Vítor Pereira, 56, has not yet been able to draw Liverpool’s attention, but has enjoyed life ahead of the modest but traditional, Wolverhampton.
The club that was once three times English champion, in the distant 1950s, allowed the Portuguese to realize the dream of working at the trendy Premier League, the elite of England football.
His greatest ambition was to command the giant of the English city famous for being the cradle of the Beatles, but the work ahead of the “wolves” has provided the coach the recognition he sought.
When Pereira was hired in December 2024, the Wolves seemed doomed to relegation. In 16 rounds, they had won only two matches, occupied the 19th position and were five points away from the salvation line.
Since its arrival, the scenario has changed significantly. In the next 16 rounds, the team won eight wins, including an unprecedented sequence for the club of four consecutive triumphs in the English elite.
Although it occupies the 16th place in a competition with 20 teams is far from great merit, in commanding the reaction of Wolverhampton and, practically, to deliver it from relegation, Vítor Pereira became an idol.
He arouses empathy for trying to create a stronger connection with fans. The English press has made several records of the coach drinking beer with fans to celebrate good results.
The most recent meeting took place in the last round of the Premier League, after the victory over Tottenham 4-2. With the result, the team reached 35 points and opened 14 for IPSWICH, the first in the red part of the table, six rounds from the end of the competition.
“Work is work, but after work we need to celebrate together. I need to feel the energy of these people and be part of the family,” he told the British network BBC.
Until it was successful with Wolverhampton, the Portuguese was little known in England – and had no chance in the main leagues in Europe either.
Among English fans, it was more remembered for almost begging to command Everton in early 2022. At the time, he gave a long interview to Sky Sports to defend his hiring, which was not enough to reverse the contrary reaction to his possible arrival. Pickings on the club walls said: “Pereira leaves, Lampard enters”.
The former English-mole was hired. At the same time, the Portuguese landed in Brazil to command Corinthians, where he built bases to have a strong bond with the fans, before generating general revolt.
With fourth place in the Brazilian Championship and a campaign that almost took the São Paulo association to the Brazilian Cup title – in the final, on penalties, Flamengo – the coach aroused the expectation that he could do more for the club the following season.
His good results were enough even to overcome a controversy recorded at the beginning of his career, when he said he would “run” from the alvinegro club if Liverpool called him.
“With all due respect to Corinthians, but Liverpool is Liverpool,” he said after a 1-1 draw with Sao Paulo for the Brazilian Championship.
The episode shuddered his relationship with much of the fans, but he managed to resume ties, especially for trying to show on the edge of the lawn and interviews an intense style, identified with the club. This has always been your personal brand in any job.
He himself defines his relationship with football as a “disease” and an “obsession”.
“It’s exhaustive,” he said in a passage in the book “The Journey Through Portuguese Football” (“A Journey for Portuguese Football”, 2013), by British journalist Tom Kundert.
“I believe I became socially introvert. I live in a completely separate world, thinking, working and reflecting on my ideas,” he said.
The style conquered the Corinthians. The club did everything to renew the coach’s contract to 2023, but he caught the conversations, pointing out that he would have to return to Portugal due to the weakened health of his mother -in -law.
Even contradicted, the fans understood the reasons of the coach, who left Parque São Jorge friendly. A month later, however, the alvinegros fans felt betrayed when he agreed to drive Flamengo.
Not even the president of Corinthians at the time, Duilio Monteiro Alves, hid his discontent: “I think he lied, I was fooled.”
The relationship with the Gávea team was fleeting. Lasted less than four months, with four titles lost in 17 games. He failed the Brazil Super Cup, the Club World Cup and the Guanabara Cup before taking 4-1 of Fluminense in the Carioca Championship final.
Thus, it became a kind of “persona non grata” for the two largest fans in Brazil.
Still in 2023, Pereira moved to Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab, where he made a scale to make money until the opportunity to return to Europe arise.
Now, with success in Wolverhampton, it will not be surprised to look for greater goals.
“I’m an ambitious guy.”
