Bolton

Old gold, soaked in sunshine, securing the trophy that Stan Cullis made his own – at the home of an old nemesis.

Champions!

In much the same manner as the preceding 43 games, the script couldn’t have been written any better, with the ghosts of Burnden past and Reebok present fully exorcised once and for all, and that glorious swagger back in our stride.

Thank you Nuno and thank you to all you wonderful Wolves players for continuing to create memories like these, when we were thinking that you’d exhausted them all over the course of this never ending campaign.

This 4-0 drubbing might have lacked the furore and bitten fingernails of our ‘Boro, Bristol and Cardiff conquests, but for those fans too long in the tooth to forget the heartache of 1995, this victory will conjure the exact same blissful, fuzzy feeling when we wake in the morning – joyous in the knowledge that this hasn’t been a dream.

This was Nuno at his finest. Our adopted son and first bona-fide cult hero since Bully. Born 1,500 miles from Wolverhampton, but bearing the very DNA of our club on his shoulders like he’s been here all his life.

His three-at-the-back formation has been too tough a nut to crack for a perplexed league all season, but when you mingle his system with genuine soul, then you’ve got an otherworldly leader of men, who’ve recorded some ethereal performances as a result.

Did he know that we’d never won against a Mick McCarthy side since the old mule left? Or that we blew up back in 2002 in a similar position to where we’ve been? That we’d not won in Middlesbrough since the 1950s? Or how about never triumphing at the Reebok Stadium in a league fixture before now? Wearing the fabric of our very existence like a cloak across his back, how can anyone believe he didn’t?

Whether or not we now reach 100 points is secondary, thanks to Nuno cracking more millstones around our necks than opponents’ hearts. These are memories to last longer than a screengrab of a league table. These are the days my friends, consigning those miserable nights of the past to absolute irrelevance.

Somewhere, in a working man’s club where cigarette-smoke-stained-walls appal, John McGinlay loiters, regaling the spiritless locals about the time he punched David Kelly in 1995 and prospered. He shovels Monster Munch into his gob, ferociously licking his beef stained fingers, salivating over what happened next. The barmaid pours him another pint, rolls her eyes and looks to the poor souls who’ve heard the story a thousand times before. She nods wearily. Big John picks at his teeth, necks his Thwaites and foams at the mouth some more. Nobody hears a thing.

Like it ever really mattered. Thanks to Nuno and what feels like a magical stroke of his beard, all such heartache is void, as the Trotters spiral into a paradigm they laughed they’d never enter, and we majestically stride towards the Promised Land they once blackened.

Make no mistake, this 4-0 win is every bit as sweet as the 29 others we’ve chalked up, as it forcefully underlines the power-shift that so many old foes find so unpalatable.

We are the one and only Wanderers? You bloody bet we are.

Nuno would never admit it but his side effectively wrapped up the title last weekend.

One point is needed for certainty but it would take a dramatic sequence of events to deny Wolves the trophy with a goal difference buffer of 13 to lean on in the unlikely event of 7 results going against them.

Still, it would be nice to get the confirmation tomorrow to trigger a possible trophy presentation at Molineux next weekend.

We go in as red hot favourites for the win.

Bolton

The Trotters don’t have maths on their side just yet and need to accumulate a few more points from their remaining games to stay up.

Barnsley are only two back with a game in hand. Blues are sandwiched in the middle locked on the same points as Wanderers and only trailing by virtue of the two goals Wolves put past them last weekend.

After tomorrow Bolton’s remaining two games are favourable – away at Burton and home to Forest. It’s looking like another photo finish.

Wolves recorded their biggest win of the season in the reverse fixture at Molineux contributing to Bolton’s status as the worst performing away team in the division with just one win from 22 matches.

They nearly snatched a seismic victory at Oakwell last weekend, but in trademark style couldn’t hold on in injury time.

Wolves

I haven’t heard anything about Ivan Cavaleiro’s injury as I write this, but it looked like a hamstring tweak so assuming he’s done for the season.

Fortunately, Helder Costa has been back to his best lately and with Jota too looking sharper than he has for a while, we’ve got plenty of cover.

It would be nice to see Bonatini sign off the season with a few goals, but I’d start Benik.

Should we get the point we need tomorrow, it will be interesting to see if Nuno gives game time to some of the more peripheral figures in the remaining matches.

Predictions

This is a fixture we notoriously struggle to win but surely there will never be a better chance than now?

Not even the Bolton hoodoo, the curse of the former players and their appetite for the result can stop this Wolves side if they produce a performance.

I’m backing us for a 14th away win.

2-1.

Up The Wolves!

Houston, we have lift off.

I have a confession to make – I didn’t go to the match. I wasn’t there when history was made.

But consuming the highlights, the tweets and the insights from my nearest and dearest, there was one consistent message – business as usual.

Ahead early through a set piece and then easing through the gears as and when required.

Rinse and repeat stuff from the victories over Leeds and Fulham.

Job done. Onto the next.

Let’s talk a bit about the set pieces.

For all the silk and sparkle, Wolves are dominating the meat and potato stuff to give themselves a foothold.

In this run of five consecutive victories, they’ve got themselves ahead via a free-kick or a corner on four of those occasions.

That’s no coincidence and underlines that we not only possess the most technically superior players in the league, but also the best drilled.

Ominous signs for anyone thinking of banking up and defending deep.

Things inevitably went south for Bolton pretty quickly after Willy Boly powered in the opener and Bonatini rounded off a slick move involving a sumptuous Neves pass for the second.

Then arrived the standard hatchet job on our best and brightest and the usual kerfuffle on the sidelines.

I for one am glad our bench are up for every decision. The home dugout has been too timid for too long.

And let’s be honest, teams come to disrupt our rhythm by any means necessary and if they want to dish out tough treatment, we should all be howling for the ref to dole out adequate justice.

It probably won’t be the last time Nuno is sent to the stands or the dressing room or wherever he camped out for the second half.

Much like me, he probably didn’t need to see the action with his own eyes to predict the likely outcome.

The goal rush is inevitable when Wolves are in the driving seat and the opposition start pushing.

Jota and Cavaleiro must be the most devastating counterattacking duo we’ve ever had, with the former bringing out the best in the latter.

The team, like those speedsters are sprinting away with it and doling out a clear message to everyone else – catch us if you can.

I’ll get over the play-off semi-final defeat one day.

But as firmly as I’m clinging onto that particular grudge, I’m glad Bolton have managed to stay afloat after a few uncomfortable years.

I don’t like seeing any club struggling to maintain their very existence, so it’s good that they’re still here and we can resume the rivalry.

Despite the 28 point gap and the obvious gulf in quality you wouldn’t put it past them to throw a spanner in the works.

Bolton

I am surprised they made an immediate return from League One given the turmoil on and off the field that Phil Parkinson inherited.

Persuading him to join from Bradford was a smart move given his success in the lower leagues but maintaining their Championship status will be an even tougher challenge for a manager who is yet to prove his credentials at this level.

The Trotters come into this game second from bottom with only two wins from their eighteen matches.

Both of those victories came at the Macron Stadium and they haven’t beaten anyone in their nine away matches to date. Hopefully it’s not tenth time lucky.

Former Wolves skipper Karl Henry is back in town for another showdown and Adam Le Fondre may also feature.

Wolves

After this game we don’t play again for the best part of ten days, so I don’t expect Nuno to indulge in rotation.

At the front of the queue is Helder Costa. He’s gradually starting to look like the player we loved and cherished last season. This might be a nice one for him.

If he plays, it’s likely Cav won’t and that’s very harsh after he enjoyed one of his best performances of the season in midweek.

Predictions

No game is easy in the Championship but Wolves are overwhelming favourites and I expect them to win.

It will be interesting to see how Bolton approach it and how much adventure they demonstrate, but based on our recent form I can only see one outcome.

They haven’t lost any of their last seven matches in fairness, but that’s likely to end if this follows the script.

3-0.

Up The Wolves!

If the intent was to banish the anger surrounding the club’s transfer failings, things couldn’t have gone much worse.

Squandering a two goal lead and being dominated at home by the league’s bottom club certainly wasn’t the plan as Jez Moxey prepares to lick the envelopes on those ever less enticing Early Birds.

An attacking trio of Rowe, Sigurdarson and van La Parra almost felt like a dirty protest from the head coach, serving to underline a crippling lack of resources and the rapid deterioration of a once talented squad.

Sure it was nice to see Joe Mason emerge from the pocket to stroke home a debut goal, but our marquee January signing was almost totally anonymous from there on out.

He can hardly shoulder the blame though.

How can a number 10 expect to thrive when the players around him are only interested in hit and hope?

We used to play the ball out from the back, looking to thread it between lines or failing that out wide to a player with the pace and skill to make something happen.

Last night was ‘shut your eyes and hope for the best’. Lash it forward and make Siggy run.

It was only thanks to overly generous Bolton defending and a fine solo goal from James Henry that Wolves somehow worked themselves into a winning position.

Quite how they managed to surrender it against a team who, for all their dominance, looked incapable of testing Carl Ikeme, is really anyone’s guess.

Yet somehow it felt right.

To have emerged victorious would have been a tonic, but contradictory to the almost unanimous sense of displeasure surrounding the events of January.

This was a more fitting climax to another episode of misery in what’s already been a season of continual disappointment.

Scratching around for positives, it seems likely there will be loan additions, Kenny Jackett can certainly select a better eleven and we’re mercifully a safe distance from relegation peril (for the moment).

But less than six months after the club defiantly stated the goal was to improve on last season, we’re all left wondering how they got things so completely and utterly wrong?

I really wanted to wait until Tuesday morning to write this blog.

Only then will we know precisely what Wolves have and haven’t done in the transfer window.

But with my own deadlines to meet, I can only comment on a dreary Sunday evening about what’s been a disappointing January.

And as much as I want to be measured and patient in my assessment of new recruits, right now it feels like the squad is regressing.

We’ve lost shed loads of pace and devilment through departures and injury and done nothing to address the issue.

It’s the same old Wolves really – lots of investment in potential and stars of the future, but little to enthuse about the here and now.

Bolton

The Trotters haven’t won a single away game in the Championship all season, losing 11 and drawing 3 of their 14 matches to date.

But then again, they hadn’t beaten anyone until Wolves rocked up at the Macron back in September and they secured a routine 2-1 victory.

It then took them another three months to win again, when Blackburn finally saved us from being an embarrassing name check in their miserable season.

Financial woes, a fire sale and the threat of liquidation hasn’t stopped Neil Lennon keeping them in touch with safety though and they come into this game with a chance to further reduce the arrears.

They’ve still got some useful players knocking about too, several of which have been linked with Wolves this month, and have very little to lose in their current situation.

Wolves

With Edwards, Zyro and new signing Mike Williamson beefing up Tony Daley’s treatment room, Kenny Jackett will be happy to at least have Joe Mason fit and raring to go.

There’s an immediate slot for our new striker/number 10 to occupy with Dave Edwards out for the foreseeable so no reason he won’t get his Molineux debut.

Funnily enough, Mason and Le Fondre know each other well from their time together at Bolton (and Cardiff) where both enjoyed successful loan spells.

If the remaining 10 are good to go, I can’t see the manager making too many changes. They were impressive in the second half at Loftus Road, showing there’s still an appetite to compete and the ability to do so.

Predictions

Surely we’re not going to get doubled by a team who’ve only won two other league matches? They’ve long been a bogey team but that would take it to a whole new level.

I might sound all doom and gloom, but I really liked what I saw against QPR. Coady and McDonald are getting better the longer the season goes on and if van La Parra keeps hitting the heights, we’ve always got a chance.

Instinctively, I reckon this might be a draw but to counter balance my negative outlook, I’ll back us to secure the maximum.

2-1

Up The Wolves!

* Our very own StuWolf is joining Sky TV’s presenter Jeff Stelling on his “Men United’s Walk” for Prostrate Cancer on 26th March 2016 and I encourage you to support him in his efforts. You can learn more and sponsor Stuart on his JustGiving page here.