Vitor Pereira says Wolves fans should be ‘proud’ of team, following altercation with home support
Vitor Pereira says Wolverhampton Wanderers fans should be “proud” of their team after he became involved in an angry confrontation with a group of supporters after Sunday’s defeat to Burnley.
Both Pereira and striker Jorgen Strand Larsen approached fans after Burnley scored a stoppage-time winner at Molineux in the Premier League, with Pereira appearing to shout angrily at spectators in the Sir Jack Hayward Stand.
Fans had chanted “you’re getting sacked in the morning” towards Pereira and “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” at his players, while calling for owners Fosun to sell the club as Wolves fought back from 2-0 down to 2-2, only to lose in added time.
It extended their winless run to 13 league games, dating back to April of last season, and leaves them with just two points from nine games this season, having now lost to all three newly-promoted clubs.
“I went to speak with them,” said Pereira in his post-match press conference.
“What I said to them is we worked a lot and we need to fight together. But I understand the frustration.
“When you were there for 90 minutes trying to help the team, and the team gave everything on the pitch to win, and in the end, you conceded a goal, I understand the frustration.
“But what I must say to them is, if we fight with them, united, we can win games, we can compete and we can achieve our targets. Without them it’s impossible.
“Two months ago they sang my name because of the work that we did last season and we are competing in the Premier League, not in the Championship.”
Pereira added: “But I understand that now, without results, this is football now they sing my name maybe to sack me. At the end of this game, if I was a supporter, I would feel proud of my team because they worked and the players showed the mentality.
“They showed ambition and spirit to win the game. Even losing 2-0, we scored two goals and in the second half, we deserved to score more goals.”
Strand Larsen led Wolves players towards the Sir Jack Hayward Stand to thank supporters after the final whistle and then made his way to the perimeter of the stand to speak to fans who were venting their frustrations.
(David Rogers/Getty Images)
Stewards stood between him and supporters, with the rest of the Wolves squad, followed soon afterwards by Pereira.
Strand Larsen, who was Wolves’ captain for the day, said: “I know how it feels for supporters and I know how it feels for players.
“Sometimes, you just have to go and listen. It’s hard to say anything because you don’t want to make it worse.
“So I think this was about allowing them to speak and us listening.
“These supporters are the ones who drive us forward. They are always there for us, always have been and I can understand their frustration right now.
“Obviously, if I was a Wolves’ supporter, I’d be frustrated myself. We get that. We’re not trying to save ourselves.
“We went over there to listen and to give our apologies because we know it’s not good enough. At the same time, I think we need to look a little bit deeper into that because today we deserved to win.”
Wolves are next in action at home to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
