Wolves at the door of glory & Kings of the West Midlands

WHEN Leicester pulled off their miracle Premier League title win in 2016, a lot of clubs across the Midlands cast envious glances their way.

There was plenty of chatter on phone-ins, especially in the West Midlands, along the lines of ‘This should have been Aston Villa, shouldn’t it?’

Villa are the biggest club in the Midlands by some considerable distance, if you take trophies and revenue into account.

Then you have Wolves, who won trophies in the 50s and were UEFA Cup finalists against Tottenham in 1972, and West Bromwich Albion, the original yo-yo team between the top flight and second tier.

Even Birmingham City won the League Cup as recently as 2011.

But a malaise had fallen across Midlands football in the years leading up to Leicester’s triumph, with the best players heading for the North West or London.

Midlands and North East clubs suffered, but when the Foxes rose to the summit without serious spend, supporters of the clubs around them questioned why they couldn’t do it too. A couple of months after Leicester were crowned, Fosun bought Wolves and, when I heard the agent Jorge Mendes was heavily involved, alarm bells started ringing.

I thought one of the area’s grand old clubs was about to be used as a thoroughfare for Mendes players plucked from Sporting Lisbon, Benfica and Porto to find their way to the biggest outfits in Europe.

I was wrong about that, thankfully, and all of a sudden Wolves find themselves spearheading a resurgence in West Midlands football.

West Brom’s promotion means they will join Villa and Wolves in the Premier League next season and, while the Baggies and Villa are already plotting for that, the men from Molineux still have some serious business to attend to.

They now stand just three wins from a major European title and, as I’ve said several times this season, no one should be surprised if Wolves end up lifting the Europa League trophy in Cologne on Friday week.

They face Sevilla in the quarterfinal tonight and Nuno Espirito Santo and his men have little to fear from the Spaniards.

Sevilla, who finished fourth in La Liga, won’t know Wolves or their history, and that will play into the English side’s hands.

As will the fact Wolves are one of the best counter-attacking sides in Europe – you only have to look at the results they have enjoyed against the top teams in the Premier League to know they can take on anyone.

I love the fact Wolves have shown the ambition they have to keep hold of star performers Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves and Adama Traore in an age when a dozen good games can earn players a move.

And I hope they are looking at Sevilla, who won the tournament three times on the spin between 2014 and 2016, and thinking: ‘Multiple wins could make us a destination club too.’

Success for Wolves in the Europa League would of course be good for English football, but it would be incredible for the West Midlands.

And my big hope is that we might just start to see the area on the rise again and battling London to reclaim its place as the second-biggest footballing powerhouse in the country.