This Sunday, the Eagles welcome Wolves to Selhurst Park and it has been been an up and down summer, with more comings and goings expected on Deadline Day.
To find out what the Wolves fan base are making of it all, I caught up with Harry Mansell from the excellent Wolves 77 Club Podcast.
TEB – So Harry, what’s it like as a Wolves fan at the moment? From afar, it looks like a disrupted summer hasn’t left you in terrible shape, with a bit of a squad renewal as well?
HM – It’s very much all over the place! We all thought Lopetegui would be in charge for the new season, but he was given false promises and ultimately his relationship with Jeff Shi broke down, resulting in them coming to a mutual agreement to part ways. Also losing Neves and various other key players to balance the books with FFP rules has a lot of fans very frustrated to say the least!
TEB – Sounds tricky! What about the new manager, how have the fans taken to Gary O’ Neil?
HM – Gary O’Neil wasn’t a very exciting appointment and it split the fan base but to be fair to him he has started off very well considering all the negative noise around transfers he’s having to deal with.
TEB – Has the Nunes stuff left a bad taste?
HM – I’m glad he’s going in a way because he hasn’t lived up to the hype and you can tell he’s never really wanted to be here anyway.
TEB – How are you likely line up? / style of play?
HM – We have been playing a 4-4 -2 in the league or a 4-2-3-1 depending on personnel and we try to press high and be aggressive. Gary O’Neil has made it very entertaining that’s for sure as we are creating a lot of chances in games, we just need to start scoring more of those chances!
TEB – So, given a lot of the household names have moved on, who is likely to be your star of the season?
HM – Joao Gomes. He’s very young but is an excellent midfielder who breaks up play but can create and score too if given the chance. He’ll go all the way to the top, have no doubt.
TEB – If I gave you a magic wand, which Palace players would you have starting for Wolves instead of the Eagles?
HM – Straight away I’ll say Eze, what a player! Also, I personally like Schlupp, he has appeared in my fantasy team!
TEB – Prediction for the game?
HM – I’ll go for an entertaining 2 -2 draw.
TEB – Who are Wolves’ big enemies/pantomime villains at the moment?
HM – Has to be Nottingham Forest because of the EFL Cup semi final last year where Morgan Gibbs-White and the Wolves fans relationship completely broke down because he celebrated by sticking his fingers in his ears in front of them. Can’t blame him I guess, his Dad was fighting Wolves fans in the away end at Leeds before his move to Forest.
TEB – Anything else?
HM – May the best team win, Palace is always a very tough place to go on and off the pitch.
TEB – Cheers Harry, here’s to a cracking game. If you’d like to hear more from Harry you can catch him on the award nominated Wolves 77 club podcast.
