2016–17 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. season
# 2016–17 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. season

The 2016–17 season was the 139th year in the history of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. The club competed in the second tier of the English football system, the Football League Championship for a third consecutive year.

This was the first season for the club under the ownership of the Chinese investment group Fosun which acquired the club on 21 July 2016 for a reported £45 million. Although head coach Kenny Jackett's position was initially confirmed by the new owners, he was replaced by Walter Zenga before the season proper began. However, Zenga lasted just 14 league games before being dismissed with the team in 18th place.

Paul Lambert was appointed on 5 November, but despite leading the team to two victories away at Premier League opposition in the FA Cup, the club's league form showed only a marginal improvement in the form of a 15th-place finish, one place lower than the previous campaign (although with an identical points tally of 58).

Following an internal review of the season, it was announced on 30 May that the club had decided to relieve Lambert of his position.

## Results

### Football League Championship

A total of 24 teams competed in the Football League Championship in the 2016–17 season. Each team played every other team twice, once at their stadium, and once at the opposition's. Three points were awarded to teams for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats.

The provisional fixture list was released on 22 June 2016, but was subject to change in the event of matches being selected for television coverage or police concerns.

**Results summary**

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

Source: Statto.com

**Results by round**

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H |
| Result | D | W | D | W | L | D | L | W | W | L | L | D | L | L | D | L | D | L | W | D | L | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | L | L | L | L | L | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | W | D | L | L | W |
| Position | 8 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 21 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 13 | Aston Villa | 46 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 47 | 48 | −1 | 62 |
| 14 | Barnsley | 46 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 64 | 67 | −3 | 58 |
| 15 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 46 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 54 | 58 | −4 | 58 |
| 16 | Ipswich Town | 46 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 48 | 58 | −10 | 55 |
| 17 | Bristol City | 46 | 15 | 9 | 22 | 60 | 66 | −6 | 54 |

### EFL Trophy

Wolves were one of the sixteen teams from outside the bottom two divisions of the Football League to be invited to field their academy team in the competition due to it holding Category 1 academy status. They were drawn in Group B in the Northern section.

## Players

### Statistics

Key: ‡ On loan from another club * First appearance(s) for the club

* # = Squad number
* Pos = Playing position
* P = Number of games played
* G = Number of goals scored
* GK = Goalkeeper
* DF = Defender
* MF = Midfielder
* FW = Forward
* = Yellow cards
* = Red cards
* † Permanent player left club during the season
* ¤ Loaned to another club for part or all of season

Correct as of end of season. Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances in parentheses where applicable.

| No. | Pos | Name | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | | |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Pos | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline | Notes |
| 1 | GK | Carl Ikeme | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | Matt Doherty | 41(1) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1(1) | 0 | 45(2) | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Sílvio | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | David Edwards | 42(2) | 10 | 2(1) | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 44(5) | 10 | 9 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Richard Stearman ‡ | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Danny Batth (c) | 39 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | James Henry ¤ | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | George Saville | 15(9) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20(9) | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Nouha Dicko | 19(11) | 3 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20(12) | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | Joe Mason | 9(10) | 3 | 1(1) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12(11) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | Jordan Graham | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | Jed Wallace ¤ | 5(4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8(4) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | Jonathan Flatt ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | Lee Evans | 12(3) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15(3) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | Ola John ‡¤ | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | Conor Coady | 34(5) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 39(5) | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | Hélder Costa ‡ | 30(5) | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1(1) | 1 | 34(6) | 12 | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | Dominic Iorfa | 21(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24(1) | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 19 | MF | Jack Price | 17(2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | 20(3) | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | Prince Oniangué ¤ | 8(2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9(2) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | Andy Lonergan | 9(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | Jón Daði Böðvarsson | 22(20) | 3 | 2(1) | 0 | 0(3) | 0 | 24(24) | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Ethan Ebanks-Landell ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | João Teixeira ‡ | 9(8) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12(8) | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | Nathan Byrne † | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | Paul Gladon | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | FW | Bright Enobakhare | 8(5) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9(5) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | Romain Saïss | 19(5) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19(6) | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | Sylvain Deslandes ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | DF | Cameron Borthwick-Jackson ‡ | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | Kortney Hause | 23(1) | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 29(1) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | Harry Burgoyne ¤ | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | Donovan Wilson | 0(1) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | MF | Connor Ronan | 3(1) | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | DF | Connor Johnson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | MF | Ivan Cavaleiro | 17(14) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17(14) | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 55 | MF | Morgan Gibbs-White | 2(5) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(6) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 60 | DF | Mike Williamson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 63 | MF | Andreas Weimann ‡ | 15(4) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17(4) | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 64 | MF | Ben Marshall | 13(3) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13(3) | 2 | 1 | 0 |

### Awards

| Award | Winner |
| - | - |
| Fans' Player of the Season | Hélder Costa |
| Players' Player of the Season | Hélder Costa |
| Young Player of the Season | Connor Ronan |
| Academy Player of the Season | Morgan Gibbs-White |
| Goal of the Season | Hélder Costa (vs Cardiff, 1 April 2017) |

## Transfers

### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 July 2016 | Rory Brown | Crusaders | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Andy Lonergan | Fulham | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Elliott Watt | Preston North End | Free |
| 30 July 2016 | Sílvio | Atlético Madrid | Free |
| 2 August 2016 | Jón Daði Böðvarsson | Kaiserslautern | £2,700,000 |
| 15 August 2016 | Prince Oniangué | Reims | £2,000,000 |
| 26 August 2016 | Paul Gladon | Heracles Almelo | £1,000,000 |
| 29 August 2016 | Jack Ruddy | Bury | Undisclosed |
| 30 August 2016 | Romain Saïss | Angers | £3,000,000 |
| 31 August 2016 | Ivan Cavaleiro | Monaco | £7,000,000 |
| 13 January 2017 | Duckens Nazon | Kerala Blasters | Free |
| 28 January 2017 | Dániel Csóka | ZTE | £135,000 |
| 30 January 2017 | Hélder Costa | Benfica | £13,000,000 |
| 31 January 2017 | Ben Marshall | Blackburn Rovers | £1,500,000 |
| 31 January 2017 | Sherwin Seedorf | Nike Academy | Free |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 June 2016 | Rajiv van La Parra | Huddersfield Town | £750,000 |
| 30 June 2016 | Razak Boukari | Châteauroux | Free |
| 30 June 2016 | Zeli Ismail | Bury | Free |
| 30 June 2016 | Liam McAlinden | Exeter City | Free |
| 30 June 2016 | Aaron McCarey | Ross County | Free |
| 30 June 2016 | Tommy Rowe | Doncaster Rovers | Free |
| 30 June 2016 | Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson | Molde | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Eusébio Bancessi | Pogoń Siedlce | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Rhys Bills | Released | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Jordan Clement | Romulus | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Joe Delacoe | Released | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Owen Eggington | Nuneaton Borough | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Callum Harris | Patro Eisden | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Bradley Lindsey | Boldmere St. Michaels | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Tendai Matinyadze | Released | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Declan Weeks | Southport | Free |
| 1 July 2016 | Ashley Carter | Kidderminster Harriers | Free |
| 5 July 2016 | James Kellermann | Aldershot Town | Free |
| 11 July 2016 | Răzvan Oaidă | Brescia | Undisclosed |
| 22 July 2016 | Kevin McDonald | Fulham | £1,250,000 |
| 31 August 2016 | Nathan Byrne | Wigan Athletic | £500,000 |
| 13 January 2017 | Connor Hunte | Greenwich Borough | Free |

* ↑ Following Boukari's release, he signed for Châteauroux.
* ↑ Following Ismail's release, he signed for Bury.
* ↑ Following McAlinden's release, he signed for Exeter City.
* ↑ Following McCarey's release, he signed for Ross County.
* ↑ Following Rowe's release, he signed for Doncaster Rovers.
* ↑ Following Sigurðarson's release, he signed for Molde.
* ↑ Following Bancessi's release, he signed for Pogoń Siedlce.
* ↑ Following Clement's release, he signed for Romulus.
* ↑ Following Eggington's release, he signed for Nuneaton Borough.
* ↑ Following Harris' release, he signed for Patro Eisden.
* ↑ Following Lindsey's release, he signed for Romulus.
* ↑ Following Weeks' release, he signed for Southport.
* ↑ Following Hunte's release, he signed for Greenwich Borough.

### Loans in

| Date from | Player | From | Date until |
| - | - | - | - |
| 29 July 2016 | Hélder Costa | Benfica | 30 January 2017 |
| 2 August 2016 | João Teixeira | Benfica | End of season |
| 22 August 2016 | Cameron Borthwick-Jackson | Manchester United | End of season |
| 22 August 2016 | Ola John | Benfica | End of season |
| 31 August 2016 | Richard Stearman | Fulham | End of season |
| 19 January 2017 | Andreas Weimann | Derby County | End of season |

* ↑ On 30 January 2017, Hélder Costa joined the club on a permanent basis.

### Loans out

| Date from | Player | To | Date until |
| - | - | - | - |
| 15 August 2016 | Connor Hunte | Stevenage | 7 January 2017 |
| 25 August 2016 | Bradley Reid | Wrexham | September 2016 |
| 31 August 2016 | Ethan Ebanks-Landell | Sheffield United | End of season |
| 31 August 2016 | Aaron Collins | Notts County | 9 January 2017 |
| 31 August 2016 | James Henry | Bolton Wanderers | End of season |
| 2 September 2016 | Ben O'Hanlon | Nuneaton Town | October 2016 |
| 13 January 2017 | Ola John | Deportivo de La Coruña | End of season |
| 16 January 2017 | Prince Oniangué | Bastia | End of season |
| 19 January 2017 | Jed Wallace | Millwall | End of season |
| 31 January 2017 | Sylvain Deslandes | Bury | End of season |
| 31 January 2017 | Will Randall | Walsall | End of season |
| 31 January 2017 | Aaron Simpson | Portsmouth | End of season |
| 31 January 2017 | João Teixeira | Nottingham Forest | End of season |
| 25 February 2017 | Harry Burgoyne | Barnet | 4 March 2017 |
| 23 March 2017 | Aaron Collins | Tranmere Rovers | End of season |
