A comprehensive victory inspired by a homegrown striker and a team sitting proudly in the play-offs.With their young side outstripping expectations so spectacularly, you’d think it would be a good time to be a Wolves fan.

But all is not well on the terraces at Molineux. Once again a few thousand Wolves fans decided to come to Saturday’s game against Southend disguised as empty seats.

Another disappointing gate saw the seasonal average slip just shy of 19,500 – 4,000 short of last season’s average gate and 600 below the figure the club have budgeted for.

So just where are the missing 4,000 – and what will happen if at least some of them don’t return?

As chief executive Jez Moxey outlines today, Wolves face some serious financial turbulence if crowds continue to slump.

The board have budgeted for an average gate of 20,000 but make no mistake about it – that is a very low bottom line. With so many Midland derbies this season and a team performing minor miracles all over the country, the board would have expected crowds to start picking up by October at the latest.

But we’re now in the early frost of November and the stayaway supporters have been steadfast. Despite the fact that Mick McCarthy has quickly fashioned a team which has been a breath of fresh air, many fans continue to turn their noses up at returning.

Molineux’s worrying falling attendance average is mirrored across the region. Two seasons ago, after their relegation from the Premiership, Wolves averaged 26,620. The full season of Glenn Hoddle which followed attracted a 23,624 average and the current figure is an alarming 19,411. In less than three seasons, 7,000 fans have gone missing.

Over at the The Hawthorns, the same time span has brought the same effect, Albion’s Great Escape campaign drew a 25,987 average followed last season by 25,404. And yet, despite some of the most attractive football the team have produced in recent memory and a place among the Championship leaders, the Baggies are currently averaging 20,363.

At Birmingham, where the recent derby with Albion attracted fewer than 18,000 Blues fans, the figure has plummeted from 28,760 to this season’s 20,582. Like Albion, the club will hope to limit the damage of their collapsing support with improved results.

But the there is an unmistakeable trend which was predicted in the Express & Star’s exclusive West Midlands football report earlier this year. Poor football, limited success and high prices pointed towards the kind of trends each of our region’s clubs are experiencing.

Even the two most resurgent emblems on the patch, Villa and Walsall, have dropped from the levels of two years ago.

The Saddlers promotion challenge has not prevented the 6,081 average of two seasons ago slipping to a current figure of 5,348. And at Villa, the new O’Neill-Lerner era has undoubtedly attracted back lost supporters but they are still more than 2,000 down oh the average of 2004-5.

As that West Midlands survey revealed, price is now a major complaint for many fans. The cheapest tickets at Albion and Wolves is £23, at Premiership Villa £25 and at Blues £20. Walsall’s £14 base rate makes for attractive comparison as they sweep along at the top of League Two.

But a Saturday at the football for Mr and Mrs Average Football Fan is not something to be budgeted for lightly. And yet, with the clubs’ financial protocals all set to such high levels, they desperately need gates to hold up.

Wolves pinned their hopes on “over achieving and not under-achieving” in a re-invention of the club’s philosophies – better-than-expected results and honest performances were meant to bring at least some of the 4,000 back.

But clearly, there are deeper issues lying at the heart of some Wolves fans decision not to pass through the gates at Molineux.

The dying days of the Hoddle era obviously dented the die-hard loyalty of a significant minority.

Appointing an ex-England manager with a bluechip CV, and then backing him with the last of the precious Premiership parachute payments, appeared a masterstroke.

But Hoddle became a remote, unloved figure who never convinced fans his heart was in the job. Fans probably would have been prepared to put up with his aloofness if the football had been as impressive as Hoddle’s midfield brilliance – but it wasn’t.

The dull, over-complicated style drove the fans towards a range of responses. Anger in some quarters, disenchantment in others but – particularly damaging for future attendance trends – apathy in other areas.

But for many Wolves problems stretch even further back, with emotions still raw over the way the club went about trying to stay in the Premiership.

The decline, of course, has to be measured against some compelling mitigating circumstances.

Attendances are down at grounds all over the country and most of the division’s heavyweights are yet to visit Molineux.

But the club desperately need those missing fans to return, even if their frustrations are understandable.

If the Hoddle era felt like a great club gradually turning its back on its tradition and past, then this summer’s fire sale must have felt like the ultimate betrayal.

But look beyond the bitterness of the summer and there is an increasing feeling in the corridors of Molineux that Mick McCarthy is on the verge of something quite special.

The tough-talking Tyke hasn’t let his players wallow in the lack of expectation this season, and continues to inspire them on their path to the play-offs.

And if he doesn’t do it this year – he will be sticking around to try and do it again next season. McCarthy has already started planning for next season, and it will be a similar heady mix of youth, experience and enthusiasm.

The board, too, are starting to act. Chief Executive Moxey has been quite honest about the new financial reality – even if its not something most fans want to hear. With the two for one ticket offers and the decision to give tickets to the fans who braved the rain at Chesterfield earlier this season, the board are beginning to offer an olive branch to the disenchanted fans and should be applauded for it.

If the stay-away fans are waiting for root and branch reform at Molineux, they face more Saturdays in the shopping centres of the city.

The club, under the astute tutelage of their new manager, will continue down the path set out this summer for the foreseeable future. Don’t rule out a possible seven figure signing in January – if the club are continuing to perform at the current level – but the days of legions of big names at Molineux are gone.

Around 17,000 are prepared to grudgingly accept that, and their support has been superb and unflinching. Look at the reaction of the sizeable travelling army at the Hawthorns and St Mary’s. Applause in the face of two heartbreaking defeats.

The team will no doubt carry on with the rollercoaster season, impressed at the support they have got.

But in the meantime, the impasse between stayaway fans and the board will continue to hurt the one thing they both have in common – the continued welfare of Wolverhampton Wanderers.