Wolves journalist Tim Spiers has been speaking about the departure of Nuno Espirito Santo from Molineux.
The Portuguese head coach took charge of his final game on Sunday, a 2-1 loss at home to Manchester United after it was announced last Friday that he would depart at the end of the campaign.
The club announcement claimed that the decision to move on was a ‘mutual agreement’ between the club and Nuno, and speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s Ornstein and Chapman Podcast, Spiers claimed that based on what he was hearing, it was possible that Nuno departed because of the strain that the past few seasons, especially based on the congested summer that the club went through, had put on him:
(3:20) “I spoke to staff at the club who said sort of mental fatigue was at an incredible level on the opening weekend of the season. I mean, that’s just no way to go into it. I think that has certainly sort of played its role in Nuno’s departure. I mean, he’s looked weary this season, he’s sort of lost that energy, he’s lost that glint in his eye.
(3:59) “They’re so big on preparation and organisation game by game, week by week and the pandemic just got rid of that. If you look at where Wolves were when the pandemic started, they were fifth in the Premier League, and in the last 16 in the Europa League, and it’s all sort of fallen apart slowly since then.
“And that period, pre-pandemic Nuno is sort of frozen in time now, he never got booed off by fans, ever. There was no disgruntlement from the stands, so that universal sort of love that they all have for each other sort of frozen in time really, and everything since that has happened has partly contributed to his exit.”
TIF Thoughts on Tim Spiers’ comments about Nuno Espirito Santo’s departure
Do you think Wolves will have a tough summer?
Yes, it feels that way
No, we will be fine
If this is indeed what played a part in the decision to part ways, then you can’t really put a lot of blame on Nuno’s shoulders.
What he did for the club was nothing short of remarkable, and having put all that work in through some difficult times, taking them to back-to-back 7th placed finishes and a Europa League quarter-final, you could argue that he took them as far as he could.
And rather than having to go through another stressful summer of having to rebuild things to get them back up again, if he wants to take a sabbatical to recharge his batteries, you won’t find many people that would blame him for doing so.
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