Review Time Reveals Mixed Fortunes
With the 2026-27 season already around the one-quarter stage, Gary O’Neil and Keith Andrews appear to be the big winners to date among the large number of former Wolves men now in dug-outs elsewhere.
Part of the reason for their autumn contentment, of course, is that they are plying their trade in no 1 jobs in the toughest league of all.
Andrews continues to confound the sceptics who thought the step up to the head coach role at Brentford a year and a half ago would be too much following the huge success of the Thomas Frank years.
The 1990s Wolves midfielder led the Londoners to a ninth-place finish last spring, denied Conference League qualification only on goal difference, and has them seventh this time following yesterday’s comfortable home win over Nottingham Forest.
He also cuts a highly impressive figure in front of the cameras, so we dare to believe he is in for a long career in this sort of role if he wants it.
O’Neil’s Molineux links are in the much more recent past and he is so far making a good first of guiding the Ipswich side who Kieran McKenna led to the Premier League for the second time in three seasons.
The East Anglians, watched regularly these days by Mark Venus, who lives on the Suffolk/Essex border, have picked up 11 points from their opening nine games.
Three of those matches have been won and O’Neil again looks the convincing character he did when leading Wolves to a final placing of 14th and the FA Cup quarter-final in his one full season here, 2023-24.
By coincidence, that 16-month reign was ended by an Ipswich victory at Molineux, since when the Londoner has been linked with the Chelsea job and spent half a season in France’s top flight with Strasbourg.
Elsewhere, we are hoping our good friend, Keith Downing, and his boss, John Eustace, pull through the difficult and disappointing start to the season that Derby have suffered.
They are one rung off the bottom of the Championship – four places below the Bolton side who now have Downing’s good mate, Rob Kelly, on board.
It seems, though, that even some of those well up the table are experiencing the heat. West Ham’s slip to eighth spot at the weekend left Nuno Espirito Santo admitting that he feels under pressure, sections of home fans having left him in no doubt as to their thoughts.
Plymouth, who have Mike Stowell as goalkeeper coach, are fifth in League One while, a division lower, Paul Cook’s Chesterfield are a couple of places above half-way and Shrewsbury, with Dave Edwards in the dug-out, are a couple of places below it.
Port Vale, where Jamie Smith has remained as part of Jon Brady’s backrom team, continued their climb away from the bottom with an emphatic win over Rochdale.
Finally, north of the border, the early-season satisfaction Alex Rae has had as a Partick Thistle coach was dented as the Championship leaders lost 3-2 at home to lowly Morton.