Wolves officials reportedly consulted Ruben Neves when Bruno Lage was sacked.
Wanderers are in a much better place now than in the early stages of the season.
Julen Lopetegui has come in and done a great job so far.
Not only has he dragged Wolves off the bottom of the Premier League table. But he has overseen a real change in the culture at Molineux.
The culture of the club was the focus of an article from Sky Sports reporter and Wolves fans Johnny Phillips on Saturday.
Lopetegui has changed a lot of things behind the scenes, and next season will hopefully be much better as a result.
Six months ago though, Wolves were in an awful state.
The team was devoid of confidence, and looked completely incapable of scoring a goal.
The defeat to West Ham United proved to be the final straw for the board, and Lage was sacked the day after.
Many felt the board had no other option, and after his sacking there were suggestions that some players had grown tired of Lage’s methods and had checked out.
In Phillips’ latest column, he makes an interesting claim that Wolves officials actually consulted with captain Neves when Lage was sacked.
And he was apparently frustrated with the situation, and felt it could have been avoided through better preparation.
He said: “Neves was one of those consulted by Wolves’ senior leadership when Lage was dismissed.
“Wolves had drifted towards the bottom end of the table, with interim coaches Steve Davis and James Collins put in the impossible position of trying to change course, and the captain was frustrated by a situation he believed could have been avoided had Wolves had a proper summer of preparation. The club’s problems lay deeper than just Lage.
“A poor pre-season itinerary and muddled transfer policy played their part in the demise. Wolves were undercooked and the new signings that eventually arrived had no time to bed in. Put simply, Wolves entered the 2022/23 campaign more ill-prepared than any other under Fosun’s watch.”
Johnny Phillips claim just shows how Ruben Neves’ stature has grown at Wolves
This is a very interesting claim from Phillips about the sacking of Bruno Lage back in October.
Often, managerial sackings are made by the board and the board only.
But clearly, those high up at Wolves wanted to hear what Neves felt about the state of play.
And it makes sense in a way. Neves obviously will have had a very good idea of why things were so bad and will have had a feeling of why things had changed.
It just shows how highly regarded he is, and it’s going to be a huge shame to see him go.
Many feel that this will happen in the summer. Hopefully someone will eventually be able to take over the Portuguese maestro’s mantle. Both in terms of being a leader and a top player at Molineux.