Kieran Trippier on Wolves, Championship Challenges, and Manager Changes
Kieran Trippier strolls into the room in full Wolves gear – vest, shorts, sliders – looking every inch the new signing settling into a new home. The conversation, though, quickly circles back to the moment that jolted that home off its axis.
Three days after he signed, the manager he’d named as a key reason for dropping into the Championship, Rob Edwards, was gone. Sacked. And as the shock rippled through supporters, Wolves were already fast‑tracking a deal for César Peixoto.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie, I wasn’t expecting it,” Trippier says. No dressing it up. “But it’s the club’s decision. I had good chats with Rob, of course, but I’m here to play for Wolves. There are many surprises in football and that certainly was a surprise, I’m not going to deny that. But I just cracked on, I was with my kids on holiday, training in Mallorca and just looking forward to day one in pre-season.”
The noise started almost instantly. Had he changed his mind? Was he looking for a way out?
“I’ve read it all: that I was looking to rip my contract up, and all this nonsense,” he says. “I was just looking forward to reporting back to Wolves. I don’t know where it even came from to be honest, that I was looking to rip my contract up – it certainly didn’t come from me, otherwise you would have heard it from me, that’s just the player that I am.”
That blunt honesty has followed him everywhere. From Burnley to Tottenham, from Atlético Madrid to Newcastle, and through four major tournaments with England. It is part of why dressing rooms warm to him, why fanbases buy in.
He has left a Champions League final with Spurs, a La Liga title under Diego Simeone and a Carabao Cup triumph with Newcastle behind him. He played every game of England’s run to the Euro 2024 final. Now, at 35 and turning 36 in September, he is preparing to start a Championship season for the first time since he helped Burnley out of it 12 years ago.
The contrast is stark. Barcelona at St James’ Park last September; Bolton at Molineux in October.
“I’m not ashamed to go to the Championship because I played in it for many years,” he says, rewinding to his teenage days at Barnsley, defending alongside Darren Moore. The move came after clear-the-air talks at Newcastle. “I had a good chat with Eddie Howe and Ross Wilson and made my decision at the end of the season that I wanted to try something new. There were a few clubs but it was important for me that I was close to my children.”
Home is Manchester. The league he is re-entering is unforgiving. He remembers that clearly. He was part of the Burnley side that came to Molineux in the penultimate game of 2012‑13, won 2-1, and effectively sent Wolves spinning towards League One.
That experience now becomes a resource.
“I’ve been speaking to my teammates because the majority of them have never played in the Championship, so it’s important for myself and the lads who have to help them and try and make them understand that it’s going to be difficult.
“I’ve just said: it’s relentless, because it is … and it’s totally different to the Premier League. Going to Lincoln away is going to be a difficult game, but they’re good lads who have listened to me, Tommy, Adam. The lads will be ready.”
This is Trippier’s first external interview since signing a two-year deal, with an option for another 12 months. Before committing, he did his homework. He rang Tommy Doyle, Conor Coady, John Ruddy and Sam Johnstone, even sounding them out while on holiday in Turkey, to learn “the insides of the club.”
Edwards’s exit a month after André renewed his deal, and just 48 hours after Raúl Jiménez returned to add to the buzz created by Trippier’s arrival, still lingers in the background. Yet Trippier has seen enough upheaval to speak with perspective, not least about Howe’s own departure from Newcastle after four-and-a-half years.
“He helped the club stay in the Premier League, twice qualified for the Champions League, won a trophy, but the most important thing he did was reconnecting the supporters with the team,” Trippier says. “I was told before the takeover that it was not a good place to be – the fans were against the owners, the board etc – but when the new owners came in, and the manager, he connected everyone, just like Gareth Southgate did with England.”
Talk of Howe’s legacy at St James’ Park quickly escalates.
“He’s won a trophy, hasn’t he?” Trippier replies, smiling, when asked if a statue would be fitting. “But that’s not for me to decide … the parade was incredible, the big banner of the manager showed the love the supporters had for him and still have now. When I first went there, it was a tough place, especially after getting beat by Cambridge, but maybe that was a blessing, really, so we could just focus on the Premier League … he will go down in history there, for sure. I’m gutted to see him go.”
The conversation swings again, this time to England’s World Cup semi-final collapse against Argentina, when a deep defensive block finally gave way.
“I’ve been in that position many, many times with Simeone – I could name 30 games when he’s done it and we’ve managed to see it out, typical Simeone for you. He’s the master of the dark arts and seeing out games. Thomas Tuchel has been in that position many, many times, won a Champions League trophy with Chelsea, did unbelievable with Bayern Munich … it just didn’t happen. We were against one of the greatest players ever who can flick a switch,” he says of Lionel Messi, clicking his fingers. “I’ve played against him many times where he just walks for 60 minutes, but then he can score a hat-trick. That’s just the magic of him.”
Back at Wolves, the new man in the dugout is a relative unknown to English audiences. Not to Trippier.
Peixoto, who impressed at Gil Vicente last season, has already made his presence felt. His English is strong enough that Trippier has not had to lean on his Spanish, though he jokes that in Madrid, when the postman came, he would send his son to the door because the boy was fluent.
So what has Peixoto brought?
“Really demanding. Honest. On the training field he is 100mph, nuts – in a good way – but he’s really, really demanding and I think that’s what we need as players if we want to be successful,” Trippier says. “He’s very demanding, like Pochettino and Simeone. He has his own rules: don’t break his trust, don’t be late. I wouldn’t like to be on his bad side, let’s put it that way.”
Trippier is twice the age of Mateus Mané, the 18-year-old livewire he marked for Newcastle last season and now trains alongside. That gap does not bother him. It energises him.
“I feel good, I feel probably in the best shape I’ve been in for many, many years. I’m not as fast as I used to be but I always believe I am clever and fast up here,” he says, tapping his temples. “I feel like I’ve still got many years left in the tank.”
For Wolves, landing him was a statement. A player who chose to leave Atlético Madrid for a relegation fight at Newcastle now steps down again, this time into the second tier.
“It’s similar to when I went to Newcastle, when I left Atlético Madrid … There were a lot of eyebrows raised, but throughout my whole career I’ve had no regrets.”
He is part of Peixoto’s leadership group and knows what awaits when the season opens at Blackburn on Friday night.
“Going into the Blackburn game, the first game of the Championship season, all eyes will be on us,” he says. “When teams get relegated from the Premier League, everybody wants to beat them. It was a tough year for Wolves last year, but this season is a new season, like a reset. The reality is now we’re in the Championship, so you have to forget what happened last season and look forward, be positive. Our goal has to be to go straight back up to the Premier League.”
The surprise of a manager sacking, the weight of expectation, the grind of 46 games – Trippier has seen most of it before. The question now is whether his experience, and Peixoto’s intensity, can drag Wolves straight back to where he believes they belong.
