Vitor Pereira admits he was left feeling proud after finding out he was nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Season after his stunning work at Wolves.
The head coach has helped turn the club around after taking charge in late December, with the Portuguese having the highest points difference following any mid-season managerial change in the top five European leagues this season.
But Pereira insists the Old Gold’s improvements are not only down to him, and has highlighted the importance of the renewed connection between the players, the staff, the club and its supporters, and maintains that by keeping this spirit, Wolves can achieve ‘special things’ next season.
On Manager of the Season nomination
“I feel proud. It is something that is not my work, it is the work of a lot of people. We feel proud, but we know that we can improve next season and this is the target – to improve, to improve. But we are very proud because it’s not easy to come in a few months and now be in the middle of five fantastic managers.
“But awards are not the most important things, the most important is the way. I did not do this alone. I don’t work for rewards, I work to compete, to get results and to play good football.
“When I came to England, I came because I want to be in the middle of, and to compete with, the best. With the best managers, the best players, the best teams, and that’s why I’m sure that we play the best league in the world.”
On finding out about his nomination
“To be completely honest with you, just 10 minutes ago I receive a message telling me if I knew that I was on the shortlist, but I had this interview to prepare for, so I haven’t had time to enjoy it!”
Congratulations, Vitor! 🙌
— Wolves (@Wolves) May 15, 2025
Nominated for the @premierleague Manager of the Season 🗳️ https://t.co/JZ47J5ljxs pic.twitter.com/ygJrrVfklB
On the changes he’s made at Compton
“We started with the simple things, the routines, routines for us to be connected and to be together, between us and the players, between the players and the staff, the meetings, sometimes we have individual meetings together, sometimes collective meetings, but every day we have a small meeting before the training, we have the meals together and we do simple things.
“We go to the hotel before the games because we need to be together, but these are just small signs and changes, but most important is to give confidence to the players, to create an identity, not only a tactical identity, but a mental identity, an ambition.
“But this is my personality. I believe a manager reflects his personality on the team, so it is important to be competitive, to be ambitious, to want more and more and more, and this is what I want, and this is my challenge and this is the challenge of my team.”
On importance of a positive mindset
“It is important. Sometimes you need to manage the minds of the players. Sometimes you need confidence as a player, sometimes, when the confidence is [high], you need to go back and to take some of this confidence away because imagine if we are in a moment that we think the things will be easier, this is the first step to losing.
“Sometimes we can use the image from the other team to connect the players, to give them confidence from our games, other times to put them connected with the next opponent, trying to show that they have quality and we need to be in our best. It means we can manage the image during the week.”
On creating a connection around the club
“I’ve said this before – football is not only about tactical things and technical things, it’s about people, it’s about players, about connecting people, connecting the players together, connecting the players with the staff, connecting the players with the supporters, connecting supporters to the club, connecting the club with the city.
“This makes part of my job to connect everybody. Of course, we go step by step, not forcing too much, but by being ourselves and creating something that we feel proud about, and what we represent.
“This is the power that we have in a small city. We don’t have a lot of things, but we have football and we have culture – and the culture of a small city is powerful, because I go in the pub, I go in the streets, I go in the city centre, and everybody is connected.
“The club does not have a big training centre. In my career, I’ve been used to having huge training centres, but here we have everything, and the building is not a big building, but this gives us the opportunity to be together every time with everyone. But the club is like the city – the city gives us the opportunity to be together, and together we can create special things.”
On giving Wolves fans a team to be proud of
“Here we have that connection because every time in the corridors, we are together. It’s impossible not to be because it’s small, so we have more time and more opportunities to connect with others.
“This is something that we can use as an advantage for us, and we can understand that we can do something special in this club.
“We can do something special because the club is a family club. The supporters, they just have this club to love, to feel proud of, and we need this connection. We need to deserve the support that they give to us.”
