Gary O'Neil searching for new coach to join Wolves backroom team

The West Ham under-23 boss agreed to join Wolves as first team coach until Hammers boss David Moyes blocked the move by promoting Robson to his coaching staff.

Now, O’Neil is on the hunt for a replacement to join his team alongside Tim Jenkins and Shaun Derry.

“I would have thought we’ll add one more,” O’Neil said.

“There’s not too much to say on the other situation. Of course, Mark works for West Ham United, so we’ll look to add another one to our team when we can.”

Meanwhile, O’Neil is due to meet Jeff Shi for the first time after the Wolves chairman flew back into England.

Shi has been in China for a number of weeks and has yet to meet the new head coach, after they spoke for the first time last week.

O’Neil said: “We had an email exchange initially and he’s due to land (on Friday), so we’ll get together over the next couple of days and have a face to face.

“The email exchange was helpful and I’m looking forward to meeting him. He’ll be at the game (against Brighton).”

Sporting director Matt Hobbs led the interview process to appoint O’Neil, while Shi was still in China.

When asked about the content of their email conversation, O’Neil added: “I didn’t ask for any assurances, I presume he was happy with the decision that was made by the club to employ me. I assume he had a really big part in that.

“In the email exchange he was welcoming, pleased to have me and pleased with the performance.

“I’m looking forward to meeting him. Obviously, email exchanges are very different to meeting someone and having a chat.

“It’s just a meet, see what he’s like and see what I’m like and get on with my job trying to push the team forward.”