They were singing a Wolves manager’s name at the end, and it was not that of arguably the most successful of Steve Davis’ half-century supporting the club. It was his name that echoed around Molineux, rather than Nuno Espirito Santo’s. If it reflected the caretaker’s feat in beating Nottingham Forest, and perhaps a rare chance to celebrate one of their own after a few years when the Portuguese have colonised a corner of the West Midlands, it may have been a sign of how Nuno’s stock has fallen.
A year ago, he was Tottenham manager. Three years ago, “Nuno had a dream” was the soundtrack to every Wolves game. Now dreams have been interrupted as reality threatens Wolves. If their fans do not want him, it is hard to imagine the supporters of any Premier League club do.
A couple of days earlier, the prospect of a return had been mooted. The supporters who used to idolise Nuno could have formed a vanguard, but they remained silent. Now Wolves may take the drudgery of his final season – few goals but the safety of 13th place – though a second coming of Nuno is unlikely, if not yet impossible.
But ultimately Bruno Lage’s undoing was that they never really moved on from his predecessor. Even after Lage swapped to a back four and exiled Conor Coady, Wolves were dragged downwards by their dullness. The danger is that the gravitational pull takes them back to the Championship. On paper, Forest at home is the easiest game of the season and Wolves required a penalty to score and a penalty save to prevail.
The search for Lage’s successor comes with the club at a crossroads. They have followed the same path, yet regressed and reversed. They retain sufficient allure to appeal to a former Real Madrid and Spain manager, but Julen Lopetegui’s father’s health precluded him from taking the job. He appeared to top a shortlist of one, leaving Wolves scrabbling around for a suitable second choice and with Davis expecting to remain in charge for Tuesday’s match against Crystal Palace. Factor in Sunday’s game against Leicester and their biggest nine-day period for months could come under their Under-18 coach.
It is an indictment of their board. Yet if their options may be limited if they restrict themselves to Jorge Mendes’ stable of clients, a loyalty to Mendes can feel a Faustian pact. Most clubs where an agent has an undue influence suffer rather quicker, but Wolves went to seventh place and a European quarter-final.
Yet now dubious decision-making could come at a cost to a club who are managerless and virtually goalless. Some £65 million was spent on Goncalo Guedes and Matheus Nunes in the summer when there was a greater need to divert more of the resources to the centre-forward and centre-back roles.
The sense is Wolves have never recovered from Raul Jimenez’s fractured skull, even though the Mexican has played 40 games since then. They are the lowest scorers in all four divisions and that impotence, like the possibility of relegation, could deter some targets; producing a shift in mentality, creativity and productivity is no simple task.
The Mendesification of the squad could dictate and dissuade. Certainly managers who are innately attacking, devoted to high pressing or fond of playing with either two strikers or three centre-backs may lack the personnel to pursue their preferred tactics. The ideal candidate may need to be trilingual – Portuguese, English and Spanish, probably in that order – and to be able to operate with a trio of playmakers, but to conjure more in the final third.
The encouraging element is that there is quality and a shared sense of purpose. “If we win next week we can soon go to 9th or 10th,” said Jose Sa.
Wolves were led by a combination of the homegrown and the assimilated and the affinity many of the Portuguese contingent have developed has helped. Their commitment is crucial. The captain Neves assumed responsibility for scoring a penalty, the goalkeeper Sa for saving one, despite his broken wrist. “We have to be like warriors to help the team,” he said.
That fighting spirit could offer salvation, though Wolves have appeared insipid and uninspired for periods in the last two years. But if the Premier League retains an ability to attract high-class managers, both the timing and the table render Wolves a difficult job. It is a short-term task with a need for a long-term vision: Lage excelled at the first last season but never implemented the second.
As a club, Wolves tried to stand still as others sought to overtake them. As a team, there are times when it has felt they are playing Nunoball without Nuno, which does not mean they ought to revert to their past. After four goals in 10 games, they are stuck in it.
If Wolves face decisions of which manager to choose and which type, of whether an attempt at continuity or change is the greater gamble, this particular, peculiar project feel outliers again. When most clubs have an identity crisis is because they don’t have one. In Wolves’ case, it is because they can’t shed part of theirs.
