Matt Maher: Wolves need to decide on their identity
That nobody emerges from the messy end to Julen Lopetegui’s Wolves reign with much credit is clear.
Yet purely from the club’s perspective, to lose a head coach they had worked so hard to recruit after just nine months and only six days before the start of a new season feels incredibly careless.
“I never saw a situation where he wouldn’t be our manager,” said Matt Hobbs on June 15, in a statement which saw the sporting director affirm the head coach was “committed” to the cause, following the doubts which had surfaced about his future toward the end of last season. Just six weeks later, Lopetegui stood in the tunnel of Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and told Hobbs he wanted out.
Precisely what happened between mid-June and late-July to prompt the Spaniard’s decisive change of heart is now the focus.
