Vitor Pereira confirmed as Wolves head coach: Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis
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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judah. I'm delighted to be joined by Wolves reporter. It's Mr. Liam
00:13Keane. Liam, we are so back. We are so back, baby. It's been a while. Everybody thought
00:18it was going to be Tuesday, Wednesday, but it is Thursday. Wolves have finally announced
00:23their new head coach, and that is Mr. Vitor Pereira. Welcome to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
00:29Keane, it's been a long time coming, but they've got their man and things are hopefully looking
00:36up.
00:37Yeah, they kept us waiting for this announcement, didn't they? But we're finally here. He took
00:41training today, this morning, for the first time and all gearing up for the big trip to
00:49Leicester on Sunday. He's got a lot to do, hasn't he? Vitor Pereira. He's got a lot to
00:53change. The January window is going to be massive. But this change, as much as we can
00:58go back and talk about Gary Neal and maybe some things he was partly unlucky for, some
01:02things he made mistakes with, this change hopefully will revitalise a squad and a fan
01:07base that just need a little bit of a lift. If he does that as the bare minimum to start
01:12and makes Wolves harder to score against, then maybe he'll have a little bit of success.
01:18But yeah, there's a long way to go, but the new manager has arrived and we're looking
01:22forward to meeting him for the first time. I think it'll be Friday, won't it, for the
01:25press conference?
01:26It certainly will be. Look, you talk about January there and January is going to be crucial.
01:30Wolves are going to have to spend, they're going to have to get some players in. Absolutely,
01:33that's obvious. But in terms of a new manager coming in, you would think they've got a bit
01:39of a honeymoon period. I don't think Pereira's got that honeymoon period, you know, because
01:43he hasn't got a lot of time. Time is what Wolves have not got. And yes, you can look
01:46at the season, 15 games in or 16 games in, you've got a decent amount of time to try
01:51and get out of it. But at the same time, the peril that Wolves are in at this moment in
01:55time and the magnitude of this game on Sunday, this is a huge game of football. Now, Pereira's
02:00only got a limited time with these players, but they've got to be hoping for some kind
02:03of a new manager bounce because if they go to Leicester and lose that game, then it becomes
02:08an almighty task. If they win that, then all of a sudden you've got the fans on high, you've
02:12got the players on high, you've got that renewed optimism. But I can't overstate enough how
02:16important this game is.
02:18Yeah, no, exactly. I think to have a fan base that obviously were turning against Gary O'Neill
02:23and also the ownership, to have a change be made means that the focus going into Sunday's
02:29game won't be on Gary O'Neill and his future. It won't necessarily be as much on the ownership
02:35and the model. It will be on this game here and now, which I think will help the new manager.
02:41I think it will help the players take maybe a little bit of the pressure off, albeit it's
02:44still a very, very important game, as you say. But it's then up to them, the manager
02:49and the players, to make Sunday a memorable occasion to give those fans the bigger boost
02:54that they need really going into a much tougher run of games after Christmas.
02:58Look, Wolves are going to need a Christmas miracle to turn around some of their defensive
03:03woes this season. I keep coming back to it because that is the major, major thing to
03:06change. And you may have to do it on Sunday without a couple of extra players as well.
03:12So, yeah, it's going to be a massive task. But the change has been made. The gauntlet
03:17has been thrown down. Vitor Pereira is your man and it's now his turn to get Wolves out
03:21of trouble.
03:22We're discussing here Vitor Pereira's short-term and long-term future at Wolves, I think, more
03:27extensively in the podcast this week, which will be coming up later on this afternoon,
03:30hopefully. Just a word on 18-month contract, Liam, for him. Does that give both parties
03:38an out, do you think? Look, if best-case scenario and Pereira is a huge success and
03:43we'll stay up and maybe stay up hopefully with not a sweat, not too much of a sweat
03:48going into the final few games, great news. Vitor Pereira, of course, I think everybody
03:52will think will be head coach going into next season. But if it doesn't work out and maybe
03:56it's a bit tumultuous and looking at his record at previous clubs, then I don't think it's
04:01going to be all plain sailing. But if they somehow just scrape survival or go down, do
04:07you feel that this could be more of a six-month contract than an 18-month contract?
04:11You're probably right. At the same time, it makes sense to have it as an 18-month contract
04:15because Wolves are in the relegation zone and struggling. So that's the first point.
04:19Secondly, Vitor Pereira has never managed in England. He has been taken from the Saudi
04:25League. The last time he managed in Portugal was at Porto in 2011 to 2013, which was arguably
04:34the best league that he's managed in. So there was also an opportunity for him to prove
04:40himself as well. And I think Wolves giving any longer than 18 months would have been
04:44silly, really, to be honest, for a lot of footballing, commercial and financial reasons.
04:51So they go into this knowing that it's up to him to prove himself and turn this around.
04:56If he doesn't, it's probably quite an easy decision to make.
05:00Full backroom staff?
05:01I couldn't tell you. They haven't announced it publicly yet. I believe the name is Luis
05:08Miguel, his assistant, who's followed him everywhere, who we're expecting to be with
05:12him as well. So it may be a question for the press conference if it's not announced publicly
05:16or we're going to be spotting faces at Leicester and trying to put a face to a name. But yeah,
05:21there will be a full backroom staff because Gary Neal left with all of his first-team
05:25coaches.
05:26Everyone gone?
05:27Yeah, Gary Neal, the keeper coach, Neil Cutler, and also the analyst, Woody Dewar, as well.
05:30So they're a full rebrand for Wolves going into the Christmas period.
05:35It's going to be a fun, hopefully fun ride. Rollercoaster continues. We'll see you soon.