NUNO’S WOLVES STILL HUNGRY

NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO admits that his biggest challenge at Wolves will be managing expectations among delirious fans and their mega-rich owners.

Wanderers celebrated storming back to the Premier League with an open-top bus parade and reception yesterday.

Wolverhampton was a sea of gold and black as up to 100,000 people turned out after Nuno’s men amassed 99 points playing a swashbuckling, slick brand of passing football to win the Championship title.

But for their ambitious Chinese owners Fosun, a conglomerate worth a staggering £60billion, promotion is just an early step in their plans.

Fans, busy toasting heroics from Ruben Neves, Ivan Cavaleiro and Diogo Jota, are expecting big things, too.

Wolves have even been installed as joint-seventh favourites with Everton to win the Premier League next season.

But former Porto boss Nuno, appointed a year ago, cautioned: “What I feel is expectations are very high and I’m the only one whose expectations aren’t so high.

“We are one year ahead of schedule. We have to improve and work hard, but we cannot say we are going to fight for the top 10 – that will be a big mistake. Fosun is a big company worldwide. We know our ownership wants to be as successful in football as they are in business.

“But football is not business. Football is not mathematic. The Premier League is different and a big challenge.

“It is not my job to restrain their expectations, but just be realistic. If we can achieve what we want sooner, we will go for it.

“I want to build a team who can play home and away the same – never change.”

As Nuno basked in the sunshine yesterday, he was able to reflect on a job well done.

His agent Jorge Mendes, an advisor to Fosun, has got a lot of the attention for bringing in clients like Nuno himself, Jota, Cavaleiro and Helder Costa.

But Nuno’s attention to detail cannot be understated after even rearranging the canteen’s table lay-out daily in pre-season to get players integrating.

And a storming start of four wins in a row saw Wolves players buy into his ideas of passing their way to success.

Nuno added: “It’s not that I invented something, but it’s the way I see football.

“If you have more of the ball than your opponent and you are organised and know when you are defending and when and where you will recover it, you are always in control of the game.”

Wolves suffered only six defeats before promotion was guaranteed and on each occasion they responded with a win.

By the time of a sunshine break to Marbella in January, Wolves players had bonded sufficiently with their boss to trick him into teeing off with an exploding golf ball.

He smiled: “We went and we bounced back with three wins in a row and I was a f ****** genius that we went to Marbella.”

Now Nuno is savouring his first title as a manager, but has already stressed Wolves return to pre-season on June 27.

He said: “I have a lot of titles, but it is my first title as a coach. And when you win you want to repeat it.”