Less than a quarter of the way into the season fifteen percent of EPL managers have been sacked. Wolves have fired Bruno Lage.
The announcement on the club website reads:
Wolves have parted company with head coach Bruno Lage.
*Lage had been in charge at Molineux since June 2021, guiding Wolves to a 10th place finish in his first Premier League season.
During that campaign, Lage was awarded the Premier League Manager of the Month for January and guided the club to memorable victories at Aston Villa and Manchester United.
While improving Wolves’ points tally from the 2020/21 season, Lage developed young players such as Maximilian Kilman and Rayan Ait-Nouri and oversaw the squad’s transition, which brought the likes of Jose Sa and Matheus Nunes to the club.
Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said: “Bruno is an excellent coach, a hardworking and dedicated manager, and a warm, wise and honest man.
“He and his staff have been a pleasure to work with throughout their time at Wolves, so it is with much sadness that we have had to make what has been a difficult decision.
“I honestly have no doubts about Bruno’s ability, and I’m sure he will succeed elsewhere, however the team’s form and performances over the last few months mean that we have no choice but to act.
“On behalf of everyone at Wolves, I would like to place on record our gratitude to Bruno and his coaching team for all their efforts during their time with the club, and wish them the very best for the future.”
Wolves can confirm that experienced coaches Steve Davis and James Collins will prepare the team this week for the trip to Chelsea.*
Following a six season absence Wolverhampton Wanderers returned to the Premier league in the 2018/19 season, and finished seventh. The following season they repeated this position and only finished below Spurs due to goal difference. The 2020/21 season was strange for everyone with games initially delayed, and then played to empty stadiums due to the Covid epidemic. For Wolves, achieving the highs of the previous two years proved difficult - especially with striker Raúl Jimenez fracturing his skull in November, and being out for the rest of the season.
In June 2021 Bruno Lage was appointed to replace the departed Nuno Espirito Santo. The 2021/22 season looked to have steadied the ship, with Wolves finishing tenth, though the latter half of the season tailed away and they won only once in the final six games. The poor run continued into this season and they sit eighteenth with a singly victory - against Southampton - and three draws from the opening eight games.
The club ownership clearly feel the slide in form is unlikely to be halted by the current management team, despite allowing Lage to invest over a £120 million on five players in a transfer window which has only been shut for a month, and two weeks of that were an international break.
Who will replace Lage? With it being so early in the season, and with the squad featuring ten Portuguese and one Brazilian player, a third consecutive Portuguese manager might seem a sensible option, and early betting is on Sporting CP's Rúben Amorim.
Whoever is installed will inherit a squad needing a quick boost in confidence, and playing fortitude. In their next four games two of the matches are against the other teams in the bottom three, Nottingham Forest and Leicester. They will want to take full advantage of opportunities provided by this.
Who will be next to succumb to the pressure of maintaining their clubs viability in the world's richest league?
One manager stands out, Brendan Rodgers. With one point from seven games, and recent strident comments about transfer policy and player quality at the club, he may well have already joined Lage by the time the two teams meet.
Patrick Viera at Crystal Palace, Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest, and Ralph Hassenhüttl at Southampton must also be in the frame, as well as Gerard at Villa and Moyes at West Ham.
Time will tell, though the amount of time until it happens is likely to be measured in days rather than weeks.
