, particularly such a damning defeat against relegation rivals like Ipswich. Afterwards, O’Neil spent almost an hour in the dressing room addressing his players. “My message was: ‘I want the answer to be in this room,’” he said. “I’m giving everybody every opportunity. It is very easy from the outside for the answer to always be the person who is not there. If the answer is in that room, they need to stand up and show it.” Wolves, despite dithering in recent weeks, decided it wasn’t.
