Wolves sack Vitor Pereira after shoddy start to Premier League season with no wins

The Portuguese coach was parachuted in last season to replace Gary O'Neil when the club were in a similar situation, with the Briton being axed with Wolves on nine points in December.

A remarkable turnaround of form saw Pereira safely guide the Molineux outfit away from the relegation zone.

But Wolves never continued that momentum over into this season, with the club suffering damaging defeats to all three promoted teams Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley.

Following that defeat to the Clarets last week saw frustrations boil over with the fans.

Pereira had to be held back by players and stewards after arguing with fans in the stands.

There were many calling for the 57-year-old to leave his role, only for him to keep his job with the Wolves board keen for stability after several big key personnel changes in recent years.

However, Wolves chairman Jeff Shi informed Pereira of his decision to sack him on Sunday morning.

It comes just hours after a 3-0 defeat to Fulham on Saturday, which also saw Emmanuel Agbadou sent off while goalkeeper Sam Johnstone lambasted his team-mates as "embarrassing".

The decision also comes nearly a month after the club handed Pereira a three-year contract extension despite a winless start to the campaign.

However, it has been reported that a clause in that contract means the club do not have to pay out the entirety of that new deal.

As Pereira becomes the fourth manager to lose his job already in the Premier League this season, following Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Graham Potter, the former Al-Shabab coach had been dealt a tough hand in the transfer window.

In the summer, key players Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri were sold to Manchester United and Manchester City respectively while club captain Nelson Semedo departed after his contract expired.

Striker Jorgen Strand Larsen was also at the centre of a transfer saga with Newcastle desperate to sign the former Celta Vigo star, only for him to sign a new contract at Molineux instead.

In his last interview as Wolves manager, Pereira had stuck the knife in on his underperforming squad.

"Tactically, technically, physically, we weren’t good enough," he said on Saturday evening following the 3-0 defeat to Fulham.

"I don’t know why. We all need to take responsibility for this.

"We were not in conditions physically to face Fulham. Tactically we made some mistakes and technically we were not there in the best level.

"I would like to understand what the players felt on the pitch and I must speak with them.

"We need to have a conversation at the next training session and I will try to work out what was missing here.

"I am not proud at the end of the game. We know we can and must play better."

Goalkeeper Johnstone, who prevented the scoreline being more humiliating, was even more scathing.

The England international said: "It's just not good enough and we need to do better. We should be embarrassed. They might not want to hear it but we apologise to the fans.

"I think pretty much everything went wrong. We go down to 10 early, we concede early. I think it's difficult to find words. There's a lot of emotions. It's very difficult."