Gary O’Neil finally breaks his silence on what the feeling was really like at Wolves days before his sacking

Gary O’Neil has spoken publicly for the first time since he left Wolves back in December.

The Englishman has been out of work since Fosun relieved him of his duties after a poor run of results.

Gary O’Neil was sacked after the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town, with Wolves languishing in the relegation zone.

It had been expected that O’Neil would struggle. Wolves were dealt a very tough fixture list to start the new season.

But Wolves did have opportunities to take more points than they did, and often had difficulty closing games out.

It suggested a fragility about the collective mentality of the team.

And eventually, emotions started to spill over.

Gary O’Neil insists Wolves squad was still together just before his sacking, but claims there were ‘issues’

There were warning signs when Jose Sa got into a spat with a supporter in the South Bank at Molineux in a game against Bournemouth.

Then, after Wolves lost at home to West Ham United, Mario Lemina would not go quietly as he pushed and shoved teammates and Shaun Derry.

O’Neil then decided to remove the captaincy from him.

Then, after the defeat to Ipswich, Matheus Cunha removed the glasses of an Ipswich Town member of staff, for which he received a retrospective two-game ban.

Rayan Ait-Nouri also got sent off.

Speaking about the final stages of his tenure, O’Neil said of the feeling behind the scenes.

He said in a new interview with the Guardian: “I think the players were incredibly frustrated on the inside and in the dressing room.

“We were still 100% together. There wasn’t any letup at all. That West Ham game, we gave everything. But there were issues at the time, and the club were able to fix them in January.”

• READ MORE: How Jeff Shi ‘privately’ felt during the winter proves how bad Gary O’Neil really was at Wolves

Wolves fans won’t buy O’Neil claims

Some will not buy O’Neil’s suggestion that he still had the players during the final stages of his reign at Wolves.

Faith had started to fade at the end, and the overly emotional state of the players was a real concern.

In fairness though, none of the players have since come out and been overly critical of O’Neil. Some have merely stated that a change was just needed.

Jorgen Strand Larsen has said Wolves struggles weren’t O’Neil’s fault, stating ‘sometimes it just doesn’t work’.

But obviously, Wolves were right to part ways with O’Neil when they did. Tactically, he simply didn’t cut it, and there was a mentality problem, which he has to accept responsibility for.

Perhaps the decision should have been made a bit sooner, but Wolves got there in the end and thankfully, Vitor Pereira turned out to be a great appointment.