The league table never lies. After a summer transfer spree followed Fosun International’s takeover of the club, Wolverhampton Wanderers occupy 18th place with almost a third of the Championship season gone.
Yet despite having won just four of his 14 league games at the helm, most Wanderers fans were left surprised and many disappointed by the departure of eccentric Italian boss Walter Zenga.
Despite Saturday’s 1-0 home reverse to Leeds United having extended Wolves’ winless run to five matches, Zenga never lost the support of the Molineux masses in the way that many of his predecessors, Mick McCarthy, Stale Solbakken and Dean Saunders included, did. His passion for the club, best demonstrated when he fell to his knees in front of Wolves’ adoring away support following a 3-1 win at St. Andrews in August, made him a popular figure amongst those of a gold and black persuasion, who, despite the recent slump in results, sang his name throughout his final game in charge last weekend.
Arriving at the club just a week before the start of the season, a bright start to the campaign was followed by a run of mixed results, with Zenga struggling for consistency whilst also attempting to fit 12 new senior players (the signings of which he likely had very little say in) into his first team plans. With Wolves picking up just a solitary point from the last fifteen available to them, Fosun have acted decisively (or some might say prematurely) in disposing of a good, hardworking, and passionate man who, admittedly, was never their first choice, appointed following their drawn-out attempts to appoint Julen Lopetegui as Kenny Jackett’s successor were foiled by the Spanish FA, who handed Lopetegui a dream job as manager of his country back in July.
Zenga now goes down as the Wolves manager with the third-shortest reign in the club’s illustrious history. 87 days. The first 30 of which were spent working with his predecessor’s players as the club frantically scoured Europe for reinforcements in an attempt to build a side capable of challenging for promotion. While Zenga’s tactics were indeed naïve at times, and his team choices frustrated some, the Italian was essentially given less than two months to mould a diverse group of players into a cohesive unit, something that any manager would have struggled to do in such a short time period, particularly when Zenga himself was adapting to a new way of life in a new country, with his family still residing in Dubai, and the legendary keeper having to excuse himself from the club’s Compton Park training ground during recent international breaks to visit them.
Terrific away wins over Birmingham City and Newcastle United showed the potential of Zenga’s Wolves, but with points having been hard to come by of late, the club’s directors have made the decision that the club’s aspirations for this campaign will be best served by a change in direction. They now have a massive decision to make regarding the identity of Zenga’s successor, and while they could well end up being justified in their choice to relieve the former Inter goalkeeper of his duties come next May, nobody can disagree with the statement that no manager should be judged on 87 days of work, at any club.
