Kieran Trippier on His Move to Wolves and Championship Challenges

Kieran Trippier strolls into the room still in full Wolves gear – vest, shorts, sliders – and wastes no time getting to the point that everyone has circled since he signed. Three days after he committed to dropping into the Championship, the manager he’d cited as a key reason for coming, Rob Edwards, was sacked. Before the ink on his contract had even dried, the club were fast‑tracking César Peixoto as his replacement.

“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 shock quickly spawned rumours. The kind of noise that follows big names and big moves.

“I’ve read it all: that I was looking to rip my contract up, and all this nonsense. 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.”

It fits with the 35-year-old’s reputation. Straight-talking, no fuss, no spin. That honesty has helped make him a favourite at every stop: from Tottenham under Mauricio Pochettino to Atlético Madrid with Diego Simeone, to Newcastle under Eddie Howe, where he became a symbol of their resurgence and lifted the Carabao Cup last year. He has played in a Champions League final, won La Liga and started every game of England’s run to the Euro 2024 final.

Now he is back in the second tier for the first time since winning promotion with Burnley 12 years ago, preparing to start Wolves’ Championship opener against Blackburn on Friday. It is a jarring switch. Barcelona at St James’ Park one season, Bolton at Molineux the next.

“I’m not ashamed to go to the Championship because I played in it for many years,” he says, thinking back to his early days at Barnsley, defending alongside Darren Moore as a teenager. “I had a good chat with Eddie Howe and Ross Wilson [Newcastle’s sporting director] and made my decision at the end of the season that I wanted to try something new. There were a few [interested] clubs but it was important for me that I was close to my children.”

Home is Manchester. The league he is walking back into is one he knows inside out. He remembers Burnley’s 2-1 win at Molineux in the penultimate game of 2012-13, a result that secured their safety and all but sent Wolves down to League One.

“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 [Doyle], Adam [Armstrong]. The lads will be ready.”

This is Trippier’s first external interview since signing a two-year deal with an option for a further 12 months. Before committing, he did his homework. He called Tommy Doyle, spoke to Conor Coady, John Ruddy and Sam Johnstone – the latter while they were on holiday in Turkey – to get, as he puts it, “the insides of the club”.

Edwards’s abrupt exit, just a month after André extended his stay and two days after Raúl Jiménez returned to add to the feelgood factor of Trippier’s arrival, still hangs over the place. Yet the full-back is equally equipped to talk about another departure: Howe’s 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. I was told before the [Saudi Arabia-led] 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 [Howe] connected everyone, just like Gareth Southgate did with England.”

Is that enough for a statue on Tyneside?

“He’s won a trophy, hasn’t he?” Trippier replies with a smile. “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 [to play], especially after getting beat by Cambridge [in the FA Cup third round], but maybe that was a blessing, really, so we could just focus on [staying in] the Premier League … he will go down in history there, for sure. I’m gutted to see him go.”

The conversation drifts from managers to moments. To England’s World Cup semi-final collapse against Argentina, when their low block finally gave way late on.

“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,” Trippier 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 on the touchline is still a mystery to many. Not to Trippier. Peixoto, 46, arrived from Gil Vicente and has wasted no time imposing his standards. His English is strong enough that Trippier has not needed to lean on the Spanish he picked up in Madrid.

“When the postman used to come in Madrid, I used to get my son to answer because he was fluent,” he says, laughing.

So what’s Peixoto really like?

“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. 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 turns 36 in September, twice the age of Mateus Mané, the young winger he marked last season with Newcastle and now a teammate, one of the players Wolves hope will light up a promotion push.

“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 coup that raised eyebrows in the same way his move from Atlético Madrid to a then-struggling Newcastle once did.

“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.”

Now he is part of Peixoto’s leadership group, one of the voices charged with steering a squad that knows it will be hunted every week.

“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 Premier League is gone, for now. The target on their backs is not. Wolves have Trippier to help them live with both.