Stale Solbakken

[LeTallecWiz]

The new manager of Wolves. Good appointment here -

Solbakken named new Wolves boss
By ESPN staff

Norwegian coach Stale Solbakken has been confirmed as the new manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves have been without a permanent boss since they sacked Mick McCarthy in February, replacing the coach with his assistant Terry Connor on an interim basis.

Connor was unable to save the club from relegation, and, ahead of the final match of the 2011-12 Premier League campaign, he is winless in charge of the Midlands club.

Former Norway international Solbakken, 44, has now been announced as Wolves' new boss, and will officially take over on July 1 as they plan for next season in the Championship.

Solbakken, who made six league appearances for Wimbledon in the 1990s, parted company with Bundesliga side Cologne last month following a poor run of form.

He made his name as head coach of FC Copenhagen where he won five league titles and will becomes Wolves' first foreign manager.

Solbakken's playing career came to an end when he suffered a cardiac arrest in 2001 during a training session with FC Copenhagen, when Roy Hodgson was in charge.

Chief executive Jez Moxey said on the club's official website: "Following talks with Stale Solbakken I am happy to confirm that he has agreed to become our new manager. He will be formally introduced to the media on Monday."

"I am delighted to be taking up the important challenge to manage Wolves. It's an exciting opportunity to manage a great club and I can't wait to get started."

 

[irishred]

Four months too late! But a superb appointment nonetheless for Wolves.

 

[Hansern]

Fantastic lad and a fantastic manager. Great appointment by Wolves

 

[Holle]

Fans of 1.FC Cologne would beg to differ.

 

[Y1]

Will Stale refresh Wolf?

 

[kingjulian]

Four months too late! But a superb appointment nonetheless for Wolves.

He isn't called stale Solbakken for nothing....

 

[Hansern]

Fans of 1.FC Cologne would beg to differ.

Yeah, with 25 managers in the last 20 odd years that really means a lot I guess..

The team had no funds, a squad that badly needed restructuring and the media there is insane. Cologne is just a horrid place to be a manager.

He'll do great a Wolves. No doubt.

 

[King Binny]

To be fair, in his 1st season with Cologne, they finished 10th in the league. Looks like a good appointment for Wolves but they'll have to back him and keep the current squad intact. They looked most capable of the relegated teams to bounce straight back into top flight.

 

[Holle]

Yeah, with 25 managers in the last 20 odd years that really means a lot I guess..

The team had no funds, a squad that badly needed restructuring and the media there is insane. Cologne is just a horrid place to be a manager.

He'll do great a Wolves. No doubt.

Solbakken tried to install a new defensive system which he fucked up royally. He knew that his preferred system didn't suit the players but insisted to play this way.

No other manager gained less points in 30 matches than Solbakken. And this is because of a massive lack of tactical nous of the manager.

No doubt - Solbakken is a nice enough bloke, maybe too nice. Some of the players clearly didn't respect his authority which was also part of why all went tits up.

We'll see how long he'll last at Wolves.

 

[StevieM]

He sounds like a strange loaf of bread that's gone off.

 

[Hansern]

He's a massive Liverpool fan.

Part of the reason their defensive system crumbled was because they were extremely unfortunate with injuries. I think they were 10th or 12th or something at the winter break. Podolski got injured, the goals dried up and they fell towards the bottom.

In the end Cologne was the wrong club for him. He had brillant results at Copenhagen, and will achieve the same for Wolves. The working environment at Cologne was extremely hostile, the squad was divided in groups and the sporting director a cock. Ståle was at fault aswell obvs, but Cologne needs restructuring, new players and a new set up. That isnt easy without funds.

 

[King Binny]

Alcohol, relegation, defensive chaos and boardroom confusion: Stale Solbakken will not be too worried by the situation at Wolverhampton Wanderers, because he has experienced it all and worse this season at Cologne.

Solbakken inherited a mess at Cologne last summer, arriving after notable successes in Norway and Denmark. But, by November, club president Wolfgang Overath had quit, and he was not replaced for months, as Solbakken feuded with sporting director Volker Finke. Many of his players' over-exuberant social lives caused problems, and by the time Solbakken was dismissed last month Cologne were just as downwardly mobile as Wolves. Like Solbakken's new club, they will be playing second-tier football next season.

But for all the crises that went on around him in Cologne, Solbakken could not be accused of passivity. "He took a big decision," Ian Holyman, Bundesliga commentator for Eurosport, told The Independent. "He took the captaincy from Lukas Podolski to Pedro Geromel. It was a massive decision, Podoslki was known as 'Prince Poldi', he was the king of Cologne. It was always going to be an unpopular decision."

There was a similar issue with style of play. "Solbakken introduced a new zonal concept to defending," Holyman said. "The team never got their heads round it: they conceded 75 goals, the worst in the division."

His system served him well in Norway and Denmark. Solbakken won five titles in six years in Copenhagen, with a well-drilled approach that owes something to Roy Hodgson, under whom Solbakken played in 2000-01. "He plays a 4-4-2 formation with every player covering for each other," German football journalist Ben Gladwell says.

The most important thing about that season under Hodgson, though, was what happened to Solbakken in March 2001. He survived a heart attack, after which he was pronounced clinically dead. After overcoming that, he knows that there are more important things than football. "He uses this ethos to motivate his team and does not take anything too seriously," Gladwell said.

Solbakken's relaxed approach was certainly tested, though, by the conduct of some of his Cologne players. Miso Brecko crashed his car while drunk. Kevin Pezzoni got his nose broken in February. Slawomir Peszko got in a fight with a taxi driver last month. "The problems were already there before Solbakken came in," Holyman said.

It is little surprise he could not turn it around. "He was adjusting from a low-key league where he was allowed to work in peace and quiet to one of the most controversial clubs in one of the biggest leagues in Europe," Gladwell explained.

Solbakken might not get much peace and quiet at Molineux, with restive fans, an unpopular boardroom and the misconduct of Roger Johnson. But he cannot say he is unprepared.