'Ståle was considered to be marmite': How Norway's boss impacted Wolves' Irish quartet

Kevin Foley on his former boss,  who is aiming for his finest hour on Saturday when facing England in the World Cup quarter-finals.

NOT SO STALE: Norway manager Stale Solbakken during a press conference at Miami Stadium. Pic: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.

Six of Wolves’ last nine managers hail from outside of the UK and Ireland but the club’s first-ever – Norway’s Ståle Solbakken – left an instant impression.

Relegation from the Premier League under Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor in 2012 convinced the hierarchy to pivot outside the usual markets and what they got was a Scandinavian firebrand.

Kevin Foley was among the Irish legion at Molineux then, alongside Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Stephen Ward.

“Ståle was considered to be marmite by the players and staff,” explained ex-defender Foley about his former boss, aiming for his finest hour on Saturday when facing England in the World Cup quarter-finals.

“He was either liked or disliked – and nobody was in between. There was a bluntness to him and he got straight to the point, an approach that some couldn’t handle.

“Him coming into the club as the first foreign manager was quite the shock, both in terms of his style and what the job entailed for him.”

Solbakken lasted six months and 30 Championship games before being sacked in early January following a fourth defeat on the bounce in the FA Cup at Luton Town.

It would be six years before Wolves returned to the Premier League and, on reflection, Foley believes his skill-set would have been better served in the top-flight.

“He was the right manager at the wrong time for us,” explained the right-back, who earned eight Ireland caps.

“First of all, he inherited a squad in which some players just wanted a transfer straight back to the Premier League.

“Then his approach was 4-4-2, sitting off and operating on the counterattack.

“That didn’t go down well with the Wolves fans, who wanted us to constantly be on the front-foot, taking the initiative to try to go straight back up again. His tactics might have been ideal for us in the Premier League.”

They’ll never know, as the experiment was soon aborted and Solbakken made a return to Copenhagen for the start of the next season.

It was 18 months later when he reconnected with a Wolves link, enticing Foley to Denmark for a reunion.

That proved to be short-lived, primarily due to the defender’s injuries that restricted his game-time to four appearances, but the newcomer could appreciate his methodology yielding results in a different environment.

“Ståle has this dry humour that can cut you down,” says Foley, back at his hometown club Luton Town on the backroom staff.

“Our analyst at Wolves, Andy Findlay, is working with Norway at the World Cup and with Ståle recently asked him if I was still injured.

“He was a very personal manager and helped me settle travelling to a new country without my family.

“Although ultimately it didn’t work out for me there, he spoke highly of me at the end-of-season dinner when a few of us were moving on.

“He developed the team into a title-winning side and ended up generating major money for the club with the sales of Thomas Delaney, Daniel Amartey, Nicolai Jørgensen and Ludwig Augustinsson.

“That was recognised as Johan Lange, formerly as assistant at Wolves, became Copenhagen’s sporting director, and he was eventually headhunted into the same position at Tottenham Hotspur.”

Suitors also hawked Solbakken and over the past six years he’s carved out a unit with his native Norway that brings them to the furthest point of a major tournament.

Foley, like his compatriots, will be rooting for the underdogs and an old mentor.

“I’m not surprised that a team under his management is taking the World Cup by storm,” explained the 41-year-old.

“Martin Odegaard and Erling Haaland are world-class players and you can see the respect they and their teammates have for their manager. He’s a humble man but expects high standards from his players.

“They’ve already beaten Brazil and have every chance of repeating it against England. No doubt, Ståle – or the gaffer as I still call him – will have a plan of action.”