Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach Gary O’Neil says he is ignoring talk over his future and is fully focused on Monday night’s match at West Ham United.
Wolves fans turned heavily against the 41-year-old during and after Wednesday’s 4-0 defeat at Everton and the club are understood to be considering potential replacements should they be forced into a change.
O’Neil said he had not spoken to chairman Jeff Shi or sporting director Matt Hobbs following last night’s defeat.
“I am not concerned about my future, only the club’s future,” O’Neil said on Thursday.
“I came into work, the same as every other day, I was the first one here this morning and the last one here last night making sure that everything’s ticked off from last night’s game, making sure everything’s ready for Monday’s game and making sure that we’re in a spot where we can push the players again.”
O’Neil is currently expected to be in charge for Monday’s trip to West Ham and on Thursday he came out fighting in his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to London.
“I don’t think about me personally, I think about the team and where we are in the league, and the last two results let us down from the momentum that we created,” said O’Neil.
“But there always comes the next challenge, which comes very quickly at West Ham on Monday.
“There’s a lot in the last two games that the group needs to take on board and learn very quickly from if we want to have a chance of being more competitive, more consistently.
“Losing two games back-to-back, conceding four goals in both of them, is not where we wanted to be having recovered from a tough start and a tough set of fixtures with a really good month in November.”
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Wolves’ players look lost and the support has turned – Gary O’Neil is a manager on the brink
Travelling fans rounded on O’Neil at Goodison Park with boos as he attempted to approach them after the final whistle.
Wolves have won just two of their 14 games in the Premier League so far this season and O’Neil admitted he sympathises with the supporters.
“I’m not hurting on a personal level,” he said. “I’m more disappointed for the fans because I understand how much it means to them every weekend.
“A long time ago I was a football fan and I know how important those days are to you and how your club gets on and how it performs has an impact on how you feel.
“And I know how much they give in travel and time and money to support the football club. I have a good understanding of how they feel and I always say that criticism is part and parcel of the job.”
(Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)
