John Richards: Wolves ‘robbed of Euro chance’

There has been no football for almost two months now because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the point of suspension, Wolves were in the last 16 of the Europa – and sixth in the Premier League – and while the aim is to see the season out once safe to do so, likely behind closed doors, Richards warned: "The thing is, you've stopped that momentum now anyway.

"I don't think it'll be the same when they restart it – all the teams will be in the same situation.

"You get into a rhythm and that rhythm has been broken. I could have seen us finishing in the top six and winning the Europa with the way they were playing, the momentum.

"Now that has been stopped, so to start it again will be extremely difficult – for all the teams, but especially for a team that was on a roll."

Uefa intend to see the Europa League through, while the Premier League have been urged by Uefa to come up with a decision on what to do with the rest of the campaign by May 25. The Premier League are also meeting on Friday.

Wolves are hoping for more clarity on the situation soon but, for now, the players are still training from home or using Compton to do individual running sessions.

Richards, who scored 194 goals for Wolves, added on Nuno Espirito Santo's side: "The whole set-up is very exciting, from the manager and how the club deals with things – their attitude.

"It's all high-quality stuff that they are presenting, and it is genuine. That's what comes across.

"It's not being said for the sake of being said. It's genuine – Nuno comes across as a genuine, measured person.

"And then you look through the team and there are no real weak areas. That's what is frustrating with this now as you could only see the team getting better and finishing the season strong. The Europa, I fancied us to win that.

"So, it's frustrating we haven't been able to see the continuation, the development of what will hopefully be a great Wolves team."