Football Season Guide

Wolverhampton Wanderers resembled something of a clown-car last season as the wheels fell off and they were relegated from the Premier League. They failed to win any of their opening 17 league matches which resulted in the dismissal of head coach Vitor Pereira. Rob Edwards was appointed as his successor and was turning things around, ready to attempt an immediate return to the Premier League but had the rug pulled from under him and was sacked three weeks after the end of the season. The revolving door has seen Cesar Peixoto take on the role of head coach as Wolves begin their first season back in the second tier of English football in eight years. Unlike Edwards, who guided Luton Town to promotion from the Championship, Peixoto’s only managerial experience has been at Portugese Primeira Liga side Gil Vicente. Wolves find themselves in the usual position of clubs relegated from the Premier League. They have several players on significant salaries who consider themselves too good for the Championship, yet with parachute payments that allow them to invest far-greater sums in their squad than most of their division rivals. The most notable departure so far is Player-of-the-Year João Gomes, with the midfielder sold to Midlands rivals Aston Villa for a fee of £38m. That figure alone will dwarf the entire budgets of several of their rivals. Striker Tolu Arokodare finished as joint-leading goalscorer with a paltry six goals, alongside Jorgen Strand Larsen, who was sold to Crystal Palace in January. Arokodare added to the sense of disarray at the club with a training ground tantrum duringf pre-season and he has been sent out on loan for the season with Ajax. Whilst a popular man, the return of Raúl Jiménez doesn’t feel like a progressive move, whilst midfielder Rafiki Saïd, signed from Standard Liege, is likely to miss the first three months of the season with a knee injury. It leaves Peixoto in an invidious position, with several pending departures, including goalkeeper José Sá, left-back Hugo Bueno, centre-backs Ki-Jana Hoever and Ladislav Krejčí and striker Mateus Mané. It doesn’t feel like the right ingredients for a promotion push and immediate return to the Premier League.