Managers
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This article lists all managers, caretaker managers and/or head coaches of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club since its foundation is 1877 until the present. Served by 32 different permanent managers throughout its history, three-quarters of them were born in the United Kingdom with the remaining quarter consisting of Norwegian Ståle Solbakken (2012–13), Italian Walter Zenga (2016), Portuguese duo Nuno Espírito Santo (2017–2021) and Bruno Lage (2021–2022) and Julen Lopetegui (2022–2023), who is Spanish, coming from overseas.
From 1877 to 1922, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager/head coach has today. There were two secretaries during this period, George Worrall and Jack Addenbrooke, the latter being the longest serving manager in the club's history. In 1922, the club broke from this tradition and appointed George Jobey as the first full-time manager.
The club's most successful manager is Stan Cullis, who won three league championships, two FA Cups and one FA Charity/Community Shield and was the first to bring continental football to the club during his 16-year reign from 1948 to 1964. Previously also a notable player for the club, he narrowly missed out on becoming the first manager to win the league-and-cup double in English football history, when Burnley pipped his FA Cup winning team, to the league title by a single point in 1960.
Bill McGarry and John Barnwell are the only managers since Cullis to have won major silverware, both winning the League Cup (in 1974 and 1980, respectively). The former also took the club to the debut UEFA Cup final in 1972, its best performance in a continental campaign.
Graham Turner achieved three trophies in two seasons in the late 1980s, with back-to-back divisional titles (the Third and Fourth Divisions) and the Football League Trophy (now the EFL Trophy). Turner's success bucked a downward trend for the club in the mid-1980s that saw three different managers preside over three successive relegations.
Dave Jones, Mick McCarthy and Nuno Espírito Santo have all since had promotion successes that took Wolves into the Premier League. Jones won the 2003 First Division play-offs and McCarthy and Espírito Santo both won the EFL Championship (the former in 2008–09 and the latter in 2017–18). Kenny Jackett also recorded a promotion success, winning Football League One (now EFL League One) as champions with a record points total of 103 in 2013–14.
Managers and head coaches
edit- Only competitive first-team matches in official competitions are counted
| Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win %1 | Honours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anton Marek |  Austria
|
July 1947 | July 1949 | ||||||
| Émile Veinante |  France
|
July 1949 | July 1950 | ||||||
| Émile Veinante | France
|
July 1949 | July 1950 | ||||||
| Elly Rous | France
|
July 1950 | December 7, 1950 | ||||||
| Numa Andoire | France
|
7 December 1950 | 27 November 1952 | 65 | 37 | 9 | 19 | 56.9 |  1950–51 Division 1 champions 1951–52 Division 1 champions 1952 Coupe de France winners 1952 Latin Cup runners-up
|
| Mario Zatelli | France
|
29 November 1952 | 30 June 1953 | ||||||
| Bill Berry |  England
|
July 1953 | July 1955 | 68 | 25 | 18 | 25 | 36.8 | 1954 Coupe de France winners
|
| Luis Carniglia |  Argentina
|
July 1955 | July 1957 | 68 | 29 | 15 | 24 | 42.7 | 1955–56 Division 1 champions 1956 Trophée des Champions runners-up
|
| Jean Luciano | France
|
July 1957 | July 1962 | 186 | 80 | 39 | 67 | 43.0 | 1958–59 Division 1 champions 1958 Coupe Charles Drago runners-up
|
| Numa Andoire (2) | France
|
July 1962 | July 1964 | 72 | 21 | 19 | 32 | 29.2 | |
| Pancho Gonzales | Argentina
|
1 July 1964 | 27 January 1969 | 166 | 64 | 40 | 62 | 38.6 | |
| Léon Rossi | France
|
1 February 1969 | 15 June 1969 | 1970 Trophée des Champions winners
| |||||
| Léon Rossi (2) | France
|
1 August 1970 | 4 October 1971 | ||||||
| Jean Snella | France
|
7 October 1971 | 1 July 1974 | 1972–73 Division 1 runners-up
| |||||
| Vlatko Marković |  Yugoslavia
|
1 July 1974 | 25 November 1976 | 1975–76 Division 1 runners-up 1976 Mohammed V Cup runners-up
| |||||
| Jean-Marc Guillou | France
|
25 November 1976 | 26 January 1977 | ||||||
| Léon Rossi (3) | France
|
26 January 1977 | 1 July 1978 | ||||||
| Ferenc Kocsur |  Hungary
|
1 July 1978 | 1 January 1979 | 1978 Coupe de France runners-up
| |||||
| Albert Batteux | France
|
1 January 1979 | 1 July 1979 | ||||||
| Léon Rossi (4) | France
|
1 July 1979 | 1 July 1980 | ||||||
| Vlatko Marković (2) | Yugoslavia
|
1 July 1980 | 10 September 1981 | ||||||
| Marcel Domingo | France
|
10 September 1981 | 1 July 1982 | ||||||
| Jean Sérafin | France
|
1 July 1982 | 1 July 1987 | ||||||
| Nenad Bjeković | Yugoslavia
|
1 July 1987 | 1 July 1989 | ||||||
| Pierre Alonzo | France
|
1 July 1989 | 1 November 1989 | ||||||
| Carlos Bianchi | Argentina
|
1 November 1989 | 1 July 1990 | ||||||
| Jean Fernandez | France
|
1 July 1990 | 25 December 1990 | ||||||
| Jean-Noël Huck | France
|
25 December 1990 | 3 November 1992 | ||||||
| Albert Emon | France
|
3 November 1992 | 31 August 1996 | 1993–94 Division 2 winners
| |||||
| Daniel Sanchez | France
|
31 August 1996 | 1 December 1996 | ||||||
| Silvester Takač |  FR Yugoslavia
|
1997 Coupe de France winners 1997 Trophée des Champions runners-up
| |||||||
| Michel Renquin |  Belgium
|
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| Silvester Takač | FR Yugoslavia
|
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| Victor Zvunka | France
|
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| Guy David | France
|
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| Sandro Salvioni |  Italy
|
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| Gernot Rohr |  Germany
|
1 July 2002 | 25 April 2005 | ||||||
| Gérard Buscher (C) | France
|
25 April 2005 | 1 July 2005 | ||||||
| Frédéric Antonetti | France
|
1 July 2005 | 1 June 2009 | 2006 Coupe de la Ligue runners-up
| |||||
| Didier Ollé-Nicolle | France
|
1 June 2009 | 9 March 2010 | ||||||
| Éric Roy | France
|
10 March 2010 | 15 November 2011 | ||||||
| René Marsiglia | France
|
15 November 2011 | 22 May 2012 | ||||||
| Claude Puel | France
|
23 May 2012 | 24 May 2016 | 152 | 61 | 34 | 57 | 40.1 | |
| Lucien Favre |  Switzerland
|
24 May 2016 | 30 June 2018 | 76 | 31 | 21 | 18 | 48.7 | |
| Patrick Vieira | France
|
11 June 2018 | 4 December 2020 | 77 | 31 | 21 | 25 | 40.3 | |
| Adrian Ursea |  Romania
|
4 December 2020 | 23 May 2021 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 37.0 | |
| Christophe Galtier | France
|
31 May 2017 | 1 June 2021 | 38 | 20 | 7 | 11 | 52.6 | 2021–22 Coupe de France runners-up
|
| Lucien Favre | Switzerland
|
27 June 2022 | 9 January 2023 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 29.4 | |
| Didier Digard (C) | France
|
10 January 2023 | 30 June 2023 | ||||||
| Francesco Farioli | Italy
|
30 June 2023 | 23 May 2024 | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 |
Note: Win percentage is rounded to one decimal place.
References
edit- Manager History for Wolverhampton Wanderers at Soccerbase.com
- Matthews, Tony (2008). Wolverhampton Wanderers: The Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-632-3.
- Matthews, Tony (2001). The Wolves Who's Who. West Midlands: Britespot. ISBN 1-904103-01-4.