Gary O’Neil has stunned Wolves by withdrawing from talks to return to the club as head coach.
Wolves sounded out O’Neil over the weekend and all parties held further discussions on Monday about him succeeding Vítor Pereira, but the 42‑year‑old has since had a change of heart.
The majority of Wolves supporters vehemently opposed O’Neil’s return and the Supporters’ Trust said on Monday, before O’Neil pulled out of the recruitment process, that his reappointment “would show a clear lack of strategic direction by the club hierarchy”.
O’Neil had intimated he was happy to replace Pereira, who succeeded him last December but was sacked after an eighth defeat in 10 league matches at Fulham on Saturday.
Now Wolves must look elsewhere for their fifth permanent manager in four years.
O’Neil was finalising his backroom staff and the club felt he was the ideal candidate to galvanise the squad after a dire start.
Wolves had maintained dialogue with other candidates but there was a belief that O’Neil would take charge this week. Wolves, who visit Chelsea on Saturday, have placed their under-21s head coach, James Collins, and under-18s head coach, Richard Walker, in interim charge.
Middlesbrough’s head coach, Rob Edwards, has longstanding admirers at Wolves, where he played and coached.
He also had a short spell in caretaker charge in 2016, shortly after Fosun, Wolves’ owner, bought the club. Wolves would have to pay Boro compensation to extract Edwards from his contract. Previewing Boro’s Championship trip to Leicester on Tuesday, Edwards played down the interest.
“I can understand it with my links to the club but my full focus is on this job here, which is a brilliant job, and trying to turn things around for a really big game,” Edwards said.
The former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been put forward by intermediaries, but is not thought to be under consideration.
It is thought the super-agent Jorge Mendes could put forward candidates for the post. Four of Wolves’ previous five managers are part of Mendes’s Gestifute agency: Pereira, Bruno Lage, Julen Lopetegui and Nuno Espírito Santo.
