[ad_pod ]
There is no doubt Wolves have transitioned to life in the Premier League with impressive ease. Their domination of the Championship last season suggested Nuno Santo’s outfit would perform the best of any of the promoted sides this term and that has certainly been the case so far. With nine points from six games, they sit in tenth place – five positions above Fulham and nine above Cardiff City.
But it’s the manner in which Wolves have gone about their business that has really caught the eye. They’ve already taken points off both Manchester clubs and Everton, have conceded just six goals and look meticulously organised in their 3-4-3 setup, making the top ten finish many predicted during the summer seem an easily obtainable target for the Molineux outfit,
“They played really well (against United). They’re the most accomplished side I’ve ever seen come out the Championship. I know they’ve spent money but another thing they had is good organisation and good work ethic. And money doesn’t always buy you that.”
Danny Murphy on talkSPORT
And yet, Wolves’ impressive start has also seen analysis of this team veer into sheer hyperbole. Earlier this week, Danny Murphy told talkSPORT that Wolves are the most ‘accomplished’ side he’s ever seen come up from the Championship and Jamie Redknapp has made similar claims, comparing the boys in gold to Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn team that finished fourth in the 1992/93 season after promotion from the second tier.
“Not since Kenny Dalglish led Blackburn into the Premier League in 1992 have I been more excited by a newly-promoted team. Wolves have already taken a point from Manchesters City and United but it is their performances in these matches which have impressed me most.”
Jamie Redknapp on Wolves’ start to the season
High praise indeed, but it says more about how short memories have become in modern football than it does the quality Wolves have shown so far this season. As impressive as they’ve been, the Premier League era is littered with success stories upon promotion to the top flight, starting with Rovers’ rise that four years later climaxed in the form of winning the title.
In fact, between 1992 and 1995, one promoted side finished in the Premier League’s top four each season, the others being Kevin Keegan’s famous Newcastle team that later fell just short of Blackburn’s achievement and Frank Clark’s revived Nottingham Forest – although their Premier League ascension wouldn’t last quite so long or be quite so spectacular.
And as far as ‘accomplished’ goes, those three sides included Alan Shearer, Graeme Le Saux, Henning Berg, Tim Sherwood, Andy Cole, Peter Beardsley, Robert Lee, Steve Stone, Stuart Pearce and Stan Collymore.
Some of those names are amongst the greatest in Premier League history, and all would prove invaluable assets for any promoted side today – including Wolves, despite the money spent during the summer and the array of foreign talent that has been brought to the club over the last few years.
Even when looking a little further down the table at how some clubs fared upon gaining promotion to the top flight, Wolves still have much history to contend with.
Back in 2000/01, Ipswich shocked the English game by marching their way to European football, while Sunderland finished seventh the year previous with an impressive 58 points. West Ham and Reading, meanwhile, in subsequent seasons, bagged 55 points and finished ninth and eighth respectively.
If Wolves were to maintain their current rate of points for the rest of the Premier League season, they’d finish slap-bang in the middle of Reading, West Ham and Sunderland with 57 in total.
Certainly impressive for a promoted team, but impressive enough to be labelled the greatest in Premier League history? Steve Coppell fell only slightly short of that points haul relying on Leroy Lita, Kevin Doyle and Dave Kitson.
In fairness, this is a much tougher Premier League era Wolves have been promoted into, especially for the teams near the bottom of the table. The top six has never been further ahead of the rest of the division and the chances of anybody breaking into it in the near future, including perennial seventh-placers Everton, seem incredibly remote.
[ffc_insert title=”Check out the Big Interview with Ben Dinnery & Johnny Wilson” name=”Fixture In Focus Podcast Special” image_ link=”https://fixtureinfocus.podiant.co/e/369d9b4fb86294/” link_text=”Click here to play”]
That’s denied Wolves the mobility and high ceiling Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Blackburn once enjoyed, and it’s incredibly telling that no team to feature on our historic table of promoted sides made the step up to the Premier League within the last ten years – Reading’s 2006/07 campaign being the latest.
Nonetheless, as much as we accept those caveats, we also have to accept the rich history of Premier League football isn’t limited to the last five or ten years. To crown Wolves as its greatest ever promoted side, after just six games of the new season, is not only superficial, hyperbolic and clearly laced with the bias of recency, but it also downplays the incredible achievements of their many promoted predecessors.
Lest we forget, Leicester City won the title three seasons ago, just two after they’d returned from the Championship. That’s a real story of promotion success. As impressive as Wolves have been, they’ve done nothing more than enjoy a strong start to the campaign – we’ve seen countless promoted sides do that before; some have stayed up, and some have gone down.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”300962″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch The FPL Show GW7 onestowatch”]
