Wolves are searching for a new manager to replace Vitor Pereiraplaceholder image
Wolves are searching for a new manager to replace Vitor Pereira | Getty Images
Gary O'Neil is thought to be a strong contender for the Wolves vacancy - but should they be exploring other options?
Former Wolves boss Gary O'Neil is believed to be in ‘advanced talks’ over a shock return to Molineux less than 12 months after his exit.
The 42-year-old is reported to be one of the leading candidates to replace Vitor Pereira after a shambolic 10-match winless start to the new season resulted in the Portuguese coach’s departure.
O'Neil - together with Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards - leads the way with most news outlets. However, it’s suspected the latter’s current employment would provide many obstacles to overcome for the Old Gold board, most notably compensation.
Edwards is midway through a promotion battle as well, which he’s believed to be keen to see out. "I can understand it with my links to the club but my full focus is on this job here, which is a brilliant job, and trying to turn things around for a really big game against Leicester," he told BBC Radio Tees. It's hard for me to comment on speculation and anything other than Middlesbrough. We've done a decent job so far and all I care about is trying to win tomorrow."
That leaves O'Neil well placed to return, but is he really the right man for the job at the moment or should Wolves be looking elsewhere?
Why Wolves should sway away from Gary O’Neil return
O’Neil is thought to be ready for a return to management. He’s been out of the game for nearly 12 months and hasn’t taken a job since being sacked at Molineux in December.
However, it’s hard to see a return being beneficial for either party at this stage of the season. Granted, Wolves know what they're getting with O’Neil, he’s probably still on okay terms with the board, knows most of the the players and has had some good times with Wolves, particularly in his first season. It’s also from O’Neil’s perspective the only top-flight club he’d be able to attract at this moment in time based on the way his stock dropped in his final months at Wolves. However, there’s a reason he was sacked the first time around and that was because he was steering the club towards danger in a similar fashion to how Pereira was this term.
When O’Neil left Wolves, his side had won just two of their opening 16 games. They had just been beaten 2-1 by rivals Ipswich Town, were 19th in the table and four points away from safety. They let in two or more goals in 13 of their league matches and had conceded a league-high 40 goals in the first half of the campaign. O’Neil was no longer getting a tune out of the team, and had a largely the same team at his disposal as Pereira, with the exception of some big name departures like Rayan Ait-Nouri, Nelson Semedo and Matheus Cunha.
The Molineux club also struggled with off-field issues towards the end of his tenure. Mario Lemina was stripped of the captaincy after a heated exchange with Jarrod Bowen, Rayan Ait-Nouri was sent off in the tunnel for a second yellow card after clashing with Wes Burns, while Cunha fought with Ipswich's security.
He admitted towards the end of his time at Wolves that he’d "never had such a struggle" to coach a group of players. Such a statement hardly makes him the ideal choice to step back into the dugout.
Wolves should turn their attention to Brendan Rodgers - if they can convince him to join
Brendan Rodgers stunned the football world when he made the bombshell decision to step down from the Celtic job just months into his third season with the club.
Rodgers didn’t have a great ending to life with the Hoops. He lost 3-1 to Hearts, failed to qualify for the Champions League and oversaw a big dip in performances in the Scottish Premiership. However, there’s no doubt that he’s the best candidate on the market that Wolves could realistically attract based on his overall track record in both England and Scotland. Rodgers has managed the likes of Swansea City, Liverpool and Leicester City - racking up more than 300 matches of Premier League experience and more often than not achieving success with the club’s he has taken on.
At Swansea, he guided the club to promotion via the play-offs in 2011, marking their first appearance in the top-flight since 1983. He stablised the club in the top-flight with an 11th place finish and laid the foundations for the team that’d win the League Cup a year after his exit.
At Liverpool, he transformed a team that had finished eight under Kenny Dalglish and catapulted them into the title race just two seasons later while only narrowly missing out on silverware.
His final year at Anfield wasn’t the best as the club plummeted to sixth, but he’d go onto rebuild his reputation in fine fashion at Celtic by going unbeaten in his first season while winning a treble in both campaigns. Rodgers also led Leicester City into Europe on two occasions while winning an FA Cup and a Community Shield.
Things may not have ended the way he liked at both the Foxes and Celtic but it’s fair to say in both jobs he’ll be remembered as a success - and it’s also important to note that he’s almost always hit the ground running at whatever club he’s been at.
Ultimately, of the names mentioned such as Gary O’Neil and Rob Edwards, Rodgers has a vastly superior CV with significant Premier League experience - and would give the club the best chance of evading the threat of relegation if appointed.
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