The news of the day at Wolves is the emergence of Gary O’Neil as favourite to take back his old job from Vitor Pereira.
On Monday, it emerged that O’Neil is favourite to become Pereira’s successor at Wolves, less than 12 months on from being sacked.
It’s a shock development, and fans are adamantly against O’Neil’s return, but he may well be back on the sideline at Molineux before the week is done.
It’s a decision from Fosun that has left many scratching their heads. O’Neil coming back makes no sense for Wolves, given the issues he had last season with a much better squad.
But this wouldn’t be the first time a manager has returned to a Premier League club.
Four Premier League managers who have returned to their old job
Frank Lampard
Lampard’s first stint at his old club was more of a success than some people make out. He took the reins at a time when Eden Hazard had just left and Chelsea had a transfer embargo placed on them.
Still, their all-time top scorer took a wildly inexperienced side to Champions League qualification, with the Blues winning the competition the following year under Thomas Tuchel.
His second stint at Stamford Bridge was far less impressive. The club was undergoing a dramatic restructuring, and Lampard came in later in the season in an interim capacity — winning just one game in 11 and finishing 12th.
Kenny Dalglish
King Kenny is an all-time great for Liverpool, both as a player and a manager.
He took charge at Anfield while he was still a player and guided his team to three league titles. He is a legend in Liverpool for his accomplishments and widely regarded as the club’s greatest ever. He would leave in 1991, going on to manage at Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle, and Celtic.
20 years later, Dalglish returned to the dugout after Roy Hodgson’s disaster spell. The next season, he brought the Reds their first trophy in six years, winning the League Cup. But in the Premier League, he found little success this time around.
Liverpool finished eighth in his first full season in 2011/12, their worst finish since 1994. He was dismissed as soon as the season ended.
Neil Warnock
You might soon sense a pattern emerging with returning managers. Neil Warnock returned to management with Crystal Palace in 2007, bringing them to the cusp of promotion but falling just short.
That was a fantastic achievement, though, considering the state of Palace’s finances. By 2009, the club was in administration.
He returned in August 2014 when they were in a better place, but couldn’t get out of the bottom three of the Premier League, and was sacked before the turn of the new year.
Jose Mourinho
The Special One is a bit different to the rest. Shock.
We all know the success of his first stint at Stamford Bridge, winning the Premier League on his first try after a 50-year wait. He brought Chelsea to the peak of English football, where they have (mostly) remained ever since.
On his return in 2013, he enjoyed mixed success. Chelsea won the league in 2014/15, ten years after his first title there. But the following season, he would be dismissed after nine losses in 16 league outings.
The Gary O’Neil verdict for Wolves
Those four examples follow similar themes.
Mourinho is the most promising instance, but in each case the second spell is invariably worse than the first. And O’Neil’s first stint at Wolves wasn’t what you would call successful.
It’s not to say that he’s a bad manager. He’s not. But the idea that he will be better this time around with a markedly worse squad and an even bigger mountain to climb just doesn’t land.
If he does get the job, it’s up to him to buck this Premier League trend.