Paul Lambert leaves Wolves: Fosun revert to "Plan A" after another Jeff Shi u-turn
As Paul Lambert leaves Wolves, Tim Spiers provides his insight on the Scot's departure from Molineux.
"I hope he can stay here for a long time," said Jeff Shi, speaking about Paul Lambert on April 7.
If by long time he meant 53 days then fair enough, but you suspect at the time he didn't.
So what on earth has changed so drastically since Shi's gushing praise towards Lambert in an interview with the Express & Star last month?
While Shi has previous for backing his head coaches (he said he was ready to work with Kenny Jackett a week before sacking him and praised Walter Zenga a month before he got the boot) this was no ordinary vote of confidence.
Fosun's Wolves supremo couldn't have been more fulsome in his verbal applause.
"I like him very much – I chose him," he said.
"When we choose a coach we think the character and personality is important. For Fosun our culture is about working hard, commitment and entrepreneurship. That's the culture in our group and also the formula for being successful all over the world as a company.
"For the club it's the same thing, we need a head coach to have the same genes as us. On that aspect Paul is fantastic.
"We have just been working for a short while but I can say from the character perspective he's the right man for us.
"He suits every requirement of leadership, ability, hard work, passion, intelligence, everything.
"Of course a head coach has to prove himself on the pitch. It's a rollercoaster and we've experienced losses and bad moments but you have to give the coach some time, especially with a new team and new players to gel together.
"It's not only about the several wins we just had now, it's about the character.
"I can tell you, Paul is the first guy at the training ground and the last guy to leave. You can see all the signs and foresee if we keep all that the team will be better."
The interview was conducted on Friday April 7 (and published a day later), when Wolves had just won five matches in a row to stave off any relegation worries.
With summer targets being lined up and season ticket sales soaring everything looked rosy – but the tide was about to turn.
The following day Wolves lost 3-1 at Bristol City, giving one of their limpest performances of the season to herald a stuttering end to the campaign.
Lambert's team lost to Brighton, Huddersfield and Derby in the next six games. The Derby loss in particular was one to watch through the fingers.
Wolves could easily have been 5-0 down at half time but a combination of profligacy and good fortune meant they escaped with a 3-1 defeat. Derby coach Kevin Phillips later damningly wrote in his Express & Star column: "It looked like they weren’t playing as a team.
"To me it was as if they were playing as individuals. It looked like they were just doing it for themselves. That’s something that will definitely frustrate Lambert."
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That certainly looked to be the case a week earlier too in one of the most tedious matches witnessed at Molineux in recent years – a 0-0 snorefest against Blackburn in which Wolves took until the 94th minute to muster a shot on target.
It wasn't all bad in those final weeks – an impressive 1-0 win at play-off chasing Leeds secured safety, while the final-day victory over Preston was a comfortable yet fairly meaningless one.
Despite the largely frustrating results Lambert continued to say the right things. He called for a 'shake up' of the club and asked for new players whose mentality was a winning one – not to settle for an easy life in the Championship.
Behind the scenes, though, the mood was changing. Shi and Fosun – alarmed at the six-game losing streak that threatened to derail Wolves' season – were said to be less than enamoured with a finish of 15th, with a play-off place being the stated target when Lambert took over (even if Kevin Thelwell said it would be 'unfair' to judge Lambert if Wolves didn't make the top six). And they were thought to be concerned at the meek manner in which the season petered out.
There was also a growing dispute over the direction the club would take in terms of transfers this summer. Lambert was said to be concerned at the influence of Jorge Mendes – and taking on Mendes was never likely to end well for the Scot.
While happy to work in conjunction with the Portuguese agent, Lambert was against the idea of being 'given' players he didn't know, as was seen last summer when 12 new signings joined in just six weeks with Jackett (very briefly) and Zenga having little-to-no say.
Already wavering over whether they wanted Lambert long-term, Fosun began searching for someone who would better fit into their preferred management structure and work within that recruitment policy. Mendes, such a key and influential figure for the Chinese owners, was tasked with helping find a suitable candidate.
Lambert was told shortly before the Preston game that his fate was undecided and Fosun began a comprehensive review of the club's football practices while looking for an alternative head coach.
Aitor Karanka was considered and Premier League-bound Marco Silva was sounded out, but once it became clear Nuno Espirito Santo was leaving Porto he soon became the preferred choice. While attracting a former Valencia and Porto boss to Wolverhampton in the English second tier would normally be considered folly, Nuno and Mendes go back years – a transfer involving the ex-goalkeeper was the first deal Mendes ever did in football and Nuno is still his client.
Lambert meanwhile was left in limbo, with Fosun choosing to keep him in post before finalising his successor. The club stayed silent through almost three weeks of uncertainty. An on-message appearance on Sky Sports News in which he insisted he was staying convinced no one.
The Scot was finally put out of his misery (not that it came as a surprise) in recent days, ahead of this morning's announcement.
While Fosun's decision to change head coach after just a few months isn't a huge shock, the manner in which the managerial change has been conducted will disappoint many.
Whether Nuno is a better bet than Lambert for promotion remains to be seen, but what cannot be argued is that Lambert has been publicly treated shabbily and with little respect, like Zenga and Jackett before him in their final days in charge.
Fosun are as ruthless as they are ambitious – and supporters will hope that's a strength in years to come, not a weakness.
What's apparent is the owners have reverted to the "Plan A" they were plotting last summer when current Spain boss Julen Lopetegui had verbally agreed to be their head coach before their purchase of the club was finalised.
A very last-ditch shunning, when Spain came calling, left them in a panic shortly before the new season and Zenga was hastily put in post. With him having departed and Wolves in trouble, no-nonsense Lambert was recruited to steady the ship.
And now Wolves have gone back to a well respected European boss with an impressive CV and, of course, close ties to Mendes. It seems to their preferred model and whatever happens you suspect it won't be dull. But key to Nuno's appointment is the fact he's willing to work with a number of Mendes signings, ahead of a transfer window that's likely to be reminiscent of last summer but hopefully with more of a coherent strategy to it.
As for Lambert, he perhaps said it all when being unveiled in November.
"They are looking for an upsurge pretty quickly and to get some results," he said of his new owners. "If you don’t get the results, you know exactly what’s going to happen."
In Fosun's Wolves, emphasis should be placed on the word 'quickly'. Let's see how long the next guy gets.
