🐺 Wolves in the Algarve: A Pre-Season of Promise, Purpose, and Painful Memories from 2009
With the 2025/26 Premier League season fast approaching, Wolverhampton Wanderers have officially begun their preparations in earnest. The squad has taken to the Algarve, Portugal, for an intense 10-day training camp aimed at building both the physical foundations and tactical fluency required for a successful campaign.
While the present-day Wolves group grinds away under the watchful eye of head coach Vítor Pereira, stories from the past still echo loudly among supporters. One pre-season in particular — the club’s now-legendary summer of 2009 under Mick McCarthy — continues to live on in the minds of former players and fans alike, not just for its intensity, but for the way it forged a side that defied the odds to survive in England’s top flight.
This year’s pre-season offers parallels to that pivotal summer — a focus on fitness, leadership, and belief. But it also marks a new chapter for a club looking to grow from stability into something far greater.
🇵🇹 Wolves in Portugal: A New Era Begins
The Pereira Project
Wolves’ decision to head to Portugal this pre-season isn’t just a matter of climate or convenience. It’s a statement of intent. For Vítor Pereira, this is his first full summer with the squad after arriving midway through last season and overseeing a notable improvement in form.
Under his guidance, Wolves rediscovered consistency, organisation, and purpose — qualities that now serve as the foundation for his vision moving forward. There’s a cautious optimism around Molineux that the club could make a real push for European qualification this season, especially with Pereira’s methods finally being given time to embed.
Blending Youth and Experience
The Algarve training camp features a healthy mix of senior pros and promising youth players. Wolves have long invested in their academy, and this pre-season is a key opportunity for young prospects to stake their claim for first-team involvement.
Players like Nathan Fraser, Leon Chiwome, and others have joined the senior side in Portugal. Meanwhile, seasoned professionals like Max Kilman, José Sá, and Toti Gomes are setting the tone with their professionalism and intensity.
Speaking from his hometown in Portugal, Toti Gomes highlighted his sense of pride and responsibility:
“Coming home with this group is special. I feel like I’ve grown a lot here. It’s not just about me anymore — the younger players look to us now. Leadership is something I take seriously.”
Gomes, now entering his fifth season with the club, has become a quiet but vital figure in the dressing room. His leadership, both vocal and by example, mirrors what Wolves fans saw from club stalwarts during past periods of transition.
🔙 The Pre-Season of 2009: When Survival Meant Suffering
While the current Wolves squad acclimatizes to the Portuguese sun, the story of one of the club’s most iconic pre-seasons — the 2009 tour of Australia — continues to resonate.
That summer, Mick McCarthy had just led Wolves to the Championship title. But unlike most celebratory sides, there was little time to bask in the glory. McCarthy understood the challenge ahead: newly promoted teams often struggled to adapt to the relentless demands of the Premier League.
So he devised a plan — a brutal one.
A Different Destination
Instead of the usual pre-season trips to Ireland or Scotland, McCarthy decided to take the team to Australia, trading misty mornings for dry heat and unrelenting workloads.
Former midfielder Dave Edwards, who played a key role in the club’s return to the top flight, recently spoke to Wolves Express about the experience — one that still haunts him to this day.
“Mick thought we had to be the fittest team in the league to stand a chance. I’ve never had ten days like it in my life.”
The Daly Regime
The man responsible for delivering McCarthy’s vision was fitness coach Tony Daly, a no-nonsense trainer with an Olympic background. Daly’s sessions pushed players to the brink.
“We’d be split into three groups,” Edwards explained. “Two would be doing attack versus defence drills. The other would be doing 800-meter runs around the outfield at the WACA.”
The players were required to run five laps at a time, each within a brutal target of 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The mental and physical toll was immense.
“We were convinced something was off. It was so hard to hit the time. One of the lads — probably a striker because they hated running the most — brought out a measuring wheel.”
That wheel proved the players right: the circuit wasn’t 400m as expected, but 430m. That meant each “800m” run was really 860m — a 60m difference they didn’t discover until the final day.
“We’d been suffering more than we had to, and we didn’t even know it,” Edwards said, laughing in hindsight.
🛡️ Survival Through Sweat: The 2009/10 Season
All the pain, sweat, and second-guessing paid off.
Wolves went into the 2009/10 Premier League campaign battle-ready. Though they struggled in attack — scoring just 32 goals, the fewest in the division — their fitness and defensive organisation were unmatched among the league’s bottom sides.
They conceded just 56 goals, better than any of the other bottom-eight teams. That was enough to keep them afloat. Wolves finished 15th, confirming survival with two games to spare. It was the club’s first successful top-flight survival since 1980–81.
That pre-season, though unforgiving, laid the groundwork for belief. It was a defining moment in the club’s modern history — a triumph of planning, perseverance, and pain.
🔁 Past Meets Present
It’s unlikely that the current Wolves squad will be subjected to mismeasured laps or WACA-style suffering this summer — modern sports science has evolved. But the principles remain.
Pre-season is about setting the tone. It’s about forging unity in discomfort, turning individuals into a team. It’s about finding leaders, testing characters, and giving young players the chance to rise.
Vítor Pereira understands this. While his methods may differ from McCarthy’s, his objective is the same: build a side that can compete, endure, and succeed.
🏁 Looking Ahead
With a new season on the horizon, Wolves fans have reasons to be hopeful. The squad is training with intensity and purpose, the manager has a clear identity, and the blend of youth and experience feels balanced.
And just like in 2009, this pre-season may one day be looked back on as a turning point — not just in terms of fitness or tactics, but in belief.
The Algarve sun may not burn like the Perth heat, and the training runs may be perfectly measured — but the stakes, the expectations, and the dreams are just as high.
Stay tuned for more updates from Wolves’ training camp in Portugal, behind-the-scenes interviews, and full coverage leading into the 2025/26 Premier League season.