Gary O’Neil will not be serving a touchline ban for this weekend’s FA Cup clash with Coventry City, after there was some confusion during Wolves’ game with Fulham at the weekend.
Wanderers beat the Cottagers 2-1 at Molineux to keep their European hopes alive.
Rayan Ait-Nouri opened the scoring for Wolves, before Nelson Semedo’s deflected strike doubled the hosts’ lead.
Wolves managed the game really well late on, and it was a shame that Jose Sa lost his clean sheet with the final kick of the kick to Alex Iwobi.
Wolves now have as many points on the board as they managed in the whole of last season in the Premier League, which is an amazing reflection on Gary O’Neil.
And thankfully, the manager will be present on the touchline as usual this weekend, as his side take on Coventry City in the FA Cup.
Wolves manager Gary O’Neil did not get booked against Fulham
The game with Fulham at the weekend was a fiery affair at times.
It was a great game of football between two good teams, played with a real competitive edge.
At one point in the second-half, there was a coming together between the two benches.
Referee Tony Harrington dished out a couple of bookings. One of those was for Fulham first-team coach Luis Boa Morte, and then one was for Gary O’Neil’s assistant Shaun Derry.
Some people thought O’Neil had been given the yellow card himself. Had that been the case, it would have been his fifth of the season, which warrants a one-game touchline ban.
But Liam Keen said on X: “I cleared it up in yesterday’s podcast – Gary O’Neil did not get booked on Saturday and is not serving a touchline ban this weekend.”
Relief for Wolves
It is a big relief that O’Neil did not get booked against Fulham, because it would have been a major blow for him not to be on the touchline for Wolves’ biggest game of the season this weekend.
Wolves have the chance to reach an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, and having O’Neil there in the technical area is important.
Wanderers have a number of key players missing through injury at the moment – the last thing the team will have needed was O’Neil serving a touchline ban on top of that.
Perhaps that touchline ban will come at some stage, since he is only one booking away.
O’Neil will just have to try and tread that line as carefully as possible, because his presence is so important for these players and him being absent for any game will be a blow.
