Wolves comment: Nuno's tenure already statue worthy?
Nuno Espírito Santo gives a wry smile as he pushes back his chair to leave. ‘’How’d you feel about a statue of yourself outside of Molineux?’’ a journalist asks. ‘’You have to die first!’’ shouts another as the Wolves manager makes his way through the door.
For Wolves fans, the Premier League’s resumption later this week offers more than just light relief amidst a lethal pandemic, more than just familiarity amongst the wholly unfamiliar. It offers closure for the latest chapter in the clubs storied recent history and the continuation of a legacy.
It’s not often that large, sweeping statements are made on historical importance while the events are still in motion. They are reserved for after prolonged reflection or, at least, a short period of separation.
The fact that a statue outside of the club’s stadium is even being mentioned for a manager not even three seasons into their tenure seems absurd. Yet fans seem more adamant by the day that this is the greatest Wolves side in their lifetime.
It is this same self-awareness that has contributed to the heightened fervour amongst Wolves fans to get the season back underway, to continue what was shaping to be one of the best in the club’s history.
This modern era of the club’s history has no precedent. The majority were not alive during the fabled Stan Cullis era or for the League and FA Cup victories. This century’s lower league promotions are perhaps the closest analogue they are afforded.
Yes, there will be those who remember the celebrated First Division title wins of the 50s, but that collective consciousness is quickly fading, soon to be displaced by whatever the coming years may bring.
Football fans are not known to be reticent. They like their voices to be heard. Nuno is the first manager in some time that has shared, and realised, the ambition that fans have held close for years. Not just in terms of results and league positions achieved, but for the way he has reshaped the club in his image.
He has implemented a style of play immediately recognisable to any fan following the club over the last couple of years. So much so that I fear for the next manager who tries to play anything other than five-at-the-back.
In three short years Nuno has won a league title, given the club their highest placed top division finish since 1980 and qualified for European football. He has polished the rough edges of the squad that he inherited so thoroughly that you can see yourself back in its reflection.
In the not too distant past, what has already been achieved would have been the height of fans’ ambitions for the club, now it’s the base of their expectations.
Nuno’s scrupulous nature has created this environment. His philosophies have disseminated throughout the club, leaving little room for any variation. This is the same club who previously employed Dean Saunders and Walter Zenga.
Of course, the league’s scheduled return was never guaranteed. League One and League Two recently announced an official end to their seasons, UEFA are still discussing plans to finish the Europa League while a second spike in COVID-19 cases in the UK could bring an abrupt end to Project Restart before it ever gets off the ground.
Should this season not find its resolution, should it be once again dismissed or delayed or never end at all, Wolves fans would have the right to feel cheated.
On the brink of a quarter final in European competition, the potential of Champions League qualification and their best Premier League finish for the second time in two years, the lack of an ending would leave many unfulfilled, yearning for what could have been, a chapter in the history books forever left unwritten.
Perhaps it would present a shifting of priorities. A realisation that football’s inherent value for the fan ultimately lies not in a league position, but in everything else. Or maybe it would render it meaningless. What is sport without that final feeling of jubilation, depression or indifference?
Wolves are a side teetering on the threshold of success, a side unabashedly striving for what was previously thought unthinkable and an escape from the doldrums of footballing mediocrity.
Ending the season early and deciding it via the means of points-per-game, or any other method, would rob fans of a truly seminal period in their club’s history.
Bringing an official conclusion to the 2019/20 season isn’t just a formality, it’s the recognition that football isn’t just about who finishes where or who wins what. It’s about progress, collective memories and the game’s infinite capacity to affect our lives.
As many will already know, Nuno frequently, and routinely, shows his disdain for any media questions about anything other than the playing of the game itself. Any news on the latest transfers, Nuno? Adama Traore going anywhere? What about VAR? The answer’s always the same.
On June 20, when Wolves face West Ham in their first Premier League game in over three months, he, and we all, will get our wish. Football will return.
But for Wolves fans, this signals anything but a return to normality. Not because there will be no fans to watch the final games of the season, at least not in person. Not because crowd noises will be piped throughout the stands to fill the silent voids of the South Bank or the ominous cardboard cut-outs sitting within. But because what is the new normal at Wolves? I think we are all still waiting to find out.
