John Ruddy: I deserve more game time at Wolves

The 34-year-old goalkeeper – who has served as back-up to Rui Patricio over the past few seasons – is staying for the 2021/22 campaign under Bruno Lage.

And having made just six appearances last term, he is eager to prove himself to the new head coach and earn more game time.

“I feel I still have a lot to offer on and off the pitch, and hopefully the new manager is going to come in and give everyone a clean slate and I can show to him what I’ve shown in the last few years, that I deserve more game opportunities,” said Ruddy.

“The fact there’s only one position in terms of goalkeeping that can be filled, it’s been difficult to get past Rui and get game time, even when I felt I deserved an opportunity.

“But with the new manager coming in with his new ideas and new approach, he’s going to have certain ways he wants people to play, and it’s up to us as players to catch on to his ideas as fast as we can.

“Obviously, I want to play and maybe this is my best opportunity to get back on the pitch, because that is why I signed this new contract and that is what I’m here to do.”

Although he has found minutes difficult to come by in recent years, Ruddy has been a popular presence in the dressing room and one of the squad’s leaders.

He takes pride in that and will continue to support his team-mates as much as he can, while pushing for more starts.

“Every single one of us in this squad wants to do the best we can for the team. We work our hardest for each other, day in and day out, and give as much support as we can to each other,” said Ruddy.

“When fans weren’t in the stadiums, it was a lot easier for me to be vocal from the stands and get my messages across, and if I can help the team even though I’m not on the pitch, then that is my way of contributing.

“But that is indicative of the changing room we’ve got here and the way the lads all want the best for each other.”

Ruddy, who joined in the summer of 2017 from Norwich, is looking forward to being part of a new era at Molineux.

Pre-season gets going on July 5 and he is eager to hit the ground running under Lage – the first friendly set to be at Crewe on July 17.

“It’s exciting for everybody. A lot has changed in the last couple of weeks, and certainly in the off-season with the new manager coming in and bringing his own approach and his own staff, and it will be interesting to see how he implements his ideas,” said Ruddy.

“He’s coming into a club with a fantastic changing room, who will try and do the best that they can for him.

“We’re all eager to hit the ground running and although we’ve got a lot of boys away on international duty at the moment, the lads who are going to be here from July 5 are going to be looking forward to it and hopefully we can adapt to his approach fairly quickly.”

He added: “For me, the main thing I want to achieve is getting game time, because I feel I can still offer a lot on the pitch.

“For the team, we want to keep building year by year and that means improving on what we did last year.

“We obviously had a difficult season last year with everything that was going on, but we also saw the potential that we have in this group.

“If we can keep that going, get players back who we missed massively through injury, then I think we will have a far better season than we did, and more towards what we achieved before that.”