Johnny Phillips: These are the Wolves days, I hope they never end
Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end, we’d sing and dance forever and a day…
Stood on the terraces as a wide-eyed youngster, taking it all in, it was a song that caught the attention. It particularly felt like a hymn for the away trips, a calling card that Wolves were in town. But what days were these grown men all singing about?
Mary Hopkin’s song is still sung at matches, but it can’t be an ode to victory. Too much time has elapsed for most of those who belt it out now to remember those successful trophy-winning days. That is not the point, though, it is a nostalgic nod to good times with good friends, the essence of following a football team.
The uplifting finale of these past few weeks has capped a memorable season for Wolves. The celebratory mood at Molineux that greeted Nuno Espirito Santo’s team as they arrived with promotion already in the bag for a local derby against Birmingham City started it all. The players obliged with a victorious canter past Blues before throwing Nuno high into the air in celebration.
There was the impressive sight of thousands of Wolves fans heading up to Bolton, that unhappy hunting ground, where the ghosts of previous failures could be laid to rest once and for all. Basked in the Lancashire sunshine, almost 5,000 watched on as Wolves majestically took the other Wanderers apart. Conor Coady’s penalty was greeted with such joy by fans who have so readily got behind a man who represents the pulse of this side. The title secured. The plumes of coloured smoke that greeted the players’ arrival back on Waterloo Road for the final game of the season gave just a hint of what was to follow once the football had finished...a baking hot May Day parade that brought a whole city on to the streets. No vantage point unoccupied in Queen Square as the bus began its victory lap to the sound of horns and the sight of more flares. There was no let up from cheering crowds for this gold and black coronation. How many had come out to celebrate? 50,000? 80,000? Almost as many as went to Chorley.
Ruben Neves serenading them with his song brought some of the biggest cheers of all. West Park filled with families unified in their love of the team. It was a party in the park like no other as the players reciprocated that affection. And, as Nuno demonstrated at the Starworks after-party, they all know the words to these songs.
The shorts and T-shirts had been replaced with suits and dresses for the end-of-season awards night. Tables packed as far as the eye could see in the vast hall of Telford’s International Centre. More beaming smiles on display than at a cosmetic dentists’ convention.
That’s the thing with this team. The happiness they’ve brought to the people. It may only be The Championship but supporters who’ve witnessed far greater achievements than this season’s are saying they have never seen anything like it.
Robert Plant opening up the night with a Whole Lotta Love for his team. Rick Parfitt junior’s accompanying band turned down Manchester United’s end-of-season bash for this, such is the club’s current pulling power. As the night wore on, the supporters watched the season’s highlights on the big screens, reminding everyone present of just what has been taking place over these last few months.
Neves swept the board with the awards. The montages of this precocious 21-year-old’s goals and skills leaving everyone in awe. Is there anything this young man can’t do, apart from drawing a raffle?
And there was the head coach. Stood on stage with the microphone, holding court with an impromptu speech for those he really wanted to address. Over the past nine months, Nuno has given his contractually obliged pre- and post-match interviews but there has barely been a morsel for the media to get its teeth into.
Now, on stage, he delivered a eulogy to the players, management, staff and supporters. “I miss you already!” he said to his dedicated players. And then reminded them exactly what day they were to report back for duty. And in the same moment that he praised supporters he winked at his critics. “All the stadiums in the country on Tuesday nights. Cold, with the yellow ball… you were there.” So were his team, swatting aside the suggestion that these continental talents couldn’t stomach a gruelling English winter.
Nuno’s highlights? “Every day.” Be it the last-gasp dramas in Bristol and Cardiff or the hours spent practising, “Even when you go to training and it’s f*****g freezing!” There was laughter from the floor. Nuno had them in his palm.
No other manager at Molineux has endeared himself to the supporters in such a short space of time as this one. No group of players has offered something as unique as this. Supporters have an appetite that cannot be sated.
The players said their goodbyes and headed off together one more time, to Las Vegas for a party of their own. The hierarchy took the Championship trophy to the more sober Fosun Summit, where the owners could see it for themselves. And supporters filed away too, back to their homes and their lives away from this story that has so captured the imagination. Don’t let it end. These are the days.
