Gary O’Neil feels he has the support of those above him at Wolves but has questioned the club’s model after blaming the loss of several experienced players for their predicament.
O’Neil’s place at Molineux hangs in the balance after Wolves went down 2-1 at West Ham last night in a game believed to be crucial for the coaching jobs at both teams.
However, goals from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen either side of a Matt Doherty strike gave the Hammers a crucial three points and inflicted a third successive defeat on Wolves, who remain in the relegation places.
What the bottom half of the Premier League table looks like…
West Ham are nine points clear of the drop zone as Wolves struggle in the relegation zone 📉 pic.twitter.com/MPwWiK1qRG
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 9, 2024
The people above me are supportive – O’Neil
Asked about his job security after the game, O’Neill, who joined Wolves in August 2023, told Sky Sports: “The people above me are supportive. But of course fans want their football team to be successful.
“I understand that they are pointing the finger at me and it is my team and I have to take responsibility, but when I arrived at this football club they had collected just 41 points in the Premier League (last season).
“Since then, we’ve managed to do £200m in player sales. We have sold too many players if you go back to Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence, Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.
“And then we’re not shopping now in that market, we’re looking for the others that are for the future that can help us in the now.
“As we find in the Premier League, it is a ruthless league. The team is doing everything we can to get up to speed. But I’m really proud of them.
“I know we only have nine points and are in a difficult position in the league, but they are giving everything. So I hope the fans are proud of the players even though they hate the position we are in. They won’t hate her any more than I do. I am there with them, whether they know it or not.
“We will not give up and we will keep pushing. Big game coming up against Ipswich. And hopefully some of the little pieces, our pieces, the pieces from the officials will go for us.”
“How is that not a foul?” 😮@Carra23 and Jermain Defoe agree there was a foul before West Ham’s winner. pic.twitter.com/sYfZCU9nVK
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 9, 2024
Wolves unlucky with several big decisions
O’Neil was rightly upset that some key decisions went against his side at the London Stadium, particularly Bowen’s awarding of West Ham’s winner after Dinos Mavropanos climbed all over Santi Bueno in the huddle.
The VAR rationale for allowing the goal was that Bowen scored from the next phase of the game but O’Neill disagreed.
“This is crazy,” he said. “Santi Bueno will head the ball away so it’s irrelevant (VAR said it’s a new phase of play) as we would have cleared the ball.
“It’s a flagrant foul on Sandy Bueno and there’s no way it could be a different phase. The ball is still in the same area.
“They will find reasons, and of course they will, and I understand that there will be gray areas and the wording of the rule can be interpreted in many different ways. But that’s a flagrant foul on Bueno in the seconds before the goal. This is a flagrant foul.”
Wolves were also unlucky as West Ham’s opener came from a corner that shouldn’t have been awarded with the ball coming out from home defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
