Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to give Vitor Pereira a new contract to remain as head coach until 2028, and there is no escaping the fact the optics are… challenging.The club that are bottom of the Premier League table with four defeats from four games this season, and who are winless in eight league games dating back to the last campaign, are expected to reward the Portuguese with a new three-year deal on improved terms.The associated risks are clear, especially to Wolves supporters after the events of 2024.That summer, the club rewarded Gary O’Neil, Pereira’s predecessor, with a four-year deal after his impressive first season in charge.By December, a dismal start to last season — which followed an underwhelming end to the previous one — led to O’Neil and his backroom team being sacked at considerable cost to pay the severance clauses in their deals.After the tough start to the new season there will be understandable fears that history could repeat itself. From a PR point of view, the timing for Wolves could hardly have been more difficult.Yet there are sound reasons why the club are set to give Pereira his deal. Most obvious is the risk of not acting, which is potentially as damaging as the risk of agreeing to it.There is a cliche and a truism oft-repeated by veteran coaches, which states that footballers with an excuse to underperform will invariably do so.And a club whose head coach’s contract is entering its final months, as Pereira’s existing deal soon would be, would provide players with such an excuse — if they fail to perform, the coach would carry the can and they would get a fresh start under someone else.