Former Wolverhampton Wanderers managing director Laurie Dalrymple has recently shed light on what it is like to work with Nuno Espirito Santo.
Dalrymple joined the Old Gold in October 2014 as the club’s head of commercial affairs and became Wolves’ managing director two years later following Fosun International’s takeover (per The Athletic).
Following his change to managing director and the eventual appointment of Nuno Santo, the Old Gold finished as champions of the Championship and then seventh in the Premier League a season later (per Transfermarkt).
In the summer of 2019, though, the club released a statement which revealed that Dalrymple had been placed on garden leave and had his contract ended (per Wolves).
During the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, Dalrymple made an appearance to talk about his involvement with Wolves and spent some time discussing Nuno Santo.
He said: “[It was] really enjoyable [to work with Nuno]. I think to operate in that environment, I think everybody in that space is pretty unique in one way or the other because you’re so fiercely competitive.
“You have to demand the very best but he is a unique individual. He came into the club and very, very quickly brought a collegiate environment from players that had been there for many years [and] players that had been there only a matter of days or weeks.
“What he created was a winning culture and what we created as a group was an environment for people, ultimately I guess, to just be the very, very best reflection of themselves.
“Once you do that and once you give people the confidence and the safety that they can do that, you have a very good chance of achieving something special.
“As I say, I think he’s a fantastic coach [and] he settled in so quickly where he is. He deserves a huge, huge amount of credit for what he came in and achieved in such a short space of time. He’s [an] incredible guy.”
TIF Thoughts on what Laurie Dalrymple said about Nuno Espirito Santo…
As can be seen in what Wolves’ former managing director had to say, he has a lot of admiration for the job that the Portuguese manager has done at Molineux.
Does Nuno Espirito Santo have the potential to be Wolves' greatest manager of all-time?
No, he's not that good
Yes, he can be a legend
During Nuno Santo’s tenure, the Old Gold have seen a meteoric rise as they gained promotion from the Championship and then achieved back-to-back seventh-placed finishes in the top flight.
Despite the jump up in divisions, the former FC Porto manager has still been able to earn an impressive 1.78 points-per-game total. So, it is clear to see why Dalrymple was full of praise for Wolves’ gaffer.