Wolves manager Gary O’Neil insists he maintains a ‘group first’ policy as they prepare to face a Manchester United side that may or may not include Marcus Rashford following the forward’s ’12-hour tequila bender’

Gary O’Neil insists the team must always take priority when disciplining players as Wolves wait to see if they will face Marcus Rashford on Thursday.

The Manchester United star will return to Erik ten Hag’s squad at Molineux after taking the blame for what has been described as a 12-hour tequila bender that led to him missing training and last Sunday’s FA Cup win at Newport through illness.

Earlier this season, O’Neil banished Jonny Otto from the first-team squad following a clash in training with youngster Tawanda Chirewa late last year. 

Unlike Rashford for Ten Hag, Jonny was not a key player for O’Neil but the 40-year-old still took a hard line. Jonny joined PAOK Salonika in Greece on January 29.

Speaking about his own experiences rather than Rashford’s specific situation, O’Neil said: ‘It’s always about the group first. The importance of the group and not letting anything damage that. Everything I do has to be in the best interests not only of the person involved but also the entire group.

Rashford was seen entering Belfast night club Thompsons Garage last week on a ‘tequila bender’

Rashford went and visited Larne FC before going on a 12-hour bender in Belfast last week

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‘We have a very close group here. If someone steps out of line there can be issues. Sometimes that player will have really close friends who are worried about him, then other players are more concerned about the rest of the squad.

‘Things like this come up all the time because there are at least 25 professional lads in there, all with their own careers, all with their own lives, their own situations and issues going on off the pitch.

‘Keeping that running smoothly all the time is impossible.

‘There are always things that need to be dealt with. That might be people stepping out of line, or people having family issues and needing time away. I try to put myself in the person’s shoes – then make sure the group comes out of it in the best way possible.’

O’Neil took charge of Wolves less than a week before the season started and suffered an unlucky 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford last August in his opening game.

Rashford has since returned to training and may feature when Wolves host United on Thursday

Since then the former Bournemouth boss has done a highly impressive job. His brief was to keep Wolves – who sold about £140million worth of talent last summer – in the division but they have 29 points already and are an outside bet for Europe.

He added: ‘Probably we have more points than most people would have thought we would have – but it’s only 29 and that won’t be enough to stay up. We have to make sure we don’t fall away.’