‘We were crying’ – Julen Lopetegui explains why he left Wolves on eve of Premier League season
- Lopetegui kept Wolves afloat in the PL
- Left due to differences in opinion with board
- Revealed emotional connect built with players and staff
WHAT HAPPENED? The former Real Madrid manager departed Wolves after just nine months in charge at Molineux, along with his entire backroom staff. Lopetegui took over when they were at the bottom of the table and turned around the fortunes of the club that saw them finish in 13th place with 41 points from 38 games including wins over Liverpool and Tottenham. During this short period, he built a deep emotional connect with the staff and players and revealed a tearful farewell that happened less than a week before they began their 2023-24 Premier League campaign.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Lopetegui hoped to aim for a top-half finish in what would have been his final season in command after avoiding relegation with three games remaining. The two parties amicably parted after the club told him they lacked the means to support his aspirations.
“But the club cannot undertake this kind of project for various reasons,” he stated. “They told me it was impossible to develop this concept when we started pre-season. And we made the decision to split.”
WHAT NEXT? Lopetegui is ready to return to the Premier League for his next assignment but insisted that the “project has to be real” and his vision must be aligned with the club’s as well.
In the ninth minute of stoppage time, Wolves captain Max Kilman scored a goal, but replacement Tawanda Chirewa was offside.
However, referee Tony Harrington determined that Chirewa was in goalkeeper Lucasz Fabianski of West Ham’s line of sight following video assistant referee (VAR) Tim Robinson’s review recommendation.
After the final whistle, according to O’Neil, he went to meet Harrington but was so enraged that Harrington would not talk to him.
After the game, O’Neil remarked, “I wasn’t able to control my emotion well enough to get an explanation.” “Considering how I was acting, the referee stated he would prefer not to talk about it.
“I would be quite upset if you, as a high-ranking Premier League official, believed that
