Lopetegui Book of Condolences...

[Minimalist]

I didn’t and don’t much like Lopetegui.
However I do think he’s a top tier manager and would suit a big big club. I can easily imagine him doing a good job for Man Utd.

 

[Supadavewolf]

According to John Percy, "it can be revealed that Lopetegui agreed a settlement of less than a year’s money with two years left on his deal." (Torygraph, this September).

I'm wondering if maybe we put in a clause to the effect "Here's (say) £6million, but (some of) it is repayable unless you steer clear of other Head Coach jobs for the next 3 months".

Not sure what we would gain from this tactic, though.

Anyway, he's gone, for me it's "Thanks for keeping us up Julen but that's it".

 

[Scallywolf]

JL was with us for what, 9 months and spent a lot of that time whingeing, despite being backed in the January transfer window.

He got what he wanted when he was here and we are doing very nicely atm, imo. That is despite his moaning about not being able to spend in the summer window and improve the squad.

GO has got the squad playing better football than JL and they are on the front foot, creating chances and, yes, scoring goals.

Would JL have got the same tune from these players? Maybe, maybe not, but I give GO (and his backroom team) a hell of a lot of credit for making many people eat their words!

JL has gone and its nice to pick up the sports pages without reading about him whingeing.

 

[thewolffromwolverhampton]

I thought he was good at coaching the home games, yet the away games, some times we got beat, 6-0, 5-0.

 

[loppers86]

Hmm on the beach - from memory we weren't actually quite safe when we lost 6-0 at Brighton, and we certainly weren't when we lost 4-2 to Leeds.

the classic ‘pick one word or phrase thats debatable from a reasoned post’ then major on that in the hope of distracting from the whole.

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

JL was with us for what, 9 months and spent a lot of that time whingeing, despite being backed in the January transfer window.

He got what he wanted when he was here and we are doing very nicely atm, imo. That is despite his moaning about not being able to spend in the summer window and improve the squad.

GO has got the squad playing better football than JL and they are on the front foot, creating chances and, yes, scoring goals.

Would JL have got the same tune from these players? Maybe, maybe not, but I give GO (and his backroom team) a hell of a lot of credit for making many people eat their words!

JL has gone and its nice to pick up the sports pages without reading about him whingeing.

It was a whirlwind affair with Julen. He did us proud. Just wanted more and more money and we couldn’t give it him. Jeff sold him down the river to save us and get him here. But we have both moved on. Good luck to Jules. We seem to have a lot more cohesion under O’Neil

 

[Fifty Niner]

Yes, "akshually" we weren't safe but going into Brighton, 18th would have needed 1.8 PPG to overtake our points tally, and that's if we lost all five. Palace is widely regarded as the game where we secured survival beyond reasonable doubt. The fans knew it, and so did the players. It was the worst time mentally to go to a side like Brighton, who were hungrily hunting down a Europa League spot. I maintain if the game against them this season was at the Amex instead, with the attitude we displayed that day, the scoreline would've been similar. They thoroughly have our number, and I think a few of our players have let that get into their heads.

The loss to Leeds was not a "hammering". We had 23 shots and an xG of 2.8 to their 1.3. It was a game marred by appalling officiating (even before the chaos at the end with VAR), individual errors at the back and the spurning of chance after chance, and was also the day Jonny single-handedly killed his Wolves career - giving them 3-1 on a plate and getting sent off to snuff any chance we had of getting back into the game at 2-3 when we were well on top. Blaming JL for this result would be extremely harsh.

Fair points. But we did concede 15 goals in our last 4 away goals, I believe it was.

 

[Scallywolf]

It was a whirlwind affair with Julen. He did us proud. Just wanted more and more money and we couldn’t give it him. Jeff sold him down the river to save us and get him here. But we have both moved on. Good luck to Jules. We seem to have a lot more cohesion under O’Neil

I wholeheartedly agree with your last sentence.

GO has achieved a lot in a very short space of time imo. Cohesion definitely, fans getting onside, players getting onside, playing good football, actually scoring a few goals, atmosphere improving, positive comments about the club etc etc.

Knowing what I know now, it was always going to be a whirlwind affair as I just don’t think JL wanted to be with us for the long term. He never seemed to give credit to the club or players in his after match interviews. His interviews (and there were a few) with the Spanish sports journalist guy, Balague, seemed to leave more questions than answers as well.

JL was allowed to bring in a backroom staff which seemed almost as big as the playing squad and he was backed in January. In a very short space of time he was mouthing off to the media about how we had gone back on what he was promised on his appointment. No loyalty whatsoever and he just wanted to go after 9 months, with nearly half of that time spent moaning!

I was delighted when he was appointed, but bloody hell, I’d had enough of him when he left.

 

[Wolf316]

I wholeheartedly agree with your last sentence.

GO has achieved a lot in a very short space of time imo. Cohesion definitely, fans getting onside, players getting onside, playing good football, actually scoring a few goals, atmosphere improving, positive comments about the club etc etc.

Knowing what I know now, it was always going to be a whirlwind affair as I just don’t think JL wanted to be with us for the long term. He never seemed to give credit to the club or players in his after match interviews. His interviews (and there were a few) with the Spanish sports journalist guy, Balague, seemed to leave more questions than answers as well.

JL was allowed to bring in a backroom staff which seemed almost as big as the playing squad and he was backed in January. In a very short space of time he was mouthing off to the media about how we had gone back on what he was promised on his appointment. No loyalty whatsoever and he just wanted to go after 9 months, with nearly half of that time spent moaning!

I was delighted when he was appointed, but bloody hell, I’d had enough of him when he left.

We went from the projects back on to signings in the £8-15m range to there’s no money to spend I think he had good reason to moan!

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

We went from the projects back on to signings in the £8-15m range to there’s no money to spend I think he had good reason to moan!

The project is delayed because of the ffp issues that Cunha signing caused. (Summer sales put us back on safe track)

So if we sell guedes, podence, ait-nouri & neto in the summer for 140m then we can expect bigger things coming our way, it’s natural process we are now a selling club following the brighton model

No need to panic, Iv not said we are 100% selling certain names but if serious offers come along they will be taken into consideration. Fosun no longer bank rolling us means we have to make our own funding. That is something which will require player sales at some point or other. The premier league money increasing will also help us as the wage bill has been cut in half on previous seasons

 

[Scallywolf]

We went from the projects back on to signings in the £8-15m range to there’s no money to spend I think he had good reason to moan!

The £8-£15m range got us signings like Lemina and Gomes (we got Dawson for £5m) so I ain’t moaning!

I’m pretty happy with Sarabia after Saturday as well.

We’ve had projects with Guedes and Nunes at £30-£40m, who have been a waste of time. I won’t mention Fabio at £37m either.

Enough said.

 

[brianm]

The £8-£15m range got us signings like Lemina and Gomes (we got Dawson for £5m) so I ain’t moaning!

I’m pretty happy with Sarabia after Saturday as well.

We’ve had projects with Guedes and Nunes at £30-£40m, who have been a waste of time. I won’t mention Fabio at £37m either.

Enough said.

The job done with those signings in that range is looking overwhelmingly good. A level most clubs in this league would kill for.

 

[Wolf316]

The £8-£15m range got us signings like Lemina and Gomes (we got Dawson for £5m) so I ain’t moaning!

I’m pretty happy with Sarabia after Saturday as well.

We’ve had projects with Guedes and Nunes at £30-£40m, who have been a waste of time. I won’t mention Fabio at £37m either.

Enough said.

That’s the point. In the summer he was told we could make signings in the £8-15m range and then was told actually you can’t as there’s no money at all.

 

[QB Wolf]

That’s the point. In the summer he was told we could make signings in the £8-15m range and then was told actually you can’t as there’s no money at all.

Yeah and that’s life, it happens in business sometimes, things change and you have to adapt, GON still managed to sign Bellegarde, Bueno, Doherty, Doyle, Gonzales, on top of the JL signings that got turned permanent.

JL had already been massively backed in the January. Still he decided it wasn’t for him and fair enough.

 

[Wolf316]

Yeah and that’s life, it happens in business sometimes, things change and you have to adapt, GON still managed to sign Bellegarde, Bueno, Doherty, Doyle, Gonzales, on top of the JL signings that got turned permanent.

JL had already been massively backed in the January. Still he decided it wasn’t for him and fair enough.

Wit’s the exception of Doc would we have signed any of those if Nunes hadn’t been sold?

 

[QB Wolf]

Wit’s the exception of Doc would we have signed any of those if Nunes hadn’t been sold?

No you’re right, probably not.

Had JL have stayed would Nunes have stayed?

If Nunes had stayed, we’d have had a weaker squad than we had now, had Nunes gone, the club would have bought players.

We may have sold RAN if JL had stayed I think.

I was gutted when JL left, but in many ways it feels like things have worked out better.

 

[Scallywolf]

That’s the point. In the summer he was told we could make signings in the £8-15m range and then was told actually you can’t as there’s no money at all.

He could have ‘wheeled and dealed’ though. That’s what we did in the end and it seems to have worked out ok.

I have been promised many things in my life that never materialised. I just carried on regardless. JL could have done the same and it may have enhanced his reputation. As it is, his attitude and being so public about it, may have degraded his reputation.

‘Don’t Know What I’m Doing Here, But I’ll Carry On Regardless’ as the song goes.

 

[wolvesaywe]

Doubt there was a fan who wanted JL to go and we'll never know where he could have taken us this season

But regardless of what was going on behind the scenes he went about his exit in entirely the wrong manner and Stourport was ultimately proved right in his summation of JL's character

 

[QB Wolf]

He could have ‘wheeled and dealed’ though. That’s what we did in the end and it seems to have worked out ok.

I have been promised many things in my life that never materialised. I just carried on regardless. JL could have done the same and it may have enhanced his reputation. As it is, his attitude and being so public about it, may have degraded his reputation.

‘Don’t Know What I’m Doing Here, But I’ll Carry On Regardless’ as the song goes.

I had it at work this year, I was working on a £25m project, the costs started going north and the landscape changed and the plug was pulled.

They’ve now realised that we still need to do something and we’re looking at ways of getting the same outcomes for less money.

 

[WickedWolfie]

He could have ‘wheeled and dealed’ though. That’s what we did in the end and it seems to have worked out ok.

I have been promised many things in my life that never materialised. I just carried on regardless. JL could have done the same and it may have enhanced his reputation. As it is, his attitude and being so public about it, may have degraded his reputation.

‘Don’t Know What I’m Doing Here, But I’ll Carry On Regardless’ as the song goes.

I'm not sure, given that Hobbs was in control of transfers, that he could have "wheeled and dealed". Indeed there reportedly were players released who JL had wanted to keep.

I'm not entirely sure that asking for assurances given when initially employed, and then the revised ones at the start of the summer, to be honoured and refusing to accept that not happening would impair his reputation. Having no spine and letting a non-entity in the football world like Shi repeatedly BS him certainly would have done though.

Don't forget that had he tried to battle through and things had gone wrong he would have been the one chopped with reputation damaged just like Nuno and Lage. Telfon Shi would have carried on regardless

 

[Ned]

No you’re right, probably not.

Had JL have stayed would Nunes have stayed?

If Nunes had stayed, we’d have had a weaker squad than we had now, had Nunes gone, the club would have bought players.

We may have sold RAN if JL had stayed I think.

I was gutted when JL left, but in many ways it feels like things have worked out better.

Your last paragraph sums up how I’m feeling right now but I’m being as cautious as I can with this because I remember thinking this with Bruno for half a season.

 

[Scallywolf]

I had it at work this year, I was working on a £25m project, the costs started going north and the landscape changed and the plug was pulled.

They’ve now realised that we still need to do something and we’re looking at ways of getting the same outcomes for less money.

There might be a job at Molineux waiting for you, QB!

 

[CodsallWolf]

I wholeheartedly agree with your last sentence.

GO has achieved a lot in a very short space of time imo. Cohesion definitely, fans getting onside, players getting onside, playing good football, actually scoring a few goals, atmosphere improving, positive comments about the club etc etc.

Knowing what I know now, it was always going to be a whirlwind affair as I just don’t think JL wanted to be with us for the long term. He never seemed to give credit to the club or players in his after match interviews. His interviews (and there were a few) with the Spanish sports journalist guy, Balague, seemed to leave more questions than answers as well.

JL was allowed to bring in a backroom staff which seemed almost as big as the playing squad and he was backed in January. In a very short space of time he was mouthing off to the media about how we had gone back on what he was promised on his appointment. No loyalty whatsoever and he just wanted to go after 9 months, with nearly half of that time spent moaning!

I was delighted when he was appointed, but bloody hell, I’d had enough of him when he left.

I agree. For me JL gave us 2 things. Firstly, at least one more season in the Premier League, for which we are all very grateful. Secondly, a lesson in the importance of leading with humility. He was s***t at that. GON on the other hand clearly understands that.

 

[Jefe]

Fair points. But we did concede 15 goals in our last 4 away goals, I believe it was.

This it true, and had Bentley not played so well at Old Trafford, that figure would be higher. It was undeniably a major slump in away form at the end. This we know because we are not allowed to forget! It's a shame because people tend to remember such things more at the beginning and ends of seasons. Had it happened somewhere in the middle and we'd managed to play our way back into okay form later on, people wouldn't harp on about it so much.

What they conveniently fail to mention in their little narrative however, is we also ended the season 5 unbeaten at home. We won 4 of them (including Chelsea and Villa), with four clean sheets and only one goal against - a controversial 99th minute equaliser in the final game. For the most part, he made Molineux a fortress.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Come on, you can’t think Lopetegui is a downgrade on Moyes, that’s just crazy talk possibly based on your opinion on how Lopetegui left us?

Why can't I?
Moyes has one European trophy with a club that hadn't won a trophy in years.
Lopetegui failed at Real Madrid in some style.
Lopetegui won a European trophy with Sevilla.
Lopetegui somehow got the spanish job when they had the best generation of Spanish players(us or spain?) Its hard to say 2 years being unbeaten in an easy group makes him a fantastic manager, and when you compare their respective careers, that is all he really has over him.

 

[WolfLing]

Why can't I?
Moyes has one European trophy with a club that hadn't won a trophy in years.
Lopetegui failed at Real Madrid in some style.
Lopetegui won a European trophy with Sevilla.
Lopetegui somehow got the spanish job when they had the best generation of Spanish players(us or spain?) Its hard to say 2 years being unbeaten in an easy group makes him a fantastic manager, and when you compare their respective careers, that is all he really has over him.

Lopetegui is similar to Mourinho, in that he comes in, makes demands to get a squad up to where he wants it to be, then tends to only stay in 2 or 3 year cycles.

The only difference being Mourinho tends to win a major trophy at most of his clubs before he moves on.

Lopetegui has only ever won the Europa League at club level. In a tournament that was watered down to one leg knockouts during Covid.

Would Sevilla have got through both us in the quarters and Man United in the semis, if they'd have had to come to Molineux or Old Trafford?

Lopetegui has never won a league, despite managing Porto in Portugal and Real Madrid in Spain. He's also never taken any of his teams into domestic cup finals.

I don't think there's much in it, but I think Moyes just edges it.

And like Moyes, Lopetegui would also fail at United.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Doubt there was a fan who wanted JL to go and we'll never know where he could have taken us this season

But regardless of what was going on behind the scenes he went about his exit in entirely the wrong manner and Stourport was ultimately proved right in his summation of JL's character

OK, you've dragged me in again damn you!

The first point is excellent and seems to be increasingly forgotten. The way some people bang on about two bad away defeats you might imagine that there was a long list of people calling for him to be sacked at the end of the season. If fact before the famed interview, we were all looking forward to an exciting season, even our mate @Stourport wolf.

It seems pretty obvious from what happened and what we've been told that the goalposts moved twice and after the second time Lopetegui was very frustrated. Yes the whole Belague thing was probably ill-judged, not least because it achieved nothing, but the implications that he just wanted a pay-off and it's all about the money seem to have been somewhat discredited by turning down Al Ittihad. He seems pretty high maintenance granted, most top managers are.

 

[brianm]

But regardless of what was going on behind the scenes he went about his exit in entirely the wrong manner and Stourport was ultimately proved right in his summation of JL's character

The situation with the Spanish National Team and Madrid doesn't exactly look like a one-off.

I wonder what he thinks he learned from that experience....and who he thinks he is!

 

[Jefe]

The implications that he just wanted a pay-off and it's all about the money seem to have been somewhat discredited by turning down Al Ittihad. He seems pretty high maintenance granted, most top managers are.

Indulge me if you will, as I reappraise some of the fine posts from Pages 5 and 6 of this thread (that now carry the distinct whiff of off-milk):

-"Money grabbing, egotistical, arrogant, mercenary"
-"Just follows the money."
-"Realistically he wasn’t going to get a PL job"
-"Deserting to the desert, arrogant selfish ****"
-"Money grabbing charlatan"
-"He’d rather join a ****-pot club in the back **** of the desert, than manage a club in arguably the best league in the world, coz he’d have had to put some effort in."

Don't exactly marry into the reality that he just rejected a very lucrative (8 figure?) annual salary offer in Saudi, because his personal ambition is to manage in the Premier League, do they. Shocking I know, but maybe he didn't leave Wolves because of greed but because he actually had a legitimate grievance against his employers?

 

[Zico]

the classic ‘pick one word or phrase thats debatable from a reasoned post’ then major on that in the hope of distracting from the whole.

Disagreed with most of the rest of the post too, to be fair! Although I'll admit it was reasoned, well relatively compared with the rest of your posts on the subject, but that's not a high bar.

 

[loppers86]

Disagreed with most of the rest of the post too, to be fair! Although I'll admit it was reasoned, well relatively compared with the rest of your posts on the subject, but that's not a high bar.

my other posts are always reasoned it’s just that sometimes my reasoning takes up all my effort and i don’t have much left in the tank when it comes to typing it up on my phone …

 

[Scallywolf]

DAILY MAIL


Nottingham Forest are set to sack Steve Cooper after the dismal 5-0 defeat to Fulham - with Julen Lopetegui and Marco Silva among the candidates in the frame to take over

They can have him!

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

DAILY MAIL


Nottingham Forest are set to sack Steve Cooper after the dismal 5-0 defeat to Fulham - with Julen Lopetegui and Marco Silva among the candidates in the frame to take over

They can have him!

They do talk some ****. Never mind Lopetegui, can you imagine Marco Silva standing there tonight thinking, 'I wish I was managing the other lot'?

 

[Plovdiv Wolf]

DAILY MAIL


Nottingham Forest are set to sack Steve Cooper after the dismal 5-0 defeat to Fulham - with Julen Lopetegui and Marco Silva among the candidates in the frame to take over

They can have him!

Yikes

 

[Perton Wolf]

DAILY MAIL


Nottingham Forest are set to sack Steve Cooper after the dismal 5-0 defeat to Fulham - with Julen Lopetegui and Marco Silva among the candidates in the frame to take over

They can have him!

Typical Daily Mail ****e

 

[Hawkguy]

Nunes

What a **** player lol

 

[Hawkguy]

DAILY MAIL


Nottingham Forest are set to sack Steve Cooper after the dismal 5-0 defeat to Fulham - with Julen Lopetegui and Marco Silva among the candidates in the frame to take over

They can have him!

Sounds like some easy wins

 

[GoldenHorseshoe]

DAILY MAIL


Nottingham Forest are set to sack Steve Cooper after the dismal 5-0 defeat to Fulham - with Julen Lopetegui and Marco Silva among the candidates in the frame to take over

They can have him!

In the ****ing frame?
What stupid talk is that?

 

[Wolf316]

In the ****ing frame?
What stupid talk is that?

It’s the Mail stupid talk is what they do.

 

[North West Wanderer]

I think the majority of fans agree he did a good job last season I the circumstances.

Most fans weren't as pleased with the stink he kicked up over summer just to engineer a way out.

The two can be separated. Can be impressed and unimpressed at same time.

The guys a snake.

100% this.

i think he was lied to in order to convince him to come at a difficult time with his dad.

when he did come he did an amazing job with a squad with the morale of a dead cat.

then he was told that things were different and their original lies were actually painting a picture better than reality.

rather than just give up he moaned publicly to see if he could force a change. He couldn’t so he left.

All the hammerings came when we were on the beach. They don’t matter - it was just mental exhaustion once the battle was over.

We lost a manager with a good chance of delivering trophies or europe, and we will never have that chance again.

Gary’s recent upturn is great, and fun to watch, but let’s be under no illusions - the road we are now on eventually leads back to the championship, we’re just stuck in a queue behind sheffield, luton and few other, but we will get there eventually.

i don’t think you’ll be happy until we are eventually relegated at whatever point in the future.