Why Walter Zenga was always on borrowed time

It’s late October. Walter Zenga has been sacked as Wolves Head Coach. Didn’t we all see this coming?

Following Wolves 1-0 home defeat to Leeds United at the weekend, on Tuesday 25th October, just 8 days after his appointment, Wolves Head Coach Walter Zenga has been relieved of his duties.

Wolves were five without a win and fans are already looking for reasons for the downturn.  Naturally, the first finger points the the man in charge and he has been the one to take the fall.

A whole squad of players brought in, a new era to embrace. The charismatic Italian already had a small mountain to climb. However, has this always been the case for the former Sampdoria man?

Following his unexpected appointment a few days before the start of the new season, fans and the media questioned the decision. A man who has managed as many teams as incarnations of Doctor Who was under fire already.

Despite his press conference anecdotes that Wolves were the biggest team in Italy, fans warmed to his charismatic personality and philosophical look on football.

He answered questions openly on his varied managerial career, but, ultimately, one thing was going to answer those critics – results.

Walter made the ideal start. A rousing comeback away to Rotherham on the opening day of the season. An outstanding home debut v Reading and second half slaughtering of Birmingham City at St. Andrews won him in fans hearts. After knee sliding to the away support after that derby win, Zenga became that cool guy at school we all wanted to be friends with.

After an unlikely 2-0 away win against Newcastle following Wolves 4-0 defeat at home to Barnsley, the era of Zenga seemed to be on the horizon.

Sadly the following results had not been one’s to saviour. Wolves now find themselves in 18th, four points off the relegation zone and without a win in five matches.

Here lies the problem for Walter Zenga. He was always on borrowed time.

A universal decision to give a manager patience and time is a rare gift in today’s football game. Only then does a manager have a chance to plant their roots and grow. Take Brendan Rodgers first season at Liverpool for example.

A few weeks ago I spoke on the podcast of my theory that If Zenga lost 2-3 games in a row, fans would turn on him. Why? Well, because his checkered managerial past would ultimately be his achilles heel. It would be the ace up the sleeves that fans could return to, to question the Italian.

Although my theory raised mixed responses at first, over the last few days we started to see fans opinion change on the head coach.

Perhaps that change is partly down to the largely influential powers social media now has on the modern game. A small flame can turn into an uncontrollable fire with just a little bit of fuel.

Zenga’s dethroning now shows the ruthlessness of Fosun. Kenny was kept and thrown away in a week. Zenga in two months.

Our Chinese overlords want Premier League football. Jeff Shi aims to be in or around the Playoffs by Christmas. What will come now is a true test of Fosun’s desire for glory or their football naivety. Appoint the right man and they show their ambition. Appoint another gamble or journeyman and fall into the categories of those wealthy teams in the Championship wilderness such as Leeds and Nottingham Forest.

The feeling with Zenga was that he was a stop-gap appointment. Fosun missed out on Lopetegui and looked for someone to fill the void. Fosun now need to take their time, not be rash and appoint a manager befitting their perceived ambition.

So, was anything going right for Zenga?

Firstly, he had the backing of most fans. Where as Jackett was the professional, due diligent boring safe pair of hands, Walter is the maverick, rock and roll hipster fans crave.

Ultimately we as football fans want a foreign hipster manager playing continental football with highly regarded under the radar Inestia’s in every position. Many fans hoped he was the first part of this perfect painting.

Fans wanted him to succeed so he could become what we all wanted him to be.

Secondly, pre-season. Whilst other managers had the luxury of a summer of planning, Zenga had to start at game one. He was thrown in the deep end and initially rode the colossus Championship waves with ease.

Thirdly, Walter also has had to try to accommodate thirteen new signings and keep a very large squad happy and hungry to compete for places. All whilst trying to find the right combination on the field. Not an easy task.

Lastly, although Wolves were unable to pick up a win, the margins of their failure for three points were close. Wolves should have beaten Aston Villa at Villa Park. They were poor away to Brighton but they could have picked up a last minute equaliser and a boring point was easily on the table at home to Leeds.

Despite all of their flair, in recent days Wolves inability to convert real chances were the difference between Zenga continuing to ride the wave and falling into the sea. Zenga can pick the team and change the tactics but on the field, it is the players who have that moment to strike.

Like his predecessors before him, I wanted Walter Zenga to succeed. I criticised the appointment at first but like all fans I wanted anyone in charge to succeed.

Sadly for Walter Zenga, out of his control, he had been in a battle to keep a Pandora’s box of doubt closed since day one.

Walter Zenga – The Zenga bus has stopped. Hang back the keys. We hope you enjoyed the test drive.