Ben Rasmin

I don’t paraphrase rock stars too often, but ‘another one bites the dust’ seems fitting when musing on Wolves’ latest managerial change.

Sadly for Bruno Lage, his dismissal has not been met with the sort of (bohemian) rhapsody that saw Nuno ejected from the Molineux hotseat amid a groundswell of supporter appreciation.

The reason for that was painstakingly clear after Saturday’s insipid defeat at the hands of West Ham.

Despite having the old gold in European contention for most of last season, Lage undoubtedly failed his supposed mandate to make us a more attractive side to watch.

Indeed, the final embers of his tenure saw some of the most painstakingly dull displays I’ve witnessed in many a year.

Whether it was the no-show at Newcastle in April or the almost laughable mauling at the hands of Brighton, it’s fair to say the wheels had come off well before the axe fell on the Portuguese.

To be fair, Lage wasn’t dealt the easiest of hands. He had to make do with virtually no backing last season, forcing him to abandon his supposed attack-first principles in favour of the defensive solidity that had been such a hallmark of the Nuno era.

And when backing from Fosun did arrive, it came well after pre-season had ended. Nathan Collins, Goncalo Guedes, and Matheus Nunes may all be high calibre acquisitions, but it’s difficult to drop them into a team that is already struggling.

That’s not to mention our long-gestating issues in attack, with Raul Jimenez and Fabio Silva failing to prove they are the answer to that conundrum (albeit for very different reasons). When something vaguely resembling a solution arrived, he did his cruciate ligament after 45-minutes and forced us to send an SOS in the direction of a semi-retired Diego Costa.

Nobody is saying the Wolves job was a cakewalk for Lage. But the sight of Ruben Neves – that most gifted of midfield maestros – at the heart of a defence deprived of its long-term lynchpin (who he willingly jettisoned) was the final straw for most. Put simply, he’d lost the plot and needed to go.

So who next?

Assuming it’ll be another name from the Gestifute stable, you’d have to say that soon-to-be-axed Sevilla chief Julen Lopetegui would represent something of a coup for the club. With three consecutive top-four finishes and a Europa League to his name, the Spaniard’s work in Andalusia has been mostly impressive.

It’d certainly be a more exciting appointment than Pedro Martins, whose conquering of Greek football does little to suggest he’s the man to steer us away from a Premier League relegation battle.

Bo Svensson of Mainz seems like an interesting, left-field choice but would represent a major gamble given our current predicament.

And while a return for Nuno would carry an obvious sentimental value, it doesn’t feel like the correct decision at this moment in time.

Lopetegui gets my vote, but it remains to be seen if he can be convinced to jump from one job to another.

Regardless of who the new man is, he’s got a big job on his hands to get a tune out of a squad that seems adverse to scoring goals and are no longer particularly good at keeping them out.

It’s been a summer of unceremonious exits at Molineux.

John Ruddy’s Wolves career received its eulogy long after his departure became public knowledge, so too Romain Saiss’.

But the blink and you just might miss it nature of Conor Coady’s exit is easily the toughest to stomach.

For so long, Coady embodied everything that was good about the current regime in WV1.

Amidst all the glitz and glamour associated with the influx of Gestifute recruits, our Scouse skipper kept things refreshingly real.

No player arguably embraced the Fosun revolution more than he did, so drastic was his conversion from average Championship midfielder to the sweeper at the heart of Nuno’s five-man defence.

Indeed, I distinctly recall a grisly Championship away day at Reading when my voice went hoarse barracking Coady for a rather inept midfield performance.

To say I was surprised to witness such a seamless transition to specialist centre-half was an understatement.

But now we know what we do, it’s not shocking at all.

Coady is the consummate professional and, in that sense, Everton’s gain is certainly our loss.

It will be more than difficult to replace his leadership qualities, both on and off the pitch.

And it will be equally taxing to ensure that his departure does not lead to a disconnect between the fans and players.

Building those bridges was arguably one of the greatest triumphs of the Nuno era, and it’d be desperately disappointing if such a rift was to re-emerge.

That shouldn’t be the case, given that the likes of Neves and Moutinho remain in our ranks.

But Coady’s absence will be felt, especially in the early throes of the daring new era Bruno Lage appears to be ushering in.

This is definitely the biggest call Lage has made as head coach since he assumed the position, and it’s one that could go one of two ways for him.

If the transition to a back four pays off, then he’ll be lauded for his bravado and foresight.

Should that not prove to be the case, it’s hard to envisage a long-term future for the Portuguese in the Molineux dugout.

These are uncertain times in WV1 and it’s difficult to predict how things will play out. So for the time being, let’s just raise a glass to one of our best ever skippers.

Here’s to you Conor, thanks for the memories.