John Ruddy has been speaking about his time at Wolves, after recently departing Molineux.
The veteran stopped left the club last month after not being offered a new contract.
Ruddy took to Instagram to announce his departure, and the tone suggested it was a decision made by the board.
Apparently, Bruno Lage had wanted to keep him.
Ruddy departed and a few weeks later, he joined Championship side Birmingham City.
Ruddy spent five years at Wolves, but four of those were spent playing the role of number two goalkeeper.
The former England international played a huge part in Wolves’ title-winning season in the Championship in 2017/18.
But the club then went out and signed Portugal number one Rui Patricio.
Patricio was the undisputed number one at Molineux for three seasons, before moving on to join AS Roma.
If Ruddy thought he would then reclaim the number one jersey, he was sadly mistaken, with the club signing Jose Sa just days after Patricio’s departure.
Sa enjoyed a tremendous first season at Molineux, meaning very little chance again for Ruddy to play.
Ruddy has been reflecting on his time at Molineux, and believes he sat on the bench for too long.
He told Birmingham Mail: “It’s been a long time, let’s be frank about it. I have been sitting on the bench at Wolves for a long time, longer than I wanted to, longer than I probably expected, to be honest, because there have been periods where I was going to leave Wolves and then for one reason or another I ended up staying.”
Ruddy frustrations are understandable, as veteran makes bench claim
It is interesting to hear that Ruddy could have left Wolves much sooner than when he actually did.
That would suggest how highly he was regarded by the coaching staff and club officials.
It is understandable that he looks back on his time at Molineux with a hint of frustration.
He performed so well in his first season, but Wolves obviously then went and signed an international number one in Patricio, who did very well during his three years at the club.
He served the club really well, and hopefully he can now get regular minutes at Birmingham.
He’s talked about potentially playing until he is 40, so there’s plenty of time to make up for his lack of opportunities at Wolves.