Wolves Sliding Doors Moments

[Air Wolf 90]

In December 1995 Wolves appoint Martin O’Neill instead of Mark McGhee. Wolves get promoted and win the League Cup, Sir Jack never has his golden tit moment and Wolves stabilise in the Premier League. I never leave a stadium as disappointed as I was after the FA Cup semi final at Villa Park.

 

[SingleMalt]

I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Dean S******s had managed to keep us up. Would we still have caught Fosun’s eye? I’m not convinced that we would have.
Had that useless dick been just slightly less useless we might still be floundering in the Championship.
Thank heavens he was so bad!

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Southampton flounder in front of goal and waste their only six shots on target.

F.T. Result: Wolves 0 v 0 Southampton

They only had five shots on target.

 

[MasWolf]

I sometimes find myself pondering these scenarios in the shower, so I thought I'd share them. Does anyone else have moments which the beauty of hindsight proves would have changed the direction of the club, for better or for worse?

- Steve Bull makes a decision with his head, instead of his heart, and joins Coventry.
He goes on to have an impressive Premier League career, firing in 111 goals. Coventry are now established as firmly mid table side, and avoid all of the problems that their ownership brought on over the ensuing 30 years. Bull is regarded favourably inside Wolverhampton, but he doesn't have the legend status. He never gets his name on a stand.

- Joleon Lescott avoids injury after Play Off win.
A poor Wolves team struggles to 17th place, aided primarily by the defensive steel provided by their young, talismanic homegrown centre half. A newly enthused Jack Hayward christens himself as the golden bosom, and pumps in 200 million to the club.

- Michael Beale becomes manager.
He wins his first three game then takes the Tottenham job. A tattoo of "Wolves forever" on his left lower leg is the only remnant of his reign.

- Wolves sell Raul Jimenez to Juventus for 75 million
Jimenez - playing in a league with no David Luiz - wins player of the year for Juve, dovetailing perfectly with Ronaldo. A move to Real Madrid follows, where he wins the Champions League.
A newly minted Wolves spend the 75 million windfall on two more Fabio Silva type players.

Even having Lescott and Murray that season wouldn't have saved us. We were crap!

 

[MIKE SLATER]

Wolves were third in the championship in 1997, but we're not one of the three promoted teams. By 2003 when they went up the big clubs had widened the gap. The play offs have always been unfair. They were introduced in 1987 and Wolves were the first victims, finishing nine points ahead of Aldershot before losing to them in the play offs. This season Kidderminster were 24 points below King,'s Lynn in the National League, guess who got promoted. The play offs are a money-making farce that were supposed to make the season more exciting, yet have often rendered the last day fixtures meaningless.

 

[MasWolf]

How about one that could have gone against us - Hunt misses that shot and we get relegated. MM gets sacked and we end up with Neil Warnock. The fans end up loving him, but we drift into mid table Championship obscurity...

TC is still at the club today

 

[woop woop barmy army]

Dicko afobe sako season we make the play offs and win them.

Morgan doesn’t sell and we are now league 2.

Not wolves related I guess Dean Richards not having that car crash

 

[Adrian_Monk]

In chronological order…

Thommo’s car broke down and couldn’t make it up the A41

Roger Freestone lined up a wall and wasn’t a complete clown.

Peter Shilton didn’t roll back the decades.

Muscat didn’t sign a pre contract elsewhere.

Jota didn’t get subbed.

Raul didn’t get assaulted.

Nuno didn’t get sacked.

Lopetegui didn’t get appointed.

*Hansbury.

Roger Freestone rings a bell though - didn't he play for Swansea?

 

[Andywolf74]

Instead of appointing Lage, Wolves appoint the then available Eddie Howe. Howe makes a number of shrewd purchases who are the right fit for the Premier League and after a sixth placed finish in 2021/22, Wolves win the Europa League in 2023 to complete an English club clean sweep of the European trophies.

 

[Golden Arrow]

They only had five shots on target.

Obviously lost in the passage of time, and it only feels like yesterday.

 

[SoCal_Wolf]

 

[bigwolf]

****.

 

[bigwolf]

Selling Andy Mitch.

 

[Contrarian]

Spoilsport.

Sorry! Could look on it the other way - if we'd won that playoff, it could be us in League 1 now , where Bolton are. Look in the bright side, we didn't miss out on much in the end.

On the other hand, if Donk had been more alert to Deeney in the Semi ... or we'd stopped Delefeu getting the shot for his first goal..

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Obviously lost in the passage of time, and it only feels like yesterday.

I'm sure it was only five shots on target, one was a deflected oggy. It's one of those games that's etched on my mind...

I went to Barcelona to watch England play Andorra on the Wednesday before and we booed the team off despite winning 3 0...

The juxtaposition of applauding our team off after being smashed for six was remarkable.

It's the luckiest thrashing I've ever seen. We were possibly the better team lol.

 

[Contrarian]

Wolves were third in the championship in 1997, but we're not one of the three promoted teams. By 2003 when they went up the big clubs had widened the gap. The play offs have always been unfair. They were introduced in 1987 and Wolves were the first victims, finishing nine points ahead of Aldershot before losing to them in the play offs. This season Kidderminster were 24 points below King,'s Lynn in the National League, guess who got promoted. The play offs are a money-making farce that were supposed to make the season more exciting, yet have often rendered the last day fixtures meaningless.

I agree that they are unfair. But isn't the point of them to add some excitement, albeit at the expense of robbing that 3rd team of automatic promotion? They usually mean more teams have something to play for on the last day, too.

Something somebody said here and gets a mention by someoen in the media or in the game every few years - all the leagues should have more promotion and relegation places anyway. Four up, four down and we wouldn't need playoffs. The threat of relegation would be less of a club destroyer, too, knowing they only needed to finish top 4 to come back, clubs wouldn't risk millions to hang on another season. Could finally stop Everton stinking the place out, too.

 

[chignalwolf]

Wolves manage to accrue one more point in the 1959/60 season and go down in history as the first team that century to do the league and cup double and Stan Cullis is hailed as one of the greatest managers in the history of the game. We go on to build on that success. Get plans passed for the new space age Molineux and become a dominant force in England and Europe.

too true oldgolded, also we would have won the league 3 season on the trot. it all started going pear shaped after that,
Still cant believe they named a stand after the fella who was instrumental in causing our decline,

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

Fosun decide this Paul Lambert blokes deserves another season

 

[HICKO]

Two horrid head injuries Barnwell and Jimenez changed the course the Wolves were sailing.

 

[Wolf 82]

Fosun decide this Paul Lambert blokes deserves another season

We would still be in the championship today

 

[CodsallWolf]

-Rather than selling Keane for 6 million and then spending half of that on an inflated fee for Akinbiyi, we turned Coventry down, asked Keane to give us one more year, then signed Akinbiyi for the 1.5 million we were originally quoted. Their partnership fires us up.

I totally agree and often reflect on that missed opportunity. Keane’s value was only going to increase.

 

[sedgwolf1980]

*Hansbury.

Roger Freestone rings a bell though - didn't he play for Swansea?

Ah that’s the one. Freestone deffo played somewhere. Get him confused with Tony Lange too, who was only marginally less rubbish.

 

[Bossworld]

Wolves break their play off hoodoo and go up to the then-Premiership in the 1990s, when Sir Jack's spending power would have put us on a footing with Jack Walker's Blackburn.

--

Then in full Carlsberg mode...

Other than a brief blip in the early 00s, Wolves are a mainstay of the Premier League through the explosion in TV money and go on to compete in the UEFA Cup on several occasions, not least after winning the League Cup twice, and even scrape a Champions League spot in 2007 prior to Man City's new found riches.

The likes of Stoke, Bolton and Wigan spend a couple of years in the newly retitled Premier League, without ever really gaining traction, before spending 15+ years treading water in the Championship along with clubs like Sheff Weds that fail to recapture their early 90s performances.

 

[MasWolf]

We would still be in the championship today

And Lambert would still be telling us he won the Champions League.

 

[Oldgoldilox]

Wolves spend the Jota and Doherty money on players we actually need instead of a £35m "generational talent" project.

 

[Adrian_Monk]

Despite John Bird's relentless work, nobody comes forward with the funds to save Wolverhampton Wanderers, and five years after playing European football, Wolves are no more.

 

[glorybox]

My dad's insistence in not forcing his allegiance to Wolves on his young children leaves me a **** supporter for the rest of my godforsaken life.

 

[Monk]

When doog came in from Leicester he wanted the board to also sign a certain goalkeeper called Gordon Banks who was willing to come- nothing against Phil Parkes but Banks was the One of the best goalkeepers in the world. Think he would have made the difference from us being a decent team to a really good one challenging and being more successful in getting silverware.

 

[tonto]

When doog came in from Leicester he wanted the board to also sign a certain goalkeeper called Gordon Banks who was willing to come- nothing against Phil Parkes but Banks was the One of the best goalkeepers in the world. Think he would have made the difference from us being a decent team to a really good one challenging and being more successful in getting silverware.

Banks WAS the best in the world went to Stoke for £50,000
Truly a major mistake

 

[Deak77]

Wolves spend the Jota and Doherty money on players we actually need instead of a £35m "generational talent" project.

Definitely this. This was definitely the start of our problems,and instead of going back to what served us so well,we've frittered millions on players. in search of a style that we're nowhere near.