Defender In Exalted Company

Matt Doherty has the chance to push himself even further up the list of Wolves’ all-time top appearance-makers after breaking into their top 20.

The defender pushed the late Frank Munro down a place with his outing in the defeat at Manchester City last weekend – his 372nd in the League or cups at senior level since signing at Molineux for the first time.

And his elevation continues a pleasing return to prominence after his career ran into problems amid high-profile moves to Tottenham and Atletico Madrid.

Back at Wolves, Doherty was struggling to secure a first-team place earlier in the season, with five of his first ten club appearances of 2024-25 coming from the substitutes’ bench.

But he has since further justified the decision to bring him back two summers ago and has been given increasingly more playing minutes.

And his switch from full-back or wing-back to central defence has brought a big improvement in personal fortunes as well as coinciding with the astonishing general lift-off under Vitor Pereira.

By coincidence, the 33-year-old has had 33 Wolves outings this season while also taking his tally of Republic of Ireland caps to 50.

Those figures mean he has already played 70 club games since arriving back here around 22 months ago.

And others are not too far ahead of him in Wolves’ appearance-makers list. In 19th place on 376 is Bill Shorthouse, with Johnny Hancocks a further two matches ahead of him. 

Something else for this outstanding servant and survivor to aim for in the opening weeks of next season, then…..