Only three years ago, fans wouldn't even ponder upon the alluring and captivating thought of top flight football. With a stale finish of 14th in the 15/16 championship season, we’d be deemed lunatics if we’d ever aspire for a top ten Premier League finish. Although we saw the multimillionaire Chinese takeover back in 2016 of Fosun conglomerate, the season of 16/17 didn’t give us much optimism for our footballing future, with again another unsatisfactory finish of only 15th. The only good thing to come out of that season were Ivan Cavaleiro and Helder Costa, which in hindsight started the revolution of the Portuguese enterprise in Wolverhampton. Let’s not forget we appointed two arguably unsuccessful managers that season, Zenga and Lambert, but the passion from Zenga made him hard not to love. What a bloke. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t check on him now and then to see how he’s doing (he’s recently been appointed at Serie B side Venezia FC by the way).
Let’s forget about those seasons. The 17/18 season is a different story. Fosun appointed Nuno. After 6 months, the man had half of Wolverhampton to their knees worshipping upon his significant work. It was something I’d never seen happen before at Wolves. I’d never seen a manager so new to English football but looked like he’d been managing in the country for years. He knew every trick in the book. With the likes of enormous superstar signings such as Diogo Jota, Ruben Neves and Willy Boly in the summer, Wolves fans hadn’t a clue what wizardry they were about to experience.
So what happened?
The team took the championship by storm, gaining a grand total of 99 points come the end of the season. Bit of an annoying number though, but you can’t complain. We took the ‘champions of the championship’ trophy with pride and serenity. Even with the high profile summer signings and all new backroom staff, I don’t think any Wolves fan said at the start of the season that we’d win the league. No one can deny we did it with ease. The expectations rose so high that season, one loss and a draw in a row and the whole of Wolves Twitter exceeded into meltdown. I don’t know if that showed an element of foolishness from our fans, or it showed just how good we were. Fans would be concerned if we didn’t win.
And now, currently sitting 7th in the Premier League, Wolves are rising high above expectations for the 18/19 season. With most of us only hoping to avoid relegation this season, Nuno’s men have most definitely declared that they’re here to stay. With Cardiff monumentally struggling at the bottom of the table with only two points, and Fulham not far behind with five points, Wolves seem the pick of the promoted teams that aren’t just here to make up the numbers, currently holding fifteen points. May I add we’re only five points from Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool at the top, which is pretty phenomenal for a promoted team if you ask me.
But do we dare to dream further? Do we dare to dream about the thought of European football in the near future? You’ve seen the debates, you’ve seen the abuse and you’ve seen the pessimism opposing the optimism of Wolves fans speaking about the idea of European football. The subject has such divided opinions, but is it really that out of reach? I mean this season, yes, obviously. But in all honesty, in years to come, I really can’t see why not. With our current financial backing and our ridiculous ambition, it isn’t the most unrealistic idea I’ve heard as a Wolves fan. I’d say the annual rumour of us signing Talisca is more unrealistic to be honest. It’s a question that is still too early to answer, and maybe things will go wrong on the road and our expectations will descend, but I really wouldn’t put European football past this extraordinary pack.
Our journey has only just begun.
@rhiannekx