Kieran Trippier on Joining Wolves and Championship Challenges
Kieran Trippier pads into the room in full Wolves gear – vest, shorts, sliders – and wastes no time addressing the question everyone has been whispering about.
Three days. That was all it took for the man he signed to play for, Rob Edwards, to be sacked.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie, I wasn’t expecting it,” Trippier says. No drama in his voice, just that familiar bluntness. “But it’s the club’s decision. I had good chats with Rob, of course, but I’m here to play for Wolves.”
The shock of Edwards’s exit rattled supporters and bemused the rest of the game. As Wolves accelerated a deal for César Peixoto, rumours began swirling that Trippier wanted out almost as quickly as he’d walked in.
He has no time for that.
“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,” he says. “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.”
The straight talk is nothing new. It helped make him a leader at Newcastle, where he arrived as a statement signing and left as a cornerstone of their resurgence under Eddie Howe. A Carabao Cup win, Champions League qualification, a club reconnected with its city – his fingerprints are all over it.
Before that came four years under Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, a Champions League final, then three under Diego Simeone at Atlético Madrid, where he won La Liga. With England, he played at four major tournaments and started every game on the way to the Euro 2024 final.
Now, at 35, he has dropped back into the Championship for the first time since he helped Burnley out of it 12 years ago. From Barcelona at St James’ Park last September to Bolton at Molineux in October. It is quite the gear change.
“I’m not ashamed to go to the Championship because I played in it for many years,” he says, drifting back to his teenage days defending alongside Darren Moore at Barnsley. The decision to leave Newcastle came after long conversations with Howe and sporting director Ross Wilson. “I 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 is familiar. The grind, even more so.
He remembers Burnley’s 2-1 win at Wolves in the penultimate game of the 2012-13 season, a result that kept Burnley up and effectively sent Wolves spiralling towards League One. That day left a mark. It shapes how he speaks to his new teammates now.
“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 at Wolves, with an option for another year. Before committing, he did his homework. He called Tommy Doyle, Conor Coady, John Ruddy and Sam Johnstone, the latter while they were on holiday together in Turkey, to get what he calls “the insides of the club”.
Edwards’s abrupt departure, just a month after André renewed his contract and 48 hours after Raúl Jiménez’s return had buoyed the mood, still hangs in the air. Trippier, though, has lived through bigger earthquakes. He was inside Newcastle when Howe, after four-and-a-half transformative years, was let go.
“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.”
Ask if Howe deserves a statue and Trippier grins. “He’s won a trophy, hasn’t he? 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.”
His career is littered with those sliding-door moments. One of the most painful came with England at the World Cup, when their low block finally buckled late on against Argentina in the semi-final.
“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,” Trippier says. “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 snaps his fingers as he says it. Lionel Messi. “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.”
Now, at Wolves, the new magic trick is Peixoto. Unknown to many in England, the 46-year-old Portuguese coach arrived from Gil Vicente to replace Edwards. Trippier already knew his background and has been struck by his intensity.
Peixoto’s English is strong enough that Trippier hasn’t 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 the new boss 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. He is twice the age of Mateus Mané, the electric youngster he faced with Newcastle last season and now sees daily at close quarters. Wolves hope Mané and others can light up a season that feels like a reset.
“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, even.
“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 now. A voice in the dressing room, a standard-setter on the pitch. And he knows exactly how they will be viewed when they walk out at Blackburn on Friday night to start the Championship season.
“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.”
Last year hurt Wolves. This year has to heal.
“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.”
He says it without fanfare, as if promotion is not a hope but an obligation. The surprises have already come. Now comes the response.
