Wolves made a decision in the summer that looks like it will cost them their Premier League status.
It has been a miserable season for Wolves, who have still not won a game in the competition this term after 12 rounds of fixtures so far.
New manager Rob Edwards took his first game at the weekend against Crystal Palace.
But the result was the same as it has been most weekends, with Wanderers losing. Palace were nowhere near their best, but they did not need to be to exploit Wolves’ lack of quality.
And that has been the key issue this season for Wolves.
The effort levels have been there, by and large.
But the simple fact of the matter is that the squad is considerably weaker than it was last season. And some Wolves fans even think this squad is the worst the Premier League has ever seen.
And this can all be traced back to the decision to restructure the leadership in the summer, which led to the departure of Matt Hobbs.
Matt Hobbs exit looks to be proving costly for Wolves
One of the most significant things to happen at Wolves in the summer was when the club had a hierarchical restructure.
Matt Hobbs’ sporting director role was surprisingly dissolved, and that led to his exit from Molineux.
Then, Domenico Teti came in to take on a slightly different role of director of professional football. This was supposedly a club hire, but given he’d worked with Vitor Pereira at Al-Shabab, it is felt that the Portuguese was key in the club making that appointment.
Together, Teti and Pereira were allowed to have a big say in Wolves’ recruitment in the summer.
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And ultimately, they made some poor calls. Wolves backed Teti and Pereira over the recruitment team, who had some alternative targets.
The result was the arrival of six new players, none of whom had Premier League experience.
Wolves’ shocking start has been put down to bad recruitment, which means there can be an argument to say that, had Hobbs not departed, Wolves may not be in this same position they find themselves in now.
Matt Hobbs brought some good talent to Wolves
Losing Hobbs looks like a really costly move.
The club had offered him the chance to stay, but in a different role, and he was not keen to stick around in said role. Hobbs now works for Wolves’ most recent opponents Crystal Palace.
During his time at Wolves, Hobbs brought in some real talents.
He didn’t always get things right, with his handing of a new contract to Gary O’Neil being one of his biggest mistakes.
But certainly, where talent identification was concerned, Hobbs did well thanks to his scouting background.
With key players leaving, one would imagine that he would have recognised the need to sign players with Premier League experience. Indeed, Hobbs had apparently wanted Wolves to sign David Brooks from Bournemouth in the summer.
But he never got the chance, with the restructure leading to his exit and ultimately, a season of struggle – which could now culminate in the club’s relegation.