Five critical mistakes Wolves made in the summer that could cost Gary O’Neil his job

Wolves manager Gary O’Neil is feeling the pressure after the Old Gold’s winless start to the season.

With seven games played in the Premier League, Wolves sit bottom of the table with just one point to their name.

 

O’Neil’s side have earned just one point from a possible 21, telling of the difficult situation that the squad find themselves in.

From fixture difficulty to being the subject of frequent second half collapses, it’s been a dire start for the Old Gold, with the manager coming under great scrutiny.

 

Five mistakes Wolves made ahead of the 2024/25 season

The recent defeat to Brentford was the limit for a lot of Wolves fans, as their team travelled to the Gtech Community Stadium and showed little sign of life.

Wolves sunk defensively allowing the hosts to score five, four of which coming in the first half.

It was a day that O’Neil called ‘the worst’ in his managerial career, with tension rising around the club as the quality in the squad does not match the 20th place position.

The start to the 2024/25 calendar has been tough, but it started long before the season kicked off at the Emirates in August, with O’Neil, Fosun, Jeff Shi and Matt Hobbs having a lot to answer for.

 

Here are five things that Wolves got wrong in the summer.

Lack of funding from Fosun

Wolves haven’t been a club blessed with owners ready to splash the cash for some years, with Bruno Lage arguably being the last manager to receive financial backing.

Julen Lopetegui struggled to get his squad up to the quality he believed would keep them in the Premier League, with Fosun’s lessons not learned with O’Neil.

The Englishman expressed his frustrations during the 2023/24 campaign, when Wolves were unable to sign a striker in January.

In the summer, the situation remained the same, as O’Neil admitted that the club were “still not in a place where it’s able to go and free spend on things,” via BBC.

Fosun saw what O’Neil was capable of doing last season, as well as seeing the shortages in the squad however, still didn’t hand the manager sufficient backing, leading to a host of issues in the summer transfer window.

Not signing a centre-back

Arguably the biggest mistake that Wolves made in the summer transfer window was the failure to sign a centre-back.

Last term, O’Neil found a way to cope with four centre-backs, a number that remained at four this season.

The manager went into the campaign blind, taking Yerson Mosquera into the season without knowing if the Colombian was at the standard capable of playing in the Premier League.

Fortunately, Mosquera passed the test, but then suffered a season-ending ACL injury, leaving O’Neil with just three centre-backs to work with.

O’Neil and Hobbs’ failure to identify a central defender in the transfer market, as well as the lack of financial backing from Fosun, led Wolves into the campaign with incredibly limited options at the back.

Jeff Shi’s comments

Rewind to before the transfer window and Fosun and Jeff Shi’s ambition was outlined, sending O’Neil into the market with little to aim for.

After ticket prices were increased to astronomical figures, Shi deemed it appropriate to send a message to fans, which went down terribly as the lack of determination came to light.

In Shi’s statement to fans, the Wolves chairman issued a warning to supporters, which read, “fans also play an important role. If you only pursue trophies or consistent European football, Wolves might not be an ideal choice.”

It was a truly astonishing statement for the chairman to make, and one that did not correlate with the ticket price hikes.

The statement ultimately set Wolves up for failure, with the outlook of the season now looking very bleak if things remain the way they are.

Switching to a back four

If Shi’s comments were a mistake of the pitch, then O’Neil’s mistake on it must also be outlined.

At the start of last season, O’Neil deemed it necessary to switch from a back four to a back five after Wolves’ poor form.

When the change was made, Wolves picked things up, pushing themselves into form that saw the Old Gold in conversation for a European finish.

While form did drop off exponentially, the manager saw how important the switch to five at the back was, making the call to revert to a defensive four with largely the same group of players extremely puzzling.

Wolves’ current options in defence do not work in a back four, as O’Neil saw last season and early into this term, with it puzzling as to why the boss has waited so long to make the change he knows is important.

Failing to add experience to the squad

Another mistake in the summer that could fall on O’Neil is the decision to not recruit experienced players.

Both O’Neil and Hobbs are to blame for the call to pass on signing an older and more experienced head, with Wolves’ summer signings largely being of the same demographic.

Out of the seven new figures that were welcomed to Molineux, excluding familiar face Tommy Doyle, six were under the age of 25 at the point of their arrival, all lacking Premier League experience.

Considering that the club offloaded three experienced members of the squad in Max Kilman, Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence, such knowhow was not replaced, leaving O’Neil with the task of leading a squad short in that area.

 

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