A lot can change in the space of six months, as Wolves fans have discovered following the arrival of Vitor Pereira in December.
Wolves were being pulled into a relegation scrap by Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton when Gary O’Neil was in charge.
Their 2-1 defeat to Ipswich in December turned out to be the end of the road for O’Neil, who left Molineux with his side four points adrift of safety.
Supporters craved a miracle worker to drag them away from danger, and luckily, Fosun appointed Vitor Pereira as the man to save their skin.
Wolves saw a dramatic upturn in form, coinciding with Pereira creating history, as the Old Gold finished 16th in the Premier League and a whopping 17 points above the bottom three.
Photo by Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images
Vitor Pereira wants to stay at Wolves for a ‘long time’
Jamie Carragher lauded the job Pereira has done at Wolves, and everyone associated with the club understands what a brilliant tactician he is.
Pereira has even drunk with supporters in pubs, immersing himself in the city of Wolverhampton and becoming someone who is adored by supporters.
However, after watching their best players leave over the years and managers walk out, fans probably fear their Portuguese boss could follow suit.
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But since being given his chance in the Premier League, Wolves will always be a ‘special’ club in his career, and it’s somewhere he wants to stay for a ‘long time’, revealing all in an interview with A Bola.
“It will always be a special club in my career,” the 56-year-old said. “It was the one that opened the doors to the English league for me, which for so many years had been my fundamental career goal, I will be grateful and I want to continue helping them grow. Return to Portugal? I’m there and I’m fine (laughs). I want to stay for a long time.”
Although fans will be encouraged by his commitment to the club, his future admittedly hinges on how the summer transfer window plays out.
Pereira has already warned what mustn’t happen at Wolves
Wolves are notoriously known as a stepping stone club, as seen with the departures of Max Kilman and Pedro Neto to other Premier League teams last summer, with Matheus Cunha soon to join Manchester United.
Molineux is usually a place where young players can harness their skill set, develop into superstars and then leave for a huge fee.
There’s almost an acceptance from fans where big players move on, but they’re usually left annoyed by Fosun’s self-sustaining model, rarely ever investing lots of money into the squad.
While that has been a problem in the past, Pereira has already sent a warning to Fosun, stating that they can’t lose all of their best players this summer.
“If you lose a lot of players in the next market, it will be a problem because we need to rebuild again. We will see what happens,” Pereira said earlier this month.
“Of course, it’s normal – we can lose two or three players, but if you lose 10 it’s a problem. But I think we know [this] in the club and they want to build something strong in the future.”