Wolverhampton Wanderers have terminated the contract of head coach Vítor Pereira after a catastrophic beginning to the Premier League campaign. The decision leaves the club rooted to the bottom of the table, having secured a mere two points from their opening ten fixtures.
The Portuguese manager, who successfully guided the team to safety after his appointment last December, saw his tenure unravel rapidly this season. The final blow was a comprehensive 3-0 loss to Fulham this past weekend, a performance Pereira himself labeled as the poorest since his arrival.
Despite awarding Pereira a new three-year deal just last month, the club’s hierarchy felt compelled to act. In a statement, Executive Chairman Jeff Shi expressed gratitude for Pereira’s work in stabilizing the club last term but stated the current situation was untenable. The entire first-team coaching staff has also departed Molineux.
The club’s reluctance to make another managerial change—their fourth since 2021—was overcome by the sheer scale of the on-pitch crisis. The team has conceded a league-high 22 goals and has not won a top-flight match since April, leaving them eight points from safety.
Analysts point to a difficult summer transfer window as a core component of the struggles. While the club spent approximately £90 million on six new signings, the strategy focused on acquiring young talent for future profit, leaving the squad critically short of top-flight experience. Key senior players were sold or released, and the manager is understood to have had significant, but ultimately flawed, influence over recruitment, with several primary targets slipping through the net.
The relationship between Pereira and the supporters had deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. Visible frustrations boiled over during a late home defeat to Burnley last month, leading to a heated confrontation. The loss of the dressing room’s confidence, coupled with erratic team selections and the heavy defeat at Fulham, ultimately forced the ownership’s hand.
With Pereira’s departure, the club’s longstanding connection to super-agent Jorge Mendes will fuel speculation over the next appointment. In the interim, academy coaches will oversee first-team training as the search for a successor begins, with the urgent task of reviving a season that already appears to be in serious peril.