The club’s former head coach was talking following his return to the Premier League at Ipswich.
Former boss Gary O’Neil says he has no regrets over his time at Wolves - and reckons the majority of his spell could be considered an “incredible success”.
O’Neil is back in the Premier League after taking over at Ipswich Town just over 18 months after being sacked at Molineux.
The former West Ham and Portsmouth player took the reins in August 2023 following Julen Lopetegui’s exit on the eve of the season and guided the club to a 14th-placed finish.
He was sacked in December 2024 with Wolves sitting 19th in the table having lost 11 out of 16 top flight matches.
O’Neil, who had kept Bournemouth in the Premier League in the 2022-23 season, believes those experiences will now help him make a success of his new role at Portman Road.
The 43-year-old told Sky Sports: “I think I have done two-and-a-half seasons in the Premier League. Two of them were an incredible success at both places.
“Then we had a few months at Wolves where we played well, lost against some big teams and then toward the end it started to peter away.
“There were lots and lots of reasons and of course I accept my part in it.
“But a couple of months which didn’t go well at Wolves are not going to define my managerial career. There is so much more to what we do.
“I think Ipswich are now going to get a much better version of me.”
O’Neil was involved in talks over a return to Molineux last November after his successor, Vitor Pereira, was sacked with the club bottom of the table.
Rob Edwards was eventually appointed but could not save them from relegation. He was promptly axed last month and replaced by Vitor Pereira.
O’Neil, meanwhile, took charge of Strasbourg in January and took them to the Conference League semi-finals.
He joined Ipswich last month after Kieran McKenna’s decision to stand down following promotion back to the Premier League.
O’Neil continued: “The learning curve at Wolves, it was an interesting club to go into because there were people brought in from all over the place, some of them happy, some of them not happy and you try and gel it all together.
“You can see the club has struggled, even since we have left.
“It is just the nature of the direction it has gone in. I loved my time there, love the fact I was given that opportunity. I still speak to loads of the players. I don’t regret any of that.”
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