Kenny Jackett reveals his surprise at Wolves’ stature

Jackett helped Wolves to bounce back to the Championship by winning the League One title at the first attempt in the 2013/14 season after back-to-back relegations from the Premier League.

And the former boss has revealed another former Wolves manager, Graham Taylor, helped explain Wolves’ reach.

Jackett said via The Coaches’ Voice: “It had been a tough time for the club, but I’d seen the facilities and the training ground, and been to Molineux as a player, coach and manager. I saw their potential – Wolves’ sheer size and class made it exciting to be their manager. Opportunities at those big clubs are few and far between.

“Unless you’re of an age that means you’re aware of their history, it’s not until you get into that West Midlands area and see how vast their support it, and how far and wide that support exists, that you can appreciate the club’s size. They have a museum with all of their fantastic achievements; there’s a statue outside of Billy Wright.

“Graham Taylor, a mentor of mine, also gave me an insight into the club. I followed the job he did while he was still in it, and he was still living in the Midlands when I was being interviewed. Through being in the same division as them with Millwall, I also felt I knew the squad and the club. I had an idea of what was needed. I’d played for Graham for 10 years, and was his assistant manager for five. He spoke very well of Wolves as a club.”

Jackett did an impressive job of overhauling the squad, making big calls with experienced players and promoting youth to give Wolves a new look going into a crucial season.

During the campaign, too, he faced challenges. Leigh Griffiths was impressing but left to return to Scotland in January and Wolves needed a goalscorer.

Nouha Dicko, who had scored against Wolves that same season on loan at Rotherham, arrived permanently from Wigan and Jackett has hailed his impact.

“Leigh Griffiths had quickly got to 12 league goals, but after a couple of bids came in for him from Celtic, his boyhood club, he slightly hit the buffers – and I totally understood that,” Jackett added.

“Even when we were dropping points I didn’t think there was much wrong; results were indifferent, but we were still dominant.

“With Leigh leaving in January, Nouha Dicko came in and that set us up for the second half of the season. Losing Leigh’s goals could have been a big loss. We’d been third in the league – we were only two or three points off the top, but we weren’t necessarily running away with it, and during the first half of the season we were more keeping pace with others. Nouha coming in at that time gave us the cutting edge that really set the team off. He quickly got to 12 league goals, and with Leigh and Sako finished as joint-top goalscorer.”