European Tour Heading For Final Fling

John Barnwell is experiencing a thrilling end to the season despite the double disappointment he has suffered over Wolves’ fortunes.

The 1980 League Cup-winning manager has been saddened by the early confirmation of the club’s return to the Championship and would also like to have seen them put another dent in Tottenham’s survival hopes at the weekend.

The 87-year-old, who lives on the banks of the River Trent, remains a regular watcher of Nottingham Forest home games and would have started to view their end to the season in a more relaxed state of mind had Spurs been sent packing from Molineux on the end of another defeat.

But the three points they picked up with their late winner just about keeps Forest in range for them in the battle for survival.

Barnwell told us he had been fearful of the Friday night trip to Sunderland last weekend that had confronted the club for whom he played around 200 games from 1964 to 1970.

He himself had made his first-team debut with an away game on Wearside, a top-flight visit to the old Roker Park with Arsenal in April, 1957 ending in a 1-0 defeat.

“I was only 17 and a lad from Newcastle, so playing at Sunderland on my debut was a big thing,” he said. “There were lots of games after that but you always remember your first one.

“I think Forest will just survive this season but believe it might be close with a few games still to be played.”

As well as battling to extend their top-flight stay into a fourth season – a mission that became more comfortable with the astonishing 5-0 victory five nights ago – Forest are in the last four of the Europa League and are at home to Villa in the home leg of their semi-final tomorrow night.

Barnwell’s City Ground stay well over half a century ago contained a brief taste of European experience that wasn’t unlike the one Wolves went through under him as League Cup holders.

“Just as I thought we suffered from a really poor decision by the officials in our away first leg against PSV Eindhoven in 1980, so we at Forest felt a bit robbed as well when we went out of the old Inter Cities Fairs Cup in 1967-68,” he added of a second-round tie against Zurich.

“We had been runners-up in the First Division the previous season, as well as FA Cup semi-finalists, and hammered Eintracht Frankfurt in round one.

“Then we went out on the away goals rule after losing 1-0 in the second leg in Switzerland. It was very disappointing but I am pleased Forest have gone much further this time and I have enjoyed the European games. Now they have a very tough semi-final against Villa.”

The long-time (and now retired) chief executive of the League Managers Association has no doubt derived considerable interest in observing the methods of the different City Ground bosses in the last year…..Ange Postecogleu, Sean Dyche and two former Wolves men in Nuno Espirito Santo and Vitor Pereira.

Their march towards likely safety is being masterminded by Pereira and inspired by the goals of Molineux graduate Morgan Gibbs White, whose hat-trick at home to Burnley helped make him the highest-scoring Englishman in the Premier League this season.

Our chat with John did not pass without positive comments about his own impressive Molineux service. It never does when we catch up with him.

“I enjoyed my time in Wolverhampton a lot….there were some very good players there and we managed to add two special ones in Andy Gray and Emlyn Hughes,” he said.