In preparation for the season, the club made three signings during the summer transfer window.
Jamie O'Hara, who had spent part of the previous season on loan at Wolves, was tied to a permanent deal, while defender
Roger Johnson who had suffered relegation with
Birmingham City was also bought. Goalkeeper
Dorus de Vries was signed on a free transfer, having rejected a new deal at newly promoted
Swansea, to provide competition to
Wayne Hennessey. Having recruited extensively in the previous two summers since promotion, the addition of only three new players was a change in tack by the club, with chairman
Steve Morgan stating ''"We don't need to do what we did the last two summers because the nucleus is there - the nucleus is 24-26 years-old. That's the heart of the team and they'll get better together."'' The players began pre-season training on 5 July with six-day stay at a training camp in
County Kildare, Ireland. After returning to England the team undertook six pre-season matches, concluding with the only friendly at their Molineux home, a game against
La Liga side
Real Zaragoza. Competitive action began with a 2–1 victory at
Blackburn, the same opponent that they had faced on the final day of the previous season when they narrowly avoided relegation. A second win arrived in their next fixture, a home game against
Fulham which was played with the North Bank stand closed to spectators due to its on-going reconstruction. Owing to the different kick-off times of matches, for a few hours after this victory Wolves briefly sat top of the Premier League. An away point at
Aston Villa continued their best opening to a top flight campaign in decades, but defeat at home to
Tottenham halted this run. The team then began to drop down the table after suffering a run of six defeats in their next seven matches. Three points were finally gained after defeating
Wigan in early November, and after two away defeats, a second successive home win was gained by beating
Sunderland. The Christmas/New Year period added more points, including from two trips to face
Arsenal and
Tottenham, but no further victories. The two North London clubs also provided Wolves with their two loan signings of the January window with defender
Sébastien Bassong (from Tottenham) and midfielder
Emmanuel Frimpong (from Arsenal) joining for the remainder of the campaign. Frimpong's service would be however be limited to five appearances as he soon ruptured cruciate ligaments in his knee and returned to his parent club. Former Wolves starlet
Robbie Keane returned to Molineux in mid-January with his loan club
Aston Villa and scored twice to turn a 2–1 Wolves lead into a 2–3 defeat that dropped the club into the relegation zone for the first time. Another home loss three days later to
Liverpool prompted chairman
Steve Morgan to enter the dressing room after the game. Manager
Mick McCarthy conceded that he was not pleased by this event but that he didn't feel his authority had been eroded. Their following fixture brought their first win in twelve attempts – including two matches against
Championship side
Birmingham City in the
FA Cup before their elimination. The 2–1 win at fellow strugglers, newly promoted
QPR was to be both their final victory of the season and, ultimately, the final one of McCarthy's reign. A 1–5 home thrashing at the hands of
local rivals West Brom in their next game proved to be McCarthy's final in charge of Wolves. The morning after the match he was sacked after five-and-a-half years at the helm, the longest reign of any Wolves manager since
Graham Turner in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The search for McCarthy's successor began immediately, with CEO
Jez Moxey setting a provisional timetable for an appointment before their next fixture in twelve days time. Their pursuit of a new manager turned into a much-maligned event in the media, with a large number of candidates being linked with the position, and seemingly turning it down. The two most strongly linked candidates were the former
Charlton and
West Ham manager
Alan Curbishley and
Steve Bruce, recently fired by
Sunderland. Both were widely reported as having been interviewed by the Wolves hierarchy. Ultimately, neither were appointed and instead the task of managing the team was given to assistant manager
Terry Connor for the remaining thirteen games of the season. with Connor having no previous management roles. Over the following weeks it emerged that
Alan Curbishley was the only candidate who had also been offered the post but, after initially accepting it, had later had second thoughts and declined it. Connor's first game at the helm brought a point as the team battled back from two goals down to draw 2–2 at
Champions League hopefuls
Newcastle. However things soon fell apart under Connor's control with the team losing their next seven consecutive matches, including a pair of 0–5 defeats, that left them mired at the foot of the table. Key home defeats to relegation rivals
Blackburn and
Bolton only worsened their prospects of avoiding the drop. During this period captain
Roger Johnson was fined by the club for arriving at training under the influence of alcohol. Although a goalless draw at
Sunderland in mid-April eventually halted their losing streak, as well as a club record run of 30 league games without a clean sheet, Two further points were gained to bring their final points tally to 25, one of the lowest recorded in any league campaign during the club's existence as well as the lowest in the Premier League for four seasons. would not be retained as manager and Norwegian coach
Ståle Solbakken would instead take charge from July onward. Connor had failed to win any of his thirteen games in charge and gained just four points from a potential 39. ==Results==