New Wolves Head Coach Paul Lambert has played, coached and managed at the highest levels.
As a player, the Glaswegian played 40 times for Scotland, including at the 1998 World Cup in France, and captained his country on 15 occasions.
A midfielder, he won the Scottish Cup with St Mirren at the age of 17, all the Scottish domestic honours during eight years with Celtic, and then the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund in 1997.
In the 3-1 final victory against Juventus, Lambert broke off from marking duties on Zinedine Zidane to set up Karl-Heinz Riedle’s opening goal.
The achievement saw him become the first Scottish player to win the European Cup with a non-UK team and first British player to pick up a winner’s medal since it was reformed to the Champions League.
Regarded as a real student of the game, and with his knowledge enhanced from his time in German football, Lambert studied for his coaching badges and went into management, firstly with Livingston, as his playing career came to an end.
His first job in England came with Wycombe Wanderers, whom he led to the League Cup semi finals in 2007, drawing the home leg with Chelsea 1-1 before defeat at Stamford Bridge in the second.
His next job came with Colchester United where a 7-1 opening day victory against Norwich City at the start of the 2009/10 season quickly saw him grab the attention of the Canaries.
Not long afterwards he was installed into the Carrow Road hotseat, guiding Norwich to the League One title in that first season at the helm.
The momentum, and success, continued at some pace, Norwich then achieving a second successive promotion to reach the Premier League.
A return to the top flight did not bring about the usual difficulties for many promoted teams, Norwich finishing in a very respectable 12th position in the 2011/12 season with 47 points.
From there Lambert was attracted by the managerial position at Aston Villa, where he was to spend almost three seasons.
In his first campaign, in 2012/13, Villa boasted the youngest starting eleven in the Premier League and finished 15th in the table.
During some difficult times at Villa Park another 15th placed finish followed in the 2013/14 campaign before Lambert and the club parted company in February, 2015.
The 47-year-old joined Blackburn in November, 2015, and helped Rovers secure their SkyBet Championship status before activating a release clause in his contract at the end of the season, citing that he and the club were moving in different directions.
Lambert has been keeping a close eye on football this season by working in the media and has also continued with his regular trips to watch German football and study different coaching methods.
He now has a chance to improve Wolves’ fortunes, selected as the new Head Coach after an extensive recruitment process with the aim of improving the team’s fortunes after a difficult start to the season,
Everyone at Wolves welcomes Paul and new first team coach Stuart Taylor to Molineux and look forward to working with them.
