Why have struggling Wolves awarded Vitor Pereira a new contract?

Stability and unity were the watchwords as Wolves manager Vitor Pereira agreed a new three-year contract at Molineux this week.

That might seem odd, given that the club lies bottom of the Premier League after opening the season with four straight defeats for the first time in its 147-year existence. It might seem odder still when you consider Wolves have not won a match since last April, and have shipped nine goals in the league this term while scoring just twice.

West Ham, who sit three points clear of Pereira’s side despite enduring a similarly fraught start to the season, are already understood to be drawing up a list of possible replacements for manager Graham Potter. Yet Wolves’ executive chairman, Jeff Shi, has hailed Pereira for bringing “clarity, energy and a team spirit that gives us a foundation to be successful”.

“Now is a time for stability,” said Shi. “Vitor needs time to work with the squad, to build a chemistry with new players, and we will do everything to support him.”

A worrying precedent

That may be a source of concern to supporters, given that Shi likewise talked of “chemistry with the players” when awarding previous incumbent Gary O’Neil a new four-year deal last August. By mid-December, O’Neil and his staff were gone, leaving the club languishing in the relegation zone with just two league wins from 16 games.

But Pereira undoubtedly has credit in the bank after extricating Wolves from that predicament to secure a 16th-place finish and, with fixtures against all three promoted sides looming, there is logic about the timing of the board’s show of faith. 

‘This is the moment that we need to be united’

Wolves are not noted for hitting the ground running – last season, their first Premier League win did not come until November – and a decent result at home to Leeds on Saturday could be the catalyst for a change of fortune. Although tricky tests against Tottenham and Brighton follow, a trip to Sunderland awaits next month, after which Burnley visit Molineux. 

Come the end of October, the league table could bear an altogether different complexion. Small wonder, then, that Pereira greeted news of his contract renewal by calling for togetherness.

“This is the moment that we need to be united,” said the 57-year-old Portuguese. “We are a one club city, and this city loves football. It is a passion. This is the spirit that we need to create together, to face and to compete with the best teams in this league.”

Mitigating factors

Whatever misgivings Wolves supporters may have about the possibility of recent history repeating itself, they will also be aware of certain mitigating factors, not least the summer departures of Matheus Cunha and Rayan Aït-Nouri to the Manchester clubs. 

Both players were central to the team’s creativity last term, while the arrival of six new faces – seven, if you count Jørgen Strand Larsen, the Norway forward whose loan from Celta Vigo was made permanent in July, and whose injury absence has been keenly felt – makes a period of transition unavoidable.

Pereira is undoubtedly the focus of much goodwill around Molineux, and if his contract extension represents a risk, it is a calculated one. But he will need to deliver quickly.