Vitor Pereira arrives at Molineux with an intriguing footballing backstory, having enjoyed title successes and cup glory at clubs all around the world.
The 56-year-old’s career in the game so far, which has seen him work in several countries throughout the last two decades, has been explored ahead of Portuguese’s first game in charge of Wolves as new head coach this weekend.
Learning the hard way
As an amateur footballer, Pereira turned out for several teams in the Portuguese non-league during a 10-year playing career as a midfielder, before retiring at the age of 28. His coaching journey began at the turn of the new Millennium, with Pereira starting out at junior level, which saw him gain a role with then regional outfit Padroense. Having grown up in Espinho, a small fishing town in Greater Porto, he also spent time coaching within the youth set up of FC Porto.
His first head coach experience came midway through the 2004/05 season when he was appointed at third tier club Sanjoanense, leading the team to a fifth-place finish, before joining his hometown club and divisional rivals SC Espinho – one of the oldest clubs in Portugal. Pereira moved back to Porto in 2007, working once again within the youth set-up, before another head-coach job arrived 12 months later, as he took over at then-second tier side Santa Clara – narrowly missing out on promotion to the top flight in his two seasons in the Azores. But a second return to Porto in 2010 really saw his career step up a notch.
League title successes
Following a year as assistant manager to Andre Villas-Boas at Estadio do Dragao, Pereira was given the opportunity to step into the head coach role after Villas-Boas’ departure to Chelsea. In two unprecedented seasons at the helm of Porto, the team went on to claim back-to-back Primeira Liga titles, losing just one game in his opening campaign. Pereira achieved 23 wins from his 30 league matches in charge that season, before going even better the following campaign, as the team went the entire season undefeated, to earn his second league title in as many years.
The Portuguese earned the third league title success just over two years later, but this time it was out in Greece with Olympiacos. Having taken over at the Piraeus-based club midway through the 2014/15 season in place of Michel, Pereira led Olympiacos to not only their sixth consecutive Greek Super League championship after losing just twice in five months, but also claimed the Greek Football Cup to secure the double. His most recent trophies came in 2018 and 2019 when Pereira once again replaced Villas-Boas at Chinese Super League outfit Shanghai SIPG, guiding them to their first-ever title in the competition, before claiming the Chinese FA Super Cup the following year.
Pereira’s Wolves links
In his move to Molineux, Pereira will finally fulfil his dream of coaching in the Premier League, but throughout his last 13 years as a head coach for some of the biggest clubs in Portugal, Greece, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, the manager has formed links with many players who have also turned out in gold and black on the English top flight. The first of those was Joao Moutinho. After stepping up from assistant manager of Porto, he inherited a team which included the likes of the future Wolves midfielder as well as Brazilian internationals Maicon, Alex Sandro and Hulk. Moutinho played 87 times under the new Wolves boss, scoring eight goals and claiming 23 assists as the pair claimed successive Primeira Liga titles.
Another Brazilian international who Pereira has worked with is Joao Gomes and the two will reunite at Molineux having spent a brief time together at Flamengo. Pereira came into the Rio-based club the same month Gomes made his move to the West Midlands, January 2023, so the current Wolves midfielder never had the chance to play for his new head coach. One former Wolves player who knows Pereira well and was even captain under the Portuguese is Romain Saiss. The pair spent four months together earlier this year as the Moroccan joined Al Shabab on loan for the conclusion of last season’s Saudi Pro League. His only goal for the club came against Ruben Neves’ Al-Hilal. Daniel Podence then moved to Al Shabab from Wolves only a few months ago, and has played four times under Pereira, with the winger claiming two assists in those games.
A pragmatic playing style
The appointment of Pereira as Wolves head coach comes following the departure of Gary O’Neil, less than 24 hours after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to newly promoted Ipswich Town. Wolves’ issues this season have all come in the defensive third – the Old Gold go into this latest round of fixtures as eighth top scorers in the Premier League, with their 24 goals being more than any other team in the bottom nine, including Manchester United and Newcastle United, and even more than fourth placed Nottingham Forest. With attacking not a concern, it is hoped the Portuguese’s arrival will go a long way to shoring up what has become an extremely leaky defence – as well as a lack of discipline which has crept into the players in recent weeks.
Pereira has forged a career as a coach who ensures his side has a solid base. His Porto side which claimed a league double was defensively astute and at almost every other club he has managed since, Pereira has a reputation of a tactician who is capable of setting up a solid defensive unit without having a rigid formation. ‘Hot-headed’ and ‘passionate’ are two words which the media has used to describe Pereira once his links to Wolves appeared this week, but he’s also shown to be a manager who is highly competitive and is determined to get the best out of his players. Coming into a Wolves squad which has been branded ‘emotional’ on several occasions during the last 18 months – something which has come to the fore recently – another big task Pereira faces is getting his players to use their emotions in the right way to ensure the team show passion before the final whistle goes, and not after it.