Wolverhampton Wanderers have been officially relegated from the Premier League, bringing the club’s eight-year spell in the top flight to a tragic end.
Wolves manager Rob Edwards after heavy defeat against Leeds at Elland Road
Wolverhampton Wanderers have been relegated to the Championship. A completely avoidable, but completely predictable ending to this part of the club’s story.
A story that began with a promise to take on Manchester City ended with a season-long battle to take on Derby County.
Wolves won’t have the tag of being the worst team in Premier League history hanging around their necks… but their battle to drop down the table…well, you wouldn’t call it a battle. A weak, meek 3-0 defeat at Leeds United, which coincided with a goalless draw between West Ham and Crystal Palace, confirmed the inevitability, but the signs had been cast long before that.
Rob Edwards has at least performed better than his predecessor Vitor Pereira, who left Wolves to the point of no return upon being sacked. But Molineux’s problems go beyond those of the players in the dugout, even if they are forced to play up front.
Fosun has gone from an ambitious start-up to a controlled decline after being promoted in 2018.
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After consecutive finishes in seventh place, Wolves slowly fell down the Premier League table, relying on three teams who had performed worse than the previous year for relief.
The squad is being torn apart summer after summer, and even if you spend a lot of money to replace players, the quality of the players you start with will never be replaced by the players that come in later. And after years of circling the drain, they finally – and rightfully so – fell into the drain.
Nuno Espirito Santo, the man who took the club from a Championship struggler to a European quarter-finalist, was the first to make public the need for more players. He felt he left his players as free as possible. Audio from the people mentioned above hinted that their ambitions were similar, but actions spoke louder than words.
Wolves have gone through five permanent managers since Nuno left Molineux in 2021
Nuno ultimately paid the price before the cycle was repeated with his successor Bruno Large. Indeed, the Portuguese was in a position to take Wolves back to Europe when he called for reinforcements to get them over the line in his first season in charge. They acquired Shun Kawabe, Shikinho, and Jung Sang-bin. And that was before Adama Traore was inexplicably allowed to join Barcelona on a non-obligatory loan deal that would become permanent.
Wanderers limped across the finish line, finishing the 21/22 season in 10th place, but without any momentum. Large lasted only two months the following season, but a managerial search was conducted that exposed naivety at boardroom level.
Julen Lopetegui was his top target, but he initially decided to remain in Spain due to his father’s poor health. Wolves had no plan B, so Lopetegui remained silent for more than a month before finally agreeing to join.
The arrival of the Spaniard was supposed to mark the clear second leg of the club’s stay in the Premier League. He masterminded the escape and at one point appeared to be far beyond them, breathing new life into the increasingly disaffected Molineux.
But little did those on the terrace know of Lopetegui’s own frustrations brewing. He felt that promises were broken, ambitions suppressed, plans changed.
Julen Lopetegui resigns after expressing his dissatisfaction (Image: PA)
What Lopetegui became public about was his desperation to break free from a wheel moving in one direction.
Gary O’Neill arrived, but after Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Conor Coady, Nathan Collins and Raul Jimenez had left. Matheus Nunez followed within days.
O’Neal has had an impact and his first season was a good one. What is his reward? Captain Max Kilman, player of the season Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence have left the club.
It is almost impossible to enumerate the number of talents who have left the club over the past eight years. Especially when you look at the team tasked with keeping the Wolves afloat this time around.
Pereira filled the role with haphazard recruitment, giving the reins to a manager who had not spent any length of time at the club, and even bringing in his own sporting director with him. This decision itself shows the kind of reversal that led to Wolves’ relegation.
Edwards was hired with fans already knowing their fate at the end of the season. It took until January 3 for their first win of the season…and only two more after that.
Wolves have scored 24 goals in 33 league games. And he played in just 17 of 16 games in front of his home fans.
Wolves have lost their Premier League status after eight seasons
Supporters were told that season ticket prices were a “benchmark” against rivals in the same division but operating at a completely different level heading into Europe.
Relegation may have been officially decided in April, but it was decided well before Christmas…which is no surprise. But that doesn’t make you any less anxious about what will happen next.
Take Stoke City, a club that spent 10 years in the top flight before being relegated in 2018. They were relegated with an early return in mind. Eight seasons later, they are yet to achieve a top-half finish.
Wolves’ decision-makers are adamant that is not the case at Molineux. Changes at boardroom level suggest that lessons have been learned, but there is an understandable lack of trust.
This should be a reset for the Wolves. A chapter in a longer story rather than a definitive ending. But for now, the plot moves to the championship, they better be ready.
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