WOLVES OWNER Steve Morgan has challenged caretaker manager Terry Connor to stake a claim for the job on a permanent basis after being appointed for the remainder of the season. Connor will be in charge for the final 13 matches – starting with today’s encounter at Newcastle United – and given the task of keeping second-from-bottom Wolves in the Premier League.
The English midlands club have come in for criticism after failing to land an established manager as the sacked Mick McCarthy’s replacement. But Morgan has faith in Connor, who has been at Molineux for 13 years, to plug the gap left by McCarthy after his contract was terminated 11 days ago.
He said: “We believe we have made the right decision. Certainly the players’ reaction has been incredibly good and we look forward to Terry taking the club from now until the end of the season.
“We have seen a number of people, we have narrowed it down and it became clear with the way the players were responding to Terry that he was the right person to take us forward. At the moment it’s an interim appointment but he’s got a chance to stake a claim.”
Wolves were linked with a number of names including Alan Curbishley, Steve Bruce, Brian McDermott, Dave Jones, Gus Poyet and Walter Smith before turning to Connor.
Meanwhile, Connor has promised a positive response from the “hurting” Wolves players today as they look to bounce back from the 5-1 hammering by local rivals West Brom.
Former Leeds United, Portsmouth and Brighton striker Connor is relishing the challenge confronting him and his players against Alan Pardew’s side. He said: “I’m looking forward to it. There will be 52,000 people there. Everyone thinks we are going up there to be slaughtered. But we will be up there giving a good account of ourselves, that’s for sure . . . The lads were hurting after 5-1 at home to your local rivals and they will be wanting to turn that around.”
