Rui Pedro Silva, three months after returning to Molineux, is certain that Wolves will rekindle the positivity of his first spell, given how the club has turned things around under Rob Edwards.
The Portuguese was Nuno Espirito Santo’s assistant during the Old Gold's hugely successful journey from the Championship to the Europa League, and in December returned to work under Edwards, offering different skills to his fellow assistant head coaches, as well as experience of the heights this club can reach.
Speaking to Wolves Express in his first exclusive interview since returning in December, Silva insisted that he can still see the same spirit within the club, both at the training ground on a day-to-day basis and at Molineux, showcased during recent victories over Aston Villa and Liverpool.
Silva acknowledged that all clubs will have downward curves as well as success, but having reunited with Edwards and familiar faces behind the scenes, he’s certain that the club is on the right path to go again, and bring the good times back to Molineux once again.
On his return to Wolves in December
“It’s always nice to be back, to be honest. The club is a family to me, the memories are still in me. It was good timing, the club, received me really well, the fans around the stadium, the feelings of the same places, some environment, it was really good to be back.
“To be honest, I didn't expect the welcome from the fans, but when I arrived into Molineux, just walking around the city, the feeling of the fans is getting back, and I was really well received in the city, in the club, and let's expect that we're going to come back again to those feelings.”
On reuniting with Rob Edwards
“I know Rob from before, when he had the under-23s and we were first-team, we had good chats, good conversations about football. Since then, we’ve had a good relationship, so there was a chance. Of course, he trusts in me, in my skills and experience to work with him, and to be honest it was all on him, I was depending on him. Of course, the club knows me, but I'm an assistant coach, and I depend on the trust of the coach and he trust in me, and he thought maybe my skills could be helpful for the team, and that's enough for me.
“I think the language, for sure, can help, because I can space speak with the Portuguese and Spanish boys. Rob had worked before with the other two assistant coaches, so I was coming to help and to fit the free spaces, and be helpful in the technical staff. I try to do the best for the club and for the technical staff. That's what I'm trying to do.
“I was the linking point between the academy and the first team [first time around]. In that moment Rob was very interested in all of our training sessions, questioning why we did things, and there was plenty of afternoons where we chatted about football and shared some ideas. The connection began there, and we kept this connection, when he was at Luton, I was at Forest, but it was a very friendly relationship between me and Rob.”
On growing while away from Wolves
“It was really good for me to be a manager [at Famalicao], because in that one year and a half I experienced the feeling of being a manager. So, because I experienced that role, I probably can be more helpful and understand the moment where I need to approach the coach, where I need to step away, where I need to understand his position, and try to help more in that situation.
“When you are an assistant coach, and you’ve never experienced being manager, probably you are certain of a process, but when you become a manager, you know that you are lonelier in your decisions. Sometimes it's not just right or left, sometimes there is a middle way, and when you know the manager is very lonely sometimes in his decisions, maybe you can help him in a different way and understand his decisions better and stick on the same page. Going through all the experiences will really help you become a better assistant coach.”
On returning to the same club
“A lot of things are familiar to me. One thing that really didn't change was the passion that you felt in Molineux, especially the last two Premier League games that we played against Villa and Liverpool, you felt the noise, the passion is there, so about that nothing has changed. Of course, all the clubs go up and down, good moments, bad moments, but the good thing is that the club wants to do good things again, wants to put everything on the track again, so I think it will be the same Wolves that we knew before.”
On a club ready to go again
“When we started here, it was not the best moment, they were trying to change things. Even in our first days here, there were some doubts, the times that you know you've got pains to grow up, there will be bad moments, but the people at the base inside are ready to grow up again and to be big again. There’s no doubt inside of the club, the feeling is still here.
“The club is not only the players, it's about all the staff, most of the time a club stays because of the base that you've got from the players, but also the staff around the club. I think they've got the winning mentality inside of the club, and when the players come and the staff can transmit this winning mentality into the players, this keeps on going. It was just a bad moment in the career of the club, and for sure we're going to be back again.”
On looking back at his first stint
“The first year in the Championship was amazing. It was, for us, the first impact to a different culture, it was difficult for us because I think at first we were not really ready for that, but we can adapt quickly to a different culture. In our first year we had a very balanced group of people that understand the reality of the Championship and people that were really good as players, but at the same time, had hunger to grow up and win fast, and when we joined everything together, that year had amazing moments, great winning moments, and we had a really good season. It was an unforgettable season to be honest.”
On the mentality built first time around
“Sometimes we have a naïve mentality that we can win all the games, but we truly believed that. I remember our second season in the Premier League, the players around us truly believed that we were going to win all the games. You could ask players if they thought maybe we could become champions of the league, because they truly believed that we were going to win all the games. We built up this mentality around all of the players, and the bond was really strong, everybody running to the same side. When we joined a good process of playing football, a good mentality and a good pack of players where everybody wanted to fight for a win, it’s tough to beat a team like this.
“We worked before at top clubs like Porto, Valencia, where 90 per cent of the games we were going to win, and it was bringing that mentality into the club, and the way of playing probably needed to fit the players as well. I remember Conor Coady mentioned after the first three games in the Championship that we were doing amazing. But I said, ‘That's normal, mate. We should win all the games until the end of the season’. It was a really tough season, at the end I was totally dead, but if I need to pick one of the seasons, the Championship was really nice to be involved in. The Championship was the beginning of everything, we started building the base, the winning mentality. If you look to the team that played in the Premier League next year, we just fitted two, three good players, but the base was there.”
On his passion on the sidelines
“I just need to be careful with the yellow cards, because sometimes the anger and the passion mix a little bit with the fighting. For sure, that passion, I’ll never lose it. I have a good relationship with the referees and I understand their point to take care of the product that is football. Sometimes there is a line between the passion and the fighting, but sometimes it's needed. In the middle of the game it's hard to control the emotions, the adrenaline is there, but a couple of yellow cards will be okay during the season.”
On the positivity turning at Compton
“I feel since Rob arrived at the club, the feeling at the the training ground has been different. The environment, the lads are working really hard, to be honest. They are fighting to win a game, running, listening to all the words, all the instructions, all the info that we try to pass to them. The feeling inside of the training ground, of course, is better now that we've got some wins, but you go inside of the dressing room, the feeling is really good. It's would say the environment that we're going to win the game is there.”
