Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Wolves have won three of 22 Premier League games under Rob Edwards (right)
Football reporterPublished2 minutes agoCommentsThe front doors at Compton broke one Friday afternoon.
For a few minutes a number of people at Wolves' training ground were locked out before the problem was fixed. It feels like an appropriate metaphor for the club's season.
Wolves were broken and manager Rob Edwards has been trying to piece them back together since November. Handed a near impossible task, he has been unable to save them.
Relegation from the Premier League was confirmed by West Ham's 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on Monday.
The club has been anchored to the bottom of the table since week three of the campaign with just three wins but, despite a wretched season, there is positivity within the club and an expectation of better times ahead.
That may jar against the slow downward spiral which has led the club to this point.
Protests against owners Fosun and former executive chairman Jeff Shi underlined the fractures at the club which have been festering for a number of years and spread on to the terraces during Wolves' awful start to the season.
Wolves have been circling the drain and have now been pulled under as they prepare to play in the Championship for the first time since 2018.
Failure to replace their best players after selling Raul Jimenez, Diogo Jota, Ruben Neves, Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri over the past few years has been central to Wolves' downfall.
None of the summer 2024 signings is a regular, with only Rodrigo Gomes and Sam Johnstone part of the matchday squad.
Emmanuel Agbadou, Nasser Djiga and Marshall Munetsi joined in January 2025 to help keep Wolves up, but Agbadou was sold to Besiktas last month with Djiga and Munetsi sent on loan this season.
Of last summer's signings, winger Jhon Arias has been sold to Palmeiras in Brazil for just over £20m after arriving from Fluminense, while Fer Lopez returned to Celta Vigo on loan.
It is evidence of the regret surrounding the transfer business, with no Premier League experience added after losing Cunha to Manchester United and Ait-Nouri to Manchester City, with Nelson Semedo and Pablo Sarabia leaving for free.
That point was made to former director of professional football Domenico Teti, who left days after Victor Pereira's sacking, but he signed off on the signings.
Pereira was unhappy at how slowly business got done and felt he did not get his first-choice players - to the point where he regretted staying and signing a new contract - but they were still players he approved.
At the time Wolves felt there was value in the European market - Ladislav Krejci's loan from Girona has been their best business - but David Moller Wolfe, Tolu Arokodare and Jackson Tchatchoua arrived for a combined £45m with minimal impact.
There was certainly no expectation Wolves would tank this season because of the transfer business, but sources say the lesson has been learned and there is a sense of relief for a clean slate and a desire to avoid making the same mistakes again.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Wolves fans have made their feelings clear towards the club's owners
"You've sold the team - now sell the club," chanted fans at Molineux in October as frustrations reached boiling point.