Breaking character following another defensive shambles, the club called time on the head coach’s troubled tenure

So, it turns out it really was the dreaded vote of confidence. Less than 72 hours after the Wolves chairman, Jeff Shi, insisted the club was united behind Gary O’Neil in a column in the local newspaper, the Express and Star, the manager was informed his time was up.

This was no surprise to O’Neil, who, amid the increasing din of discontent in recent weeks, has spent time volunteering various mitigating reasons for what has been a shambolic season, seemingly in preparation for this moment. Including, but not limited to: amateur defending, a lack of physicality in the squad, indiscipline, Wolves’ rigid business model, a deficiency in Premier League quality. The problem for O’Neil is they were not deemed extenuating circumstances. They were never going to be.