FEATURE: Wolves' brilliant season – where does it rank?
It's been a fantastic season for Wolverhampton Wanderers and undoubtedly one of the most memorable in their history.
Nuno Espirito Santo's swashbuckling team fell fractionally short of reaching 100 points but their total of 99 makes it one of the most successful in the club's 141-year existence.
But in terms of points where does it rank? Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers has compiled the top 10 seasons in terms of points per game (which recalculates seasons from before 1981 to change from two to three points for a win).
1– 2013/14, League One (third tier)
Points – 103 from 46 matches (2.23 points per game)
Yes a club of Wolves’ size shouldn’t have been in League One and yes they had the biggest budget in the division, but there should be no underestimation whatsoever of the phenomenal job Kenny Jackett did.
He disposed of high earners and quickly assembled a team of young and hungry talents who took the division by storm – and set the foundations for what we see today.
Wolves won 17 of their last 21 matches, which included a club record run of nine consecutive victories.
Star player: Bakary Sako and Nouha Dicko provided the fireworks but Kevin McDonald was a class act throughout and won the player of the season award.
Highlight: A 6-4 win over Rotherham after promotion had already been secured was absolutely bonkers. After 80 minutes Wolves were 4-2 up – eight minutes later it was 4-4 but two goals in stoppage time sparked pitch invasions and wild scenes of celebration.
2 – 1957/58, First Division (top tier)
Points – 92 from 42 matches (2.19 points per game)
Quite simply the most successful season in Wolves’ history.
Stan Cullis’s team swept all before them, including Sir Matt Busby’s Manchester United – who were of course decimated by the Munich air crash, but Wolves were six points ahead of them at the time of the tragedy.
For good measure Wolves' second, third and fourth teams also won their respective league titles, the teenagers won the Youth Cup (beating Chelsea 7-6 despite being 5-1 down after the first leg) and the season also included a famous 3-2 floodlit friendly win over the mighty Real Madrid in front of 55,000 at Molineux.
Star player: The likes of Billy Wright, Ron Flowers and Peter Broadbent were a key part of one of the world’s finest teams at the time, while Jimmy Murray had the season of his career, scoring 29 times in 41 league matches.
Highlight: A 3-0 win at Albion in late March went a long way to securing the title. Murray scored twice and Bobby Mason netted the other in front of almost 57,000 at the Hawthorns.
3 – 2017/18, Championship (second tier)
Points – 99 from 46 matches (2.15 points per game)
No one quite knew what to expect when the relatively unheralded Nuno Espirito Santo changed the club's tactics, formation, methods and signed 12 new players.
Within weeks the Portuguese head coach was onto a winner. Wolves hit the ground running with three consecutive victories and from late October onwards they remained rooted to top spot, winning promotion with four games to spare.
Wolves steamrollered the division with a blistering front line of Portuguese playmakers and a rigid and organised defence that kept 24 clean sheets, but it was the style with which they tore their opposition apart – death by a thousand cuts – that impressed most of all.
Seasoned observers called it the best football they'd ever seen at Molineux.
Star player: Diogo Jota scored 18 goals, Ivan Cavaleiro was a creative genius, Conor Coady reinvented himself as a composed centre half and Matt Doherty and Barry Douglas owned the flanks week after week, but no one had quite seen the like of Ruben Neves in WV1 before.
Highlight: A narrow win at Middlesbrough with nine men, a last-gasp comeback victory at Bristol City in a top-two showdown and a 2-0 humbling of local rivals Villa were all unforgettable, but a 1-0 victory at Cardiff when the Bluebirds spurned two penalties in stoppage time was scarcely believable and topped the lot.
4 – 1958/59, First Division (top tier)
Points – 89 from 42 matches (2.11 points per game)
A second successive league title for Cullis’ all-conquering team who pipped a rejuvenated Man United by six points.
They plundered a phenomenal 110 goals, thrashing Nottingham Forest 5-1, Blackburn 5-0, Leeds 6-2, Arsenal 6-1 and Albion 5-2.
Jimmy Murray (21 goals) and Peter Broadbent (20) top scored as captain Billy Wright retired in style having made 541 appearances in gold and black. Wright also became the first ever international centurion during the season when winning his 100th cap during a 1-0 win over Scotland.
Cullis' free-scoring team had scored 103 goals the season before and netted 106 goals a season later plus 103 in 1960/61, making a remarkable total of 422 goals in four seasons. However the 1958/59 title remains Wolves' last – Burnley pipped them to top spot by a solitary point in 1960 and a decline soon set in.
Star player: A 26-year-old Peter Broadbent was in his prime, producing the kind of dazzling skill that made him both Sir Alex Ferguson and George Best's favourite player growing up.
Highlight: Lowly Portsmouth with ruthlessly put the sword in consecutive days after Christmas, with Wolves winning 5-3 at Fratton Park on Boxing Day and then 7-0 at Molineux a day later.
5 – 1923/24, Division Three North (third tier)
Points – 87 from 42 matches (2.07 points per game)
After being in the top two divisions since the league formed in 1888, Wolves spent a rather ignominious first season in the third tier in 1923/24.
Opposition included the likes of Durham City, New Brighton, Bradford Park Avenue, Barrow and Ashington, with Wolves meeting 15 clubs in competitive games for the first time.
Accrington Stanley, Wigan Borough, Darlington, Southport and neighbours Walsall (who Wolves failed to beat in their two matches) were also first-time opponents.
A name as big as Wolves was too big for that level and George Jobey's team duly won the title, albeit only beating runners-up Rochdale by a point.
Wolves lost only three games all season and a 20-match unbeaten run from November to April remains a club record.
Star player: Striker Tom Phillipson and soon began his prolific goalscoring form with 12 goals in 23 matches. The prolific front-man would later net in 13 consecutive matches.
Highlight: Phillipson scored his first, second and third Wolves goals in a 7-1 hammering of Ashington.
6 – 1988/89, Third Division (third tier)
Points – 92 from 46 matches (2 points per game)
Wolves have won the league three times, the FA Cup four times, reached a European final, won two League Cups and been unofficially crowned the world's best team...but their revival in the late 1980s was just as important as anything that's happened since their formation in 1877.
After the very heart of the club was ripped out by the Bhatti brothers Wolves found themselves in the bottom tier of English football playing in a ramshackle ground with a host of awful, awful players.
However the phoenix rose gloriously from the flames, led primarily by Graham Turner's savvy management and Steve Bull's goals.
In 1988/89 they stormed the Third Division for their second successive promotion, scoring 96 goals along the way.
Star player: Stephen George Bull scored 50 goals in all competitions to make it a century over two seasons. His exploits earned him an England call-up at the end of the season, while technically still a Third Division player, and he scored on his debut away at Scotland. Not even Roy of the Rovers would make that up.
Highlight: The title was won with a memorable 2-2 draw against fellow promoted side Sheffield United in front of 24,321 at Molineux, the biggest home crowd since an opening-day draw with Liverpool in the top flight in 1983.
7 – 1966/67, Second Division (second tier)
Points – 83 from 42 matches (1.97 points per game)
After winning three titles and two FA Cups between 1949 and 1960 the Stan Cullis era came to an abrupt end in 1964 and later that season Wolves were relegated.
Andy Beattie couldn't guided them straight back to the top flight at the first attempt, with Wolves finishing sixth in 1965/66, but after Ronnie Allen replaced him a revival began.
A season later they won promotion as runners-up behind Coventry City, scoring 88 goals and finishing six points ahead of third-placed Carlisle.
Star player: The 1970s team that is so fondly remembered began to form, with Dave Wagstaffe on the wing and Derek Dougan signing from Leicester, while a young Peter Knowles also began to make his mark. However another new man, Mike Bailey, played every league game bar one and was integral to the team's success.
Highlight: Terry Wharton netted a hat-trick as Cardiff were hammered 7-1 early in the campaign.
8= 2008/09, Championship (second tier)
Points – 90 from 46 matches (1.95 points per game)
Mick McCarthy spent two years building a talented young group of hard-working players who flirted with promotion in 2007 (despite a minuscule budget) and 2008.
With new owner Steve Morgan having taken the reins McCarthy was able to combine the star quality of Michael Kightly, Matt Jarvis, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Wayne Hennessey with some steel and experience via Karl Henry, Kevin Foley, Richard Stearman and Chris Iwelumo.
The result was a season to remember, with promotion secured with two games to spare.
Star player: The prolific Ebanks-Blake scored 25 goals in 41 matches but it's often forgotten that trusty right back Kevin Foley won the player of the season award for his metronomically consistent performances.
Highlight: Promotion was as good as secured in stunning fashion at Derby when Wolves came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 with Andy Keogh's diving header sending the away end absolutely potty.
8= 1987/88, Fourth Division (fourth tier)
Points – 90 from 46 matches (1.95 points per game)
Having reached the lowest ebb in their history in the previous two years, this was the start of the Wolves revival.
Graham Turner had taken over the previous season when Wolves lost in the play-offs.
However they made no mistake in 1987/88 and won the title by five points ahead of Cardiff, while also winning the Sherpa Van Trophy final in front of 80,000 on a fabulous afternoon at Wembley.
The team played a club record 61 competitive games in the season...and goalkeeper Mark Kendall and striker Andy Mutch played in every single one.
Billy Wright, John Richards, Ron Flowers et al secured their 'legend' status while in the top flight, but the likes of Kendall, Mutch, Keith Downing, Andy Thompson, Robbie Dennison and of course Steve Bull are no less revered by Wolves supporters for the crucial role they played in one of the most important periods in the club's history.
Star player: Steve Bull became the first footballer in England for 27 years to score 50 goals in a season. He finished with 52 in all competitions, despite also being sent off twice.
Highlight: Away from the league, but it can only be the 2-0 win over Burnley to win the Sherpa Van Trophy.
10 – 2001/02, First Division (second tier)
Points – 86 from 46 matches (1.86 points per game)
The only season on our list that didn’t end with either the title or promotion...and for Wolves fans who lived through it the less said about it, the better.
It's a season etched in the memories of long-suffering supporters who watched in sheer horror as Dave Jones' team somehow blew an 11-point lead over, of all teams, Albion. And then they lost in the play-offs to Norwich to boot.
As late as March no one saw it coming, with a 2-0 win over Gillingham being a seventh consecutive victory.
However Wolves only won only two of their final nine games, with 1-0 defeats to Grimsby and Millwall being particularly hard to stomach.
It's often (understandably) forgotten that in the early months of the season Wolves were irresistable. They started the season going 11 games unbeaten and were devastatingly clinical in wins over Walsall, Rotherham, Bradford and Burnley
And then it all went wrong.
Star player: Joleon Lescott was maturing into a fine centre half and Mark Kennedy's thrilling wing-play was special to witness at times, but Dean Strurridge had the purple patch of his career with 20 goals in 27 appearances including a hat-trick on his home debut. And he only cost £250,000.
Highlight: Kennedy scored a ferocious volley in a 4-1 victory at Stockport, shortly before Wolves' big collapse.
