Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: A reminder that values should not be forgotten

The stunning progress was particularly evident with the two principal winners – Players’ Player of the Season Raul Jimenez and Supporters’ Player of the Season Joao Moutinho.

A club record £30million signing alongside one of the most talented European midfielders of his generation.

But while the club has come a long way, the importance of remembering where it has come from and how it can move forward with dignity was also highlighted.

In his speech at the beginning of the evening, managing director Laurie Dalrymple spoke of values.

“Last year we commissioned a piece of work to redefine our core values, to determine what we stand for,” he said.

“These principles are what we live and die by and it creates a clear pathway for how we will take this club on its direction of travel.”

The values are: progressive, determined, bright, humble, unity.

What might be dismissed as corporate think-tank speak by some is hugely relevant today, if a club and a fan base are to head in the right direction.

Over this past week or so, we have seen how misplaced rivalry in the game can spill over into something more spiteful that does nobody any favours.

When Derby County progressed to the Championship play-off final by beating Leeds United, their players danced around the Elland Road pitch pretending to be using binoculars in a clear jibe to Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa’s Spygate saga.

When West Bromwich Albion lost the first leg of their play-off semi-final against Aston Villa, someone in Stoke City’s digital media department saw fit to publish a tweet winding them up about it.

Which in turn prompted a response from Albion’s Twitter account laying out the reasons why Stoke have been so inferior this season.

When Manchester City’s players travelled back by plane from Brighton, having secured the Premier League title, they saw fit to sing unsavoury songs about Liverpool and their failed challenge.

Where is this all going? Go back to those five values.

Not one of them could be found in any of this mindless baiting.

Both sets of Derby and Wolves fans gleefully sang that Leeds and Liverpool “****** it up” this past week.

What exactly did they **** up?

Under Bielsa, Leeds have been transformed into one of the most attractive sides in the Championship, going from lower mid-table mediocrity to a genuine promotion challenger.

Liverpool amassed 97 points and lost one league game all season, and they are off to a Champions League final.

Both have had their finest seasons in years.

As with everything, social media exacerbates the squabbling. Derby posted a video of their manager, Frank Lampard, in the away dressing room, leading the singing of ‘Stop Crying Frank Lampard’.

A song that Leeds fans had previously used to attack him with during Spygate. Some Liverpool fans – albeit only a loud minority – engaged in a tedious and pointless haranguing of Wolves fans for their lack of grace at Anfield which prompted a similar minority of Wolves fans to bite back with, well, a lack of grace.

Social media should not be the gauge of opinion, liable as it is to providing a platform for an agitated lack of perspective.

But there is common ground with everything we have witnessed this week. Humility seems to have disappeared from view.

There is a place for rivalry in the game, but supporting a football club does not have to be about anything other than one’s own team.

By far the best Molineux atmosphere this season, as alluded to by Dalrymple on Tuesday night, was for the FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.

That was a night for the ages, the sounds and images remain clear in the mind today and will do for many years to come.

What made it so special?

Two sets of supporters who devoted the entire evening to a passionate and noisy display of their own strengths.

There was barely an acknowledgement of the opposing supporters from either the home or away sections.

The Wolves fans sang long into the night about the qualities and strengths of their great team: the head coach Nuno, leader of the attack, Raul Jimenez, and more.

It was an unbridled display of support. United’s fans, in turn, paid little attention to what the Wolves fans were doing.

‘Ole’s at the Wheel’ was one of many anthems sounding out across the night air from the away section.

The Wolves support that night under-pinned those values the club holds close. It was progressive, determined and bright.

There was unity and there was humility.

Wolves won of course, but even in defeat the following month at Wembley, there was more of the same support.

On the Manchester City players’ plane last Sunday evening and on the Elland Road pitch at full-time on Wednesday night there was an absence of those values.

And, in victory, City and Derby were worse for it.

Wolves set up a Captain’s Club, a scheme to recognise the staff who epitomised the values they created.

This year’s inductees, those who had shown the “one pack spirit”, were announced at the awards dinner.

Again, it is easy to dismiss the significance of this, but it is more than tokenism.

Dalrymple wants the values to spread throughout the club, to the head coach, players, management, staff and supporters.

Wolves could have a big part to play in the Premier League landscape over the coming seasons.

There is a chance to leave a positive mark on everything the team and the supporters touch.

There is a fine line between positive rivalry and cynical point-scoring.

From the perspective of a Wolves supporter, who really cares if Liverpool win or lose a title race?

And, while it is harder to ignore neighbourly exchanges, does Albion or Villa’s progress in the play-offs matter that much either?

No, it is about wanting Wolves to be the very best they can be. Progressive, determined, bright, humble and unified.