Dave Edwards: The vacancy at Molineux is a massive opportunity
With the squad of players, the facilities and the backing from Fosun, the vacant Wolves managerial role is a massive opportunity for a new coach to make their mark.
The World Cup is just around the corner, and the games before the tournament will allow the new boss to assess what they have, before spending time in November and December reflecting and planning for January.
I would go for Julen Lopetegui. I know he is still in a job at the moment but I think he would be a real coup for Wolves.
They are not going to go for a Sean Dyche or a Chris Wilder – that will not happen.
If you look down the list, you know it is going to be someone with Jorge Mendes connections. Ruben Amorim has been linked – he has had success already at Sporting with the league title and domestic trophies, which is exciting.
What a project that would be for him to take on.
I would be happy with either, and it would be exciting times for Wolves fans.
Sadly for Bruno Lage, his departure was almost a formality.
He lost the Wolves supporters a few weeks ago, and performances needed to pick up, they needed to score more goals.
Neither of those things happened, and it was inevitable after Saturday’s performance against West Ham where they weren’t great, and they never looked like scoring. I have always liked Bruno. I liked the way tactically he wanted to play, and I felt he was a little unlucky at times.
Even though they lost the first few games of his tenure, they started well, and fans could see a real progression.
It was a wonderful first half of the season last year, but then for whatever reason, it just started falling apart from January onwards, and that has continued into this season.
You can understand why Fosun have made this decision with the run of one win in 15 since last year and only scoring three goals in eight games.
I imagine they would have liked to have left it a few more weeks, taking it closer to that World Cup, but the Premier League does not wait for anyone.
I have seen things since saying that Bruno and some of the players did not go over to the fans after the game at West Ham – that is criminal. Even when you are going through the worst spell possible, you have to show that respect, and you have to go over to them and applaud them – even if they are giving you pelters.
I think it was only four or five players who went over at the end of the game, and that makes me think Bruno made a big mistake in some of the players he let go.
The likes of Conor Coady, John Ruddy and Romain Saiss.
When you lose players who have been at the football club for a long time. All of a sudden, you lose a little bit of soul out of the dressing room. People who know the football club, and know what is expected of a Wolves player.
I guarantee if Coady was playing on Saturday, every single one of those players would have been over there to clap the fans.
My worry is when the chips are down, who is in there to galvanise them and show what it means? I feel that is one area where possibly Bruno did go wrong.
