With the club being strongly rumoured to be taken over by Chinese billionaire Robin Li, Amar Bains looks at whether this could bring back Wolves glory years.
Wolverhampton Wanderers were once dubbed “Champions of the World“. Now they languish stuck behind clubs fuelled with money dominating not only the Premier league but the Championship too.
Historically, the men in old gold have been influential in the establishment of football, being one of the founding members of the football league. More notably however is their contribution to the formation of the ‘Champions cup’.
Today, the modern game has prevented football from being exciting and unpredictable in contrast to 50 years go, where a team could win the Old Division one and then be in a relegation dog fight the next season.
The innovation at Molineux led to high-profile friendlies under the famous floodlights for the first time in 1953, with top sides such as Real Madrid suffering defeat to Stan Cullis’ men. Cullis’ era is arguably the most successful era in the club’s history. Wolves won the FA Cup within his first season of being in charge beating Leicester City 3-1 in the final. Wolves then won the League title in 1953, 1958 and 1959.
The dominance over this decade spurred many on to challenge the capabilities of Stan Cullis’ Wolves. This included Honvéd, which featured many of the players who had thrashed England twice before this match at Molineux and ended up with Wolves coming from behind to win, not only supporting the greatness of the Wolves team but restoring pride to English football.
Along with other European scalps, this led the national media to proclaim Wolves “Champions of the World”. This was the last spur for Gabriel Hanot, the editor of L’Équipe, who had long campaigned for a Europe wide club tournament to be played under floodlights.
“Before we declare that Wolverhampton Wanderers are invincible, let them go to Moscow and Budapest. And there are other internationally renowned clubs: A.C. Milan and Real Madrid to name but two. A club world championship, or at least a European one – larger, more meaningful and more prestigious than the Mitropa Cup and more original than a competition for national teams – should be launched”. Gabriel Hanot, editor of L’Équipe.
This was the greatest period in Wolverhampton Wanderers history. However it has to be said that, although Wolves have won the FA Cup 4 times and the league cup twice, last in 1980, they have become some what of a sleeping giant. Wolves have only spent 4 seasons in the Premier League. It could be said that the timing of Wolves’ decline in the 1980’s was definitely damaging for the club due to the transition of football to the modern era.
Wolves now have been linked too Billionaire owners, something we could have only dreamt about. A manager moulded for the Spain job moving to Molineux. Yes, once we get there formally, it will be tough still. Patience is the key word here. I am 100% sure that the chairman, the board and the manager will realise the key formula to stimulate us on to greater things.
Yes this is a dream but it is not one out of reach. It may take years to build the club to the strength needed to survive and grow. But now Wolves are building in the right way. Wolverhampton Wanderers have the fan base, the possible finance and a new foundation to make this successful.
One of the most famous sayings of the club is ‘Out of the Darkness Cometh the Light’ – Wolves have hit new lows but now is the time for the light to shine on the Old Gold and Black.
As I sit here in London paying attention only to Twitter updates, and the possibility of ordering Chinese tonight. I leave you this quote to fixate on potential European ventures and real success. Will the Sleeping Giant wake?
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” Haruki Murakami
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