When Gary O’Neil joined Wolves a year ago last Friday, expectations were low.
Some 12 months later, he signed a new four-year contract and almost lost his star player Pedro Neto to Chelsea for a record £54 million, but now he has the chance to shape the team and the club.
The Wolves, as the deal confirmed on Sunday, will reinvest some of that money into the team and provide O’Neil with another platform for progress.
He arrived just days before the start of last season and had to win over a large section of fans; some called him a PE teacher because of the way he dressed on the sidelines.
His appearance on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports in October, where he gave insight and video details of how Wolves beat former clubs Bournemouth and Manchester City, earned him well-deserved respect from the Molineux stands and beyond, and changed the way others perceived him.
He was an excellent communicator and the team quickly embraced his methods, and it paid off. Were it not for the incorrect VAR and referee decisions, which were upheld by the Major Match Incidents Committee, which reviews decisions, Wolves could have been in the running for European competition early in the first half of the season.
O’Neil’s initial handling of them and his team’s response also deserve credit, although he admitted his emotions got the better of him after Max Kilman’s equaliser against West Ham in April was disallowed and resulted in a ban from the pitch.
Wolves’ 14th-place finish last season was a disappointment as they fell out of the European places, but after a year at the helm and with a new contract, O’Neil can take Wolves forward.
