“Out of Darkness Cometh Light” is the motto for the city and, at last, Wolverhampton Wanderers are emerging from the gloom.
It would be the greatest of great escapes if Wolves were to avoid Premier League relegation, but the club are finally fighting back and building some momentum for whatever division they find themselves in next season.
Earlier this year there were many who thought Wolves faced an uphill battle to pass Derby County’s record lowest points total of 11 from the 2007-08 season. Yet before their encounter with Brentford on Monday night, Wolves are only four points behind Burnley and the mood feels different.
Rob Edwards has overseen a clear upturn but in truth, Wolves have probably stirred too late. They have only eight games left and are 13 points adrift with a poor goal difference. The damage from an abysmal pre-season and the first half of the campaign has given them too much to do.
Edwards also endured a sticky start after taking over in November, but all the recent metrics point to a dramatic improvement which offers hope for the future. Wolves have beaten Liverpool and Aston Villa, drawn with Arsenal and lost only one of their past five league matches.
The victory over champions Liverpool on March 3, four days after the Villa win, meant they have won as many home games as Tottenham Hotspur since April last year. In fact, in this calendar year, Wolves would be 11th in the table. Running statistics are significantly up.
Momentum is crucial. When Leicester City stayed up in the 2014-15 season they won seven of their last nine games and many felt that gave them the springboard to the remarkable title win under Claudio Ranieri the following year. Wolves are likely to be in the Championship next season, but at least there have been positive signs. Preparations for the summer are already under way. The target of ‘Premier League 27-28’ has been fully embraced by Edwards and his staff.
Looking to the future
Edwards was appointed with Wolves already having one eye on next season. He has managed in the Championship before with Luton Town and Middlesbrough, so will not be heading into such an unpredictable division with no idea of what to expect.
After Luton’s relegation from the Premier League in 2024, it was felt that he was too loyal to existing players and did not make enough changes. He does not intend to make that mistake again at Wolves.
He is not only focusing on the first team. He is working closely with senior officials to turn around the entire club, and implement a vision for the future. Shortly after his arrival, he felt it was imperative to build up confidence and energy. This was not only the players, but staff around Wolves’s Compton training base. There have been some tough conversations – standards needed to be raised.
Squad management
The January transfer window was also crucial in Edwards’s reshaping of the squad. They sold Jorgen Strand Larsen to Crystal Palace for a total of £48m, while also offloading Jhon Arias and Emmanuel Agbadou.
Edwards sanctioned the sales of Arias and Agbadou as they would clearly not be part of his plans in a Championship season. Arias, the Colombia international, was only signed in August but the £21m fee agreed with Palmeiras represented a profit. Meanwhile, Agbadou was initially the subject of a £2m loan offer from Turkish club Besiktas but eventually left for a fee of just over £17m.
Wolves also stuck to their valuation of over £40m for Strand Larsen. Leeds United made at least two offers, with their highest at around £38m, but Palace’s desperation for a forward, together with issues over the future of Jean-Philippe Mateta, made Larsen their No 1 target.
Nathan Shi, the interim chairman, was also a key figure in those sales. It was Shi (no relation to former chairman Jeff) who convinced Fosun, the club’s owners, of the rationale behind the deals, to ensure all were aligned.
There could have been other exits. Nottingham Forest had a £2m bid for goalkeeper Jose Sa rejected and also moved late for left-back David Moller Wolfe without success.
Wolves did make two signings of their own. Adam Armstrong arrived from Southampton for £7m and, while still waiting for his first goal, is an experienced and low-maintenance character around Compton. Angel Gomes, the England international, was signed on loan from Marseille with a £6m buy option.
Edwards is already involved in recruitment meetings for next season.
He wants Wolves to move quickly so he can have his squad together in good time for pre-season training. Wolves’s strategy is likely to centre on a mixture of home-grown players, young talent and a sprinkling of overseas signings.
Tom Green was recently appointed as the club’s new head of performance analysis and has previously worked at Manchester United and Besiktas with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Keeping key figures
Wolves retain hope that Mateus Mane, the club’s outstanding teenage talent, will be part of their plans next season. He was highly regarded by Edwards’s predecessor Vitor Pereira but never played until the arrival of the new head coach. Mane has flourished under Edwards, working closely with first-team coach Harry Watling on his development.
There is an expectation that a number of players will leave in the summer. João Gomes and André, the two midfielders, have admirers in the Premier League and overseas.
Edwards prefers to work with a tight squad and accepts there will be departures. However, the big positive has been the attitude in the dressing room despite the club’s lowly position.
Usually at times like this, players can be disillusioned and form cliques, but there has always been a sense of togetherness at Compton. Insiders point to the legacy of ultra-professional players such as Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho as the benchmark for the current squad.
Regardless of all the recent positive statistics, there can be no revisionism of the season. Whatever happens in these final weeks, it has still been a miserable experience and Fosun remain under scrutiny. Wolves sacked Pereira after a dreadful 3-0 defeat at Fulham, which extended their winless run to 10 league games.
There was also a poor transfer window – bizarrely described as “good” by former chairman Shi – that set the tone. Pereira was frustrated after missing out on a number of targets, including right-backs Marc Pubill and Juanlu Sanchez before the signing of Jackson Tchatchoua.
A deal fell through for Christantus Uche from Getafe, who subsequently joined Crystal Palace on loan, although he has been underwhelming. Wolves were also very close to signing forward Ermedin Demirović from VfB Stuttgart, but negotiations ended after the Bundesliga club sold Nick Woltemade to Newcastle.
Disappointment over the window spilt over, resulting in a fractious atmosphere which transferred onto the pitch.
Wolves were woefully underprepared, with none of their six summer signings having any Premier League experience. Edwards felt the players he inherited were unfit when he was appointed, so the first six weeks resembled a crash course pre-season to get them up to speed. Now, many of those players who struggled under Pereira are performing at a higher level. Centre-back Santiago Bueno, for example, has been very consistent and was named as player of the month for February.
The challenge now is for Wolves to continue their upward trajectory. After the match at Brentford, they have another 24 days until they return against West Ham on April 10.
With games against Leeds United, Tottenham and Burnley to come, Wolves could yet decide so much in the relegation battle.
They might have left it too late, but at least they are going down swinging.