Super Santo’s a Wolves inspiration
WOLVES managing director Laurie Dalrymple hailed the influence of Nuno Espirito Santo after the club’s promotion to the Premier League was confirmed at the weekend.
Fulham conceding an injurytime equaliser to draw 1-1 against Brentford on Saturday meant that the third-placed Cottagers could no longer catch Wolves.
The Championship leaders started the party yesterday with a 2-0 win over Birmingham and have won 29 of their 42 league games so far this season to seal a return to the top flight after a six-season absence. Nuno’s team have occupied top spot in the table since October and achieved promotion with four games to spare.
The Portuguese has steered Wolves to promotion in his first season in charge and Wanderers have played some swash-buckling football at times, scoring some wonderful goals and the praise they have received has been richly deserved.
Dalrymple paid tribute to the impact made by Nuno, the boss who arrived last summer after a spell in charge of Porto.
He said: “What he’s brought in has been fantastic. He came in, he changed the playing style. We’ve recruited well and he’s galvanised the group really strongly in a very short space of time.
“And very, very quickly he had us playing a different style of football than we’d been accustomed to and a brand of football that was delivering results really quickly.”
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Dalrymple added: “He’s a superb tactician, he’s a superb strategist and he’s a superb man-manager. He’s extremely good with the players and the staff.
“I don’t really want to single people out particularly because it’s been a huge unified club effort from start to finish but there’s no doubt he’s been an incredibly important component in the whole thing and what he’s changed since he’s come in has been fantastic.”
Wolves players celebrated the moment they secured promotion. The players and staff gathered together at their team hotel in Wolverhampton ahead of their local derby with the Blues at Molineux to watch the Fulham game.
Wolves tweeted a video of the celebrations which featured the likes of Conor Coady, Matt Doherty, Benik Afobe and the rest of the squad.
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker also took to Twitter to congratulate Wolves on a “brilliant season” and to let them know he is looking forward to seeing them on the show next term.