United Eclipsing Adds To ‘Shades Of 1970’ Feel 

Another post-match ‘debrief’, another three points on which to reflect.

This memorable end to 2024-25 is opening doors that seemed to have been slammed firmly in Wolves’ faces and having us turning repeatedly to the record books.

It’s hard to imagine now the potential precipice Vitor Pereira’s side were perched on when they went into the final 20 minutes of their game at Ipswich a goal behind just over two weeks ago.

For so long, it seemed that 17th place would be as high as they could hope to climb this season – and even finishing there would have been something to celebrate following the months of looking anxiously at the results of Ipswich and Leicester.

Now, though, having put some daylight between themselves and West Ham and clambered above Tottenham for a few more hours at least, other big-name clubs are within reach.

Yesterday’s game at Manchester United – awful spectacle, wonderful result – came on the day Leicester were relegated and left Wolves with more than twice the East Midlanders’ tally of 18 points. While we’re at it, this is also a first League double over the Reds since 1979-80.

It is time perhaps to give a nod to those fans and pundits who always had them as too good to go down….although even they presumably had their confidence challenged around the time of those defeats at West Ham and at home to Ipswich.

We should also remember that the run that has lifted them to this position of total comfort was utterly unforeseen. Not for 54 seasons had they put together a top-flight winning sequence to match the five successive League victories they now have behind them.

In the autumn of 1970, in fact, Bill McGarry’s team reeled off six wins on the trot and took some highly notable scalps in the process.

The outstanding uplift in form was launched on the day John Richards scored for the first time in the League….in a 3-1 home win over Huddersfield on September 19.

Three more goals flew in a week later at Burnley, then Manchester United were brought down by a Bobby Gould hat-trick in front of almost 39,000 at Molineux.

Like this spring, the sequence contained a 2-1 win at Southampton, then a fourth consecutive odd-goal triumph came when Newcastle were defeated 3-2 in the West Midlands.

Wolves saved their best – or at least their most clear-cut – for last because they beat a then-middling Manchester City 3-0 before some impetus started to be lost with the usual and predictable defeat at Liverpool.

Gould, signed a few weeks earlier, was the hero of the golden spell, with eight goals across the six games. As well as scoring all three at home to yesterday’s opponents, he netted two against City.

Wolves ended the 1970-71 campaign in fourth place, building a further two impressive League sequences that were halted at the three-game mark.

Yesterday’s fourth away top-flight win in a row also contained the coincidence of Dan Bentley being given his first League appearance of the season at the ground at which he had made his League debut for Wolves in 2023.