Wolves are in crisis as the Old Gold sits bottom of the Premier League with just one point to their name, but who is to blame for their decline?
Relegation beckons for Wolves as their worst start to a Premier League season continues.
The club have lost six of their first seven league games, with no signs that this form with improve anytime soon.
While Championship football seemed unthinkable a few seasons ago, it has now been slowly creeping up on the Old Gold side who now find themselves in a battle for survival.
Yet, with Wolves fighting for Europe and reaching an FA Cup quarter-final only months ago, Molineux News has tried to determine who is to blame for the crisis by analysing four big factors.
Gary O’Neil
When things go wrong at a football club, the manager is always the first person to take the blame, and this season is no different.
Quite frankly Wolves’ form is a joke. The club have only won one game in their last 17 Premier League matches, a run that has lasted nearly seven months.
While he can only work with what is in front of him, Gary O’Neil has made a series of bad decisions in winnable games.
Against Newcastle and Aston Villa, despite winning and being on top, the Wolves manager decided to go defensive and to try and hold onto the lead which inevitably backfired.
Then, in the defeat to Brentford, O’Neil made more baffling decisions, with one substitution being called the ‘worst in Wolves’ history’.
While circumstances have certainly gone against the manager at times, he should have picked up far more points than he has.
Fosun
Wolves’ owners have rarely had widespread criticism since they came into the club. However, with a yearly decline occurring, fingers are now starting to be pointed.
The Old Gold’s best starting XI has slowly become worse season after season, with the days of fighting for Europe now over.
While the lack of spending was previously blamed on financial restrictions, Jeff Shi recently confirmed Wolves ‘have never been close’ to breaking PSR.
Yet, the Old Gold’s net spend in recent seasons has been extremely low, with only Man City having a lower amount in the summer.
Fosun’s ambition of being ‘self-sufficient’ has clearly backfired, yet they show no signs of changing this stance.
With three consecutive managers now eventually failing or walking away from this model, questions have been asked on whether the issues at the club are far deeper.
Matt Hobbs
Wolves’ sporting director, Matt Hobbs has made a series of mistakes that have helped worsen the club’s crisis.
The decision to give O’Neil a new long-term deal has clearly backfired, with the manager unable to pick up a win. Any termination of his contract would likely result in a large payout.
On top of this, many decisions in the transfer market during the summer were strange. Hobbs recently stated that Wolves ‘didn’t want a Max Kilman replacement’.
Yet, just seven games into the 2024/25 campaign, Wolves are on course to concede the most goals in Premier League history.
Many of the signings have also had little game time. With such a small budget, was it necessary to spend £8.5 million on Pedro Lima who is yet to make a Premier League appearance?
While Hobbs has had many successes at Wolves, the work in the summer has clearly backfired and left the club in a precarious position.
The Wolves squad
The final big underperformer is obviously the players themselves. Many of the squad showed what they were capable of in the 2023/24 campaign when they were pushing for Europe until injuries killed the form and momentum. Yet, since the new season dawned, few have performed to expectations.
So far this season, the backline has been woeful. Players such as Toti Gomes and Craig Dawson have been well below expectations and have contributed to the vast amount of goals shipped.
On top of this, captain Mario Lemina has had a torrid time. After the Brentford result, many fans on social media were calling for Lemina to be dropped after his awful form.
Few players can say they are performing well, with multiple mistakes at vital moments costing goals, and in turn, games.
While there are many aspects to Wolves’ problems, the players are the ones out on the pitch who are unable to turn good performances into victories.
Verdict
In the short term, everybody is to blame for Wolves’ start to the season. O’Neil and the players should have picked up far more points than they have which has inevitably led to this situation.
On top of this, Fosun and Hobbs’ summer decisions financially and strategically have not helped the matter and weakened the squad’s best starting XI.
However, Wolves’ decline over the years is evident which has inevitably led to a capitulation at the start of this campaign and that is down to Fosun.
The similarities between this season and the 2022/23 campaign are uncanny and the owners have let history repeat itself.
Even if Wolves pull themselves out of this mess and survive, there is no evidence to suggest that things in the long-term will change and the Old Gold could be back in this situation in a couple of years.
Realistically, Fosun and Shi need to oversee radical changes to Wolves’ policy or they will send the club back down to the Championship sooner rather than later.