I LOST THE PLOT AT 27..BUT IT SET ME UP FOR LIFE PREMIER LEAGUE

Wolves boss never got his dream home but he’s living the dream at Molineux

HIGH-FLYING Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo has revealed the details of a plot which has dogged him for the last 15 years. It is hard to imagine anything spoiling his dream, with the team sitting seventh in the Premier League table after smashing the Championship last season.

The Molineux anthem of ‘Nuno Had a Dream’ is sung louder than ever and can be seen adorning T-shirts, books and flags. The man from the paradise islands of Sao Tome and Principe off the coast of west Africa seems to have found his spiritual home in the Black Country.

But not everything in Nuno’s world is going according to plan. The ‘plot’ in question goes back to when he splashed out for a piece of land enjoying idyllic views on a hillside in Portugal, only to then discover he could not build on it! The planners show no sign of relenting, meaning Nuno’s dream home looks like being a non-starter. The 44-year-old strict disciplinarian tells the cautionary tale after being asked how he deals with young players getting carried away with the trappings of success.

“I should have checked it out,” admitted Nuno. “But it was in 2002 and I was 27.

“It was going to be my dream home. It was perfect. We sometimes go and just sit there... honestly!

“It is beautiful. There is a hill with a big church and the views are fantastic. But building? No, they don’t allow it.

“As a youngster I never had a lot so, of course, the more money I had the more extravagant I could be. I bought land because I pictured that I wanted to build my house there. I just forgot to ask the council. This is extravagance! I forgot to ask them, ‘Can I build a house there?’. When I did, they said no.

“It comes up for application every 15 years when they allow some development. But they told me, ‘This area here? Forget about it! You cannot build there’. Will I sell it? Do YOU want to buy it?”

What he’s building at Molineux is far more precious.

Nuno picked up the Premier League Manager of the Month award for September to underline his side’s astonishing graduation.

They have lost just one league game all season and, incredibly, have named an unchanged starting XI for all eight games.

A home draw with champions Manchester City and a point at Manchester United have alerted the rest that Nuno’s men are not sheep in Wolves clothing. Next up is Watford this afternoon.

He prides himself on being the father figure of his tightly-knit pack and likes to see his rules observed.

He insists on good manners and that everyone acknowledges each other, be that a star player, the receptionist or the kit man. He has built his Wolves side around those core values, and he’s genuinely surprised at raised eyebrows over the way his men have carried their Championship style straight into the top flight.

He added: “What you have to become is really strong in what you do. That’s the point of building a team. You don’t know any other way.

“It would be absurd to do it any other way. Why would you want to be changing something that’s already working?

“You cannot say we are surprised, at the same time it would be arrogant if we said we expect it.

“Changing your approach would be a betrayal of what you believe in. It’s working, why do you change? You don’t have to.”

“It doesn’t mean you are less or more brave, it’s the way you do it, the way you believe in things.

“Wolves is a big club. What brought me here was not money, it was other things. It was having the chance to create something.”