Wolverhampton Wanderers have confirmed the appointment of Paul Lambert as their new manager on a one-year rolling contract.
Wolves have been on the lookout for a new boss since sacking Walter Zenga less than three months into his reign having won just four of their opening 14 Championship fixtures.
The 47-year-old Lambert was most recently in charge of Blackburn Rovers last season and also has Premier League experience from his time at Norwich City and Wolves' Midlands rivals Aston Villa.
"We are delighted that Paul has agreed to become our new Head Coach. He arrives at Wolves with extensive managing experience at different levels, in recent years in the Premier League and the Championship. Myself and [sporting director] Kevin [Thelwell] have spent many hours with Paul during the lengthy interview process, and have been very impressed with his thoughts on football and his vision for Wolves," main director Jeff Shi told the club's official website.
"Ourselves and Paul share the same vision and the same mission, to achieve promotion from the Championship as soon as possible, and then aim for a higher goal in the Premier League. That mission never changes, and we are doing everything possible to realise it. We strongly believe Paul is the key and long-term leader of Wolves to achieve our goals together with the team. I fully understand the expectations of the fans and I believe we have learned quickly in these last three months and are now moving in the right direction.
"To achieve success we now are now aiming to have a period of stability and all work together with persistence for our common goals. We welcome both Paul and Stuart to the club, and look forward to them working with the existing backroom staff at Wolves to take the club forward and higher up the Championship table. I would also like to thank Rob Edwards for the very professional way he has looked after the team over the last ten days, and I am delighted that we are also retaining his coaching talents as part of Paul's backroom team."
Thelwell added: "This has been a thorough and diligent process during which we have spent a lot of time interviewing different candidates and not only listening to what they have to say, but also talking about the culture of our football club, what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve it.
"Jeff and Sky Sun and the owners have been involved in the process all the way through, and we are really pleased that we have come to a positive outcome and have all agreed on the decision to appoint Paul. First and foremost Paul is a very experienced coach, and, as many people know, is a real student of the game.
"He understands modern structures at clubs, has worked and been successful in the Premier League, and has also secured promotion from the Championship which is a league he knows very well. All that background, along with what he said to us during the extensive interview process, have suggested that he is the right candidate who will be able to lead us forward. We are also pleased to welcome Stuart to the club and pleased that having done an excellent job during this interim period, Rob will also be part of that wider backroom team to support Paul in his role."
Wolves have also appointed Stuart Taylor as first-team coach to work alongside existing coach Rob Edwards.
Barney Corkhill
