• Wanderers' chairman urges sceptics to examine track record
• Morgan dismisses Norwegian's brief reign at Cologne
Steve Morgan, the Wolverhampton Wanderers chairman, has defended his surprising decision to appoint Stale Solbakken as manager and urged sceptics to look at the Norwegian's "tremendous track record" in Denmark rather than his brief and unhappy reign last season with Cologne, which he dismissed as a "dysfunctional club" with no stability.
Solbakken was unveiled at Molineux on Monday, after agreeing a one-year rolling contract with the Championship club and, although the reaction among fans has been a little underwhelming, Morgan suggested that the 44-year-old's arrival should be seen as a coup for the Midlands club. The former Norway international won five Danish titles in six years with FC Copenhagen before his sacking at Cologne last month and, according to Morgan, had two clubs offering Champions League football chasing his services this summer.
"I think you've got to look at Stale's career, both as a player, where he was very successful, and as a manager, where the man is a winner," said Morgan, who did concede that Solbakken would be viewed as a "left field" and "alternative" appointment. "He had one bad season but, if you look where he had a bad season, it's a very dysfunctional club. We're the complete opposite of clubs like Cologne. I'm not picking on them but when you look at 26 managers in 25 years, I think Wolves, since the history of the club, haven't had that many managers. It's not my style, either, to hire and fire. We like to work with people and try and pull together as a team, so, no [he doesn't have to get promoted in the first season], absolutely not.
"If you were to criticise [Stale] for anything, it's possibly, and we all get things wrong, for going there in the first place. It was probably not the right club to go to. At the time, he had three different Bundesliga clubs after him, as indeed he had two clubs who are involved in the Champions league next season after him this time. So I think it was quite a coup for him to come to Wolves. It was because we were quick off the mark."
Solbakken, who flew back to Norway on Monday "with 38 DVDS from this season" to get up to speed with the relegated squad he has inherited, described managing Cologne as an impossible task. "Jesus and José Mourinho would have struggled together at that club this year," he said. "Cologne is a wonderful city with wonderful fans, 50,000 each game that live and breathe football. They will always bounce back but they have some struggle with the in-fights in the club and that is what killed us this year."
There were no bold statements about the impact he hopes to have in English football although the result Solbakken picked out as the highlight of his managerial career provided a gentle reminder to those that have questioned his credentials. "I think the best was with Copenhagen, playing against Barcelona when they were at their peak. I think we were the team that they struggled against," Solbakken said. "They beat Real Madrid five-nil, two or three weeks afterwards. We were fighting to win the group stage at that point. We drew 1-1 and we deserved it."
Opponents in the Championship will be nothing like as glamorous. "I know and understand it's a very tough league, a marathon, with 46 games but I think it's a myth that it's only kick and rush and fighting. I've seen stylish teams also in the Championship," said Solbakken, who will be assisted by Terry Connor, who is returning to the role he held before he took over as interim manager after Mick McCarthy was sacked in February. Wolves also plan to recruit a director of football over the coming months.
The timing of McCarthy's dismissal, with only 13 matches of the season remaining and the transfer window closed, was widely criticised but Morgan did not sound like a man that had suffered any sleepless nights wondering whether he had made the right decision.
"Mick was having a bad season," he said. "It's easy to say we might have stayed up if Mick had been there. You forget we lost god knows how many games in a row and had got thumped 5-1 by West Brom by us using some pretty naive tactics. At the time, if you look at the club's performances, they were completely unacceptable. That 5-1 defeat was the final straw [that broke] the camel's back." Read More
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