One major difference between Gary O’Neil and former Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui has been identified following the Englishman’s first season at Molineux.
Gary O’Neil arrived at Wolves just days before the start of the 2023/24 season, taking the reigns from Julen Lopetegui in a bid to keep the Old Gold in the Premier League.
Tensions were high during the summer of 2023, as financial restrictions saw the Spaniard unable to spend while key players departed for essential profit.
As a result, Lopetegui left with days to spare before the season started, seeing O’Neil pick up the pieces as the odds were stacked against Wolves being able to contend in the top flight.
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The Englishman defied such odds and carried his small squad to a 14th-place finish and an FA Cup quarter-final, improving on Lopetegui’s points tally by five despite having to navigate a squad short on depth.
Now that the season has ended and the former Wolves boss has been named as the new West Ham manager, journalist Liam Keen shared his verdict on one key difference between the two coaches.
Liam Keen explains the difference between Julen Lopetegui and Gary O’Neil at Wolves
Many were perplexed when Lopetegui left his squad so soon before the start of the campaign, particularly as Wolves went on to lose their opening two fixtures.
That being said, it quickly became apparent that O’Neil was the right man for the job, as form, morale and individual performance improved however, Keen identified an area away from the action that separates the two managers.
Speaking on the E&S Wolves Podcast, the journalist was full of praise for the way O’Neil conducted himself in the media throughout the campaign.
“The way that Gary O’Neil has carried himself in public in press conferences has been very different to Julen Lopetegui. It’s not been a toys-out-the-pram scenario.
“Something he said the other day which I thought struck a chord was when he said he had positive conversations with Jeff Shi and it’s a situation that he is aware of but, he knows what he can do and what he can’t do, he’s got more clarity.”
Before his exit, Lopetegui angered those around him at Wolves by going public with his frustrations over the financial woes of last summer, an element that Keen believes makes O’Neil better for the Wolves job.
“He [O’Neil] also said, which I don’t think is an attack on Lopetegui, but he said ‘I’m not the kind of person that wants it all my own way all the time’.
“That to me is a manager admitting freely that he wants to be at this club, work with this club and he will give and take, demand some things but concede on others.”
Julen Lopetegui departure was the right thing for Wolves
There’s split opinion on Lopetegui as while the manager abandoned his squad so close to the 2023/24 kick-off, the Spaniard did save Wolves from relegation the season prior.
The Old Gold were bottom of the table at Christmas in 2022, seeing the former Real Madrid boss turn things around to secure a 13th-place finish.
That being said, without Lopetegui’s departure, O’Neil would not have arrived and would not have made the necessary changes to the squad, which resulted in him driving Wolves to a five-point improvement on 2022/23.
It will be interesting to see how Lopetegui fares back in the Premier League with West Ham next term.