Bakary Sako: It's magic to be back in the old gold
It was magic, you know. Dicko, Afobe, Sako.
One of those fleeting moments in football where something just comes together. And works. Seemingly effortlessly.
The trio developed an almost telepathic understanding whilst together at Wolves, and one which was as explosive and devastating as it was so joyously acclaimed.
The South Bank purred vociferously in admiration. Delivering their tuneful rendition of the ‘Pilot’ classic. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s magic…” In the second half of the 4-3 win against Leeds, it felt like it was never going to end.
The tantalising trio benefitted from a very good Wolves team behind them of course. An excellent goalkeeper, solid defence and plenty of creativity in midfield. But, for a time in the second half of the 2014/15 season, when Benik Afobe joined on loan to a squad already featuring Bakary Sako and Nouha Dicko, it was those three who captured the imagination. “They gave us a sparkle and an X-Factor,” was the synopsis from Head Coach Kenny Jackett.
And yet, it proved all too short-lived. For the four months they were at Molineux, the trio started only 13 games together. Of those, Wolves won nine, drew one and lost three, collecting 28 points. The team scored 31 goals, 24 of which came from these three combined.
Wolves’ powerful surge ended up just failing to reach the play-offs. Despite amassing 78 points, they missed out on the top six on goal difference. With Dicko, Afobe and Sako, no one would have fancied taking Wolves on in the end-of-season slugfest. How history could have evolved so differently. For the sake of a handful of goals.
For Sako, now back home in France after recently pulling on a Wolves shirt again for the TST seven-a-side tournament in America, it was such a special time.
“That sort of understanding with other players probably only happens once or twice in a career,” he tells the Express & Star.
“With Dicko in particular, we played together for a couple of seasons and I think we could have done so with our eyes closed.
“We both knew where the other one would be, and he knew where I would put the ball, and I don’t know how many assists I got for him but our understanding was ridiculous.
“But it wasn’t just about us and Benik, that whole team were so good.
“We couldn’t do what we did without having people pass us the ball at the right time, midfielders like Kevin McDonald, Jack Price and Lee Evans.
“And then Scott Golbourne, who I worked really well with when he was left back.
“I told him at the recent tournament in America that I think he was the best left back I have played with, the understanding that we had.
“That season we got so close to the play-offs, it had been another good season so it was tough to miss out.
“That team was amazing, we got on so well with each other, but we just didn’t quite make it.
“I think the way we were, with the momentum, we would have won the play-offs if we had got in.”
Ultimately, the 4-2 win against Millwall on the final day of the season was to prove the 124th and last of Sako’s Wolves appearances.
It included his 38th goal – dancing in from the touchline and firing home in the first minute of added time – rounding off his Wolves career just as he had started it. By scoring.
Sako had arrived at Wolves in the summer of 2012 following relegation from the Premier League, one of a number of summer signings for new boss Stale Solbakken.
Born in a Paris suburb, the young and ambitious winger joined Chateauroux at the age of 14, emerging through the same as Academy as Florent Malouda, later with Chelsea, and Stephane Dalmat, who went on to play for Spurs.
Turning professional and playing in the French Second Division, he impressed to the extent that one of French football’s biggest clubs, Saint Etienne, snapped him up in the summer of 2009.
He spent three years with Saint Etienne, playing a part in the club’s return to the top six of Ligue One, before the switch to Wolves, which was to prove the next step of his career ambitions.
“It was always my dream to play in England and so I was very happy to come to Wolves,” he says.
“And to have such a good debut made it the perfect start.”
That debut came in the testing surroundings of Sixfields, and a lively League Cup tie with Northampton, in which Wolves just about prevailed 3-1.
Sako started his Wolves career as he finished, scoring in added time, and taking a potentially tricky introduction to life in English football, completely in his stride.
“The big thing for me, is that the English game is my type of game,” he explains.
“Being strong and powerful, going up and down the pitch.
“It all really suited me, and that is why I think I came in and settled really well.”
Wolves, as a whole, also initially settled well under Solbakken.
When the season’s second international break arrived at the start of October, the team had taken 19 points from ten games, and were sitting third in the Championship table, three points off the top.
And yet, as results took a downturn, Solbakken lost his job in January, was replaced by Dean Saunders, and Wolves somehow ended up suffering a second successive relegation.
