Gary O’Neil feels he has the support of the people above him at Wolves but questioned the club’s model after blaming the loss of a number of experienced players for the predicament they find themselves in.
O’Neil’s position at Molineux is hanging by a thread after Wolves went down 2-1 at West Ham last night in a game that was believed to have been crucial for the managerial positions at both clubs.
As it was, goals from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen either side of a Matt Doherty strike gave the Hammers a crucial three points and inflicted a third successive defeat on Wolves, who remain in the relegation places.
How the bottom-half of the Premier League table looks…
West Ham go nine points clear of the drop zone as Wolves fight in the relegation zone 📉 pic.twitter.com/MPwWiK1qRG
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 9, 2024
The people above me are supportive – O’Neil
Asked about his job security after the game, O’Neil, who joined Wolves in August 2023, told Sky Sports: “The people above me are supportive. But of course the supporters want their football club to be successful.
“I understand them pointing the finger at me and it’s my team and I have to take responsibility, but when I arrived at this football club they had picked up just 41 points in the Premier League [the previous season].
“Since that moment, we have managed to make £200m in player sales. We have sold an awful lot of players if you go back to Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence, Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.
“And then we’re not now shopping in that market, we’re looking for the other ones who are for the future that can help us in the now.
“As we’re finding in the Premier League, it’s a ruthless league. The group are doing everything we can to get up to speed. But I’m really proud of them.
“I know we have only nine points and we’re in a tough spot in the league but they’re giving everything. So I hope the supporters are still proud of the players even though they hate the position we’re in. They won’t hate it more than me. I’m right there with them, whether they know it or not.
“We won’t give up and we’ll keep pushing. A big game against Ipswich is coming. And hopefully a few of the little bits, our bits, the bits from the officials go our way.”
“How is that not a foul?” 😮@Carra23 and Jermain Defoe are in agreement that there was a foul in the lead up to West Ham’s winner. pic.twitter.com/sYfZCU9nVK
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 9, 2024
Wolves unfortunate with several big decisions
O’Neil was rightly aggrieved that a number of key decisions went against his team at the London Stadium, particularly the awarding of West Ham’s winner from Bowen after Dinos Mavropanos climbed all over Santi Bueno in the build-up.
VAR’s reasoning for allowing the goal was that Bowen scored from the next phase of play but O’Neil disagreed.
“It’s crazy that,” he said. “Santi Bueno is going to head the ball away, so it’s irrelevant [that the VAR said it’s a new phase of play] as we’d have cleared the ball.
“It’s a blatant foul on Santi Bueno and there’s no way it’s a different phase. The ball is still in the same area.
“They will find reasons, and of course they will, and I get there will be grey areas and the wording of the rule can be interpreted in many different ways. But that’s a blatant foul on Bueno in the seconds before the goal. That’s a blatant foul.”
Wolves were also unfortunate that West Ham’s opener came from a corner that should not have been given with the ball coming off home defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
