expressandstar.com

Gary O'Neil insists his Wolves spell was "not unsuccessful"

O'Neil was sacked with Wolves sitting 19th in the Premier League after 16 matches in December last year.

The 42-year-old spent 15 months in charge of the Old Gold, guiding them to a 14th-place finish during his only full season at the helm. 

That season saw Wolves do the league double over both Tottenham and Chelsea, memorably beating the latter 4-2 at Stamford Bridge in February 2024. 

"You go through the goals we've scored, some of the quality, some of the results. Even the Fulham game last season, so much was off the training ground," O'Neil told the Guardian. 

"There's a win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when we got four moves we'd worked on since we got there. If you focus on the end, you can convince yourself that it was an unsuccessful experience, but it wasn't. 

![Gary O'Neil (Getty)](https://resizer.nationalworld.com/d2b660c4-c896-487b-942e-8187d168dddc.jpg?tr=w-300)

Gary O'Neil (Getty)

"We stayed at Wolves for a very long time. We've got that whole group from different cultures to buy into my way." 

Despite vying for European qualification for the majority of the season, Wolves eventually fell away after winning just once in their final 10 games.

That summer, Wolves lost club captain Max Kilman to West Ham United, before star man Pedro Neto headed to Chelsea. 

Both departures served as a blow, while O'Neil's decision to switch to a back-four backfired miserably. Although he eventually reverted to a back-five, the damage has ultimately already been done.

They failed to win any of their first 10 games and emerged victorious just twice in 16 in the league before O'Neil faced the axe. 

Yet despite his difficult ending at Molineux, O'Neil is confident that he has by no means reached his peak in management.

"It's been two and a bit full-on seasons of Premier League football straight in," he added.

![Gary O'Neil](https://resizer.nationalworld.com/54e9cf18-7203-4626-87ba-82a0fc556eb6.jpg?tr=w-300)

Gary O’Neil (Nick Potts/PA)

"I don't think you'll find many people in any industry who feel they've hit their peak after two years. I knew there were going to be gap because that's the journey. You close your gaps the longer you're into it." 

By the time of his departure, Wolves had conceded the most goals in the division (40), with 16 of those coming from set pieces (also the most in the division). 

"No matter how we played, we still found a way to concede goals," he explained. 

"Some of the data shows that we were still improving but we were never able to get the result. 

"We're better than Newcastle for 70 minutes at home and lost 2-1. We took Manchester City close and concede a corner in the last minute.

"The more you concede, the more the confidence starts to drop. But things not going well forces your focus on to them."

Read full news in source page