Action Images via Reuters/Ed Sykes
Gary O’Neil has been let down and grossly under-supported by Wolves’ owners, according to former player Jamie O’Hara.
Wolves remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table after their seventh defeat in eight games against Manchester City on Sunday.
But O’Hara – who played 43 games for the Molineux club – says that O’Neil deserves more time and that his superiors must take responsibility for the club’s torrid start to the season.
“I hope they can turn it around,” said O’Hara, speaking at the Copa del Cure Leukaemia tournament at St George’s Park.
“I like Gary O’Neil, he’s passionate about the game but you can see it’s taken a lot out of him. He looks like he’s aged 10 years over the last year.
“They’ve sold their best players in Max Kilman and Pedro Neto. I know Neto was injured a lot but he won games when we played.
“It’s a difficult one for Gary. You’ve got to give him a few more months and if they’re still in trouble, maybe bring someone in to just get them to safety. But they’re a big club and I think the owners have let him down by not signing enough quality to stay in the Premier League.”
O’Hara believes that Wolves will struggle to find an upgrade on O’Neil, or at least someone who has experience of the Premier League.
While there is no modern day firefighter quite in the same vein as Sam Allardyce, O’Hara says the best man for a potential Wolves rescue mission is unavailable.
“The perfect guy to get in is Sean Dyche but he’s at Everton,” he said. “Or you find someone who can implement a different style of football and maybe try and lift the players that way.”
Only Liverpool and Manchester City finished with a lower net spend this summer than Wolves and O’Hara fears that a lack of investment has jeopardised the club’s Premier League status.
“Wolves have signed some really good players over the years and recruited well but I think they’ve let Gary down,” he added.
“He needed investment and help. He can’t produce miracles, especially when you take away his best players. It’s almost impossible.
“I think they’ll struggle but I hope they’ll find a way out of it – they’ll be relying on the promoted teams to finish below them.”
Cure Leukaemia is a UK-based blood cancer charity founded in 2003, working to accelerate the process of bringing life-saving treatments to leukaemia patients by funding specialist Research Nurses across the country
