'A roar of complete defiance' sparked a return to the good times for Wolves

Now he follows the same path as another, more recent, predecessor in the Molineux hotseat by heading up the M6 to Preston for his first away game in charge of Wolves. And that, for Kenny Jackett, didn’t work out too badly.

It was 13 years ago, actually on the first weekend of the 2013/14 campaign, that Jackett took a new-look Wolves to Deepdale to launch his tenure and rebuild the club after successive relegations from Premier League to League One.

It was a crucial time. A time when the fortunes of Wolves could have gone in very different directions.

It was also, like now, an historic time.

Saturday afternoon’s festivities mark Wolves’ first away game of its 150th anniversary season, and hopefully the start of a journey up and down the country that will reinvigorate a fanbase which has been drained by a difficult spell. And a spell without an away win in the league which will have surpassed 16 months by this weekend.

Even in the ultimate disappointment of last weekend’s opening draw with Rovers, which could clearly have been worse, there was certainly the sense of a different vibe among fans. Even amid thoughts that the early weeks of the season may well be needed to adapt and reshape, particularly with player movement, the crowd were right ‘at it’ from the off. And that, from a much lower starting point a division below in League One, was how it all felt at Deepdale back in 2013.

Back then, for Jackett’s first game, Wolves and Preston, as founder members, were marking the 125th anniversary of the Football League. The League had recognised the historic landmark with a series of six opening day fixtures, two in each of their three divisions, featuring a number of the founder members of the world's original league football competition, as well as other pairings of historical significance. All clubs also received a specially commissioned blue plaque in recognition, which, in Wolves’ case, now proudly adorns the wall on the way into the club’s reception.

Not only were Wolves travelling to a fellow founder member that August afternoon, but also one of the original grounds from 1877, with Deepdale’s total of staging 2,342 league fixtures at that stage more than any other stadium.

And of course, when it comes to playing Wolves, there was plenty of history involved.

In that very first Football League season in 1888/89, when Preston won the title and Wolves finished third, it was North End who comfortably won both league fixtures – 4-0 and 5-2 – and then the FA Cup final, Wolves’ first, by three goals to nil at the Kennington Oval.

Preston were classed as the ‘Invincibles’, having remained unbeaten in league and cup all season, but when it came to Wolves’ Golden Age, and the 1950s, the tables had turned.

Wolves completed a league double over the Lancastrians in all three seasons in which they won the league, 1953/54, 1957/58 – when Preston finished runners-up – and 1958/59.

Heading back to opening day in 2013 then, with the spotlight on two historic and illustrious Football League founders, when Wolves were asked to provide a special guest to bring out the match ball, there was one standout candidate.

Ron Flowers, one of the key influences in that Wolves team throughout all those title-winning years, as well as the 1960 FA Cup, was such a fitting guest of honour to help kick off the special anniversary season.

And for Wolves? What an important season it would prove to be. After three successive Premier League campaigns, and a mix of over-achievement and stability under Mick McCarthy, his departure sparked a raft of managerial changes, and two successive relegations.

Wolves’ final home game of the previous season, which effectively sealed the team’s fate, had ended in full-blown acrimony with fans invading the pitch and damaging the home dugout and nearby advertising boards.

The anger was palpable, and lingered on into the final away game the following weekend, a miserable 2-0 defeat at Brighton.

Dean Saunders was relieved of his duties within 72 hours of the full-time whistle, leaving Wolves searching for what would be their fifth manager in the space of 15 months.

At that stage, only 12 teams had ever been relegated to the third tier in successive seasons in the 125-year history of the Football League, but Wolves were the first team to manage the feat twice. Not really a landmark to be proud of.

So, it was a pressurised and volatile environment into which then head of football development and recruitment Kevin Thelwell led the search for the new boss

“The biggest difference with Kenny to the other candidates at that time was that he came across as extremely caring about the club, he understood the problems that we had and knew exactly the job that he needed to do,” Thelwell said recently.

On being appointed, Jackett quickly set about that job, including taking some controversial decisions to make some previously key influences available for transfer, and have them train away from the main group, often at different times of the day.

He knew exactly what he ‘needed to do’, keeping some of the established and experienced senior professionals, bringing in several new faces, and blooding many of the club’s academy graduates who were, with Wolves’ relegation, in the right place at the right time to display their talents.

That was the backdrop to opening day at Preston, and with his calm and authoritative leadership and communications via the media, as well as meeting a group of supporters at the club’s museum, Jackett had gone a long way to turning the tide even before kick-off at Deepdale.

A scour of social media on the Friday evening before the game revealed a changing attitude amongst a fanbase so desperate for something to cheer after a couple of hugely difficult years. Sound familiar?

‘More excited than words can describe’, wrote one fan. ‘Counting the hours’, added another. ‘Brighter future ahead’. ‘Exciting new era’.

Almost 5,000 fans had bought tickets to pack out the away end. Which also sounds familiar. And a moment before kick-off, showed well and truly that that magnificent fanbase were ready to forgive and forget.

Led by assistant head coach Joe Gallen, and new signing and captain Sam Ricketts, towards the end of the warm-up, the squad approached an away end which was already bursting at the seams. And started applauding. If there was any trepidation at the sort of response they might have anticipated, there was no need to worry.

What came back was a powerful roar from those 5,000 fans, which, seemingly in a moment, tangibly demonstrated they were ready to move on from the pain and bitterness which had gone before.

Lifelong Wolves fan John Bray, a previously long-standing employee of the Express & Star who had moved on to an assistant editor role with the BBC, was in the middle of that packed away end on that sunny afternoon.

To witness a pre-match moment, and a noise, which he hasn’t forgotten.

“Joe Gallen had just finished leading the pre-match warm-up and he and the players turned to acknowledge the support of the thousands of fans who had travelled to Preston to begin life in League One,” Bray recalls. “What happened next will live with me forever.

“A lung-bursting roar filled the Lancashire air, a roar of huge significance. A roar built on the anger and frustration at all those people who had brought us to this, a shameful double relegation.

“A roar of complete defiance because, however bad it was, we were still there in our thousands to support Wolves – we would never desert the club.

“We believed in Kenny Jackett and we believed he had found the handbrake to halt the slide.

“But most of all, it was a roar which told the world: ‘This is our club’.

“The roar symbolised football support at its finest and showed that we were going to drive our club back in the right direction. We wanted this to be the start of something special.”

Up high in the press box, a future Wolves coach and manager Rob Edwards was on co-commentary duties for Free Radio. He was left open-mouthed by the noise of that roar.

“Now that’s support,” he would say, with microphone dropped.

And even though Jackett was tucked away in the dressing room planning his final preparations, he will surely have heard what was a proper Wolves supporter show of strength for the challenges which lay ahead.

The game actually finished in a goalless draw. In one way Wolves were fortunate, particularly with a late assault in their goal from the home side. In others, they had chances themselves and could have turned one point into three.

Within the team there were many stories. Ricketts, the new and assured captain. Danny Batth, a homegrown hero who would go on to cement himself in the Wolves’ back-line alongside Wulfrunian-born Richard Stearman. Fellow academy graduate Carl Ikeme was an imperious presence in goal behind them, David Davis equally so in the centre of midfield ahead. Matt Doherty, still a fledgling, just a few appearances into the near-400 he would make across two spells. Bakary Sako, the explosive winger who few believed Wolves would keep, but Jackett persuaded him to stay. To devastating effect.

It was quite a group. And so while it was only a draw, only a point, roared on by that magnificent away following, it was a start.

Over the following weeks Wolves would sign Scott Golbourne, a ridiculously consistent performer at left-back, and the mercurial Kevin McDonald, with a key to unlock many a tight defence from his string-pulling talents in the centre of the park.

There were bumps in the road, and it certainly wasn’t easy, but during the second half of the season in particular, by which time Wolves had added James Henry, Michael Jacobs and Nouha Dicko to the mix, the football was often breath-taking. Goal after goal after goal.

Many records were broken as Wolves powered to the title with a club best 103 points. Including other club accolades of nine consecutive wins and equalling a run of five on the bounce away from home.

From invading the pitch in anger against Burnley just 12 months previously, similar mass incursions away at Crewe and home to Rotherham – repeatedly – were for far more positive reasons.

“The transition from that game at Brighton, which sealed the second consecutive relegation and was so full of bitterness and acrimony, to Kenny coming in and 5,000 fans going to Preston with such noise and positivity, is absolutely one of the strongest memories I have from all the years watching and working in football,” said Richard Skirrow, then Wolves club secretary, a role he held for 20 years. “In that short space of time, Kenny had delivered the reset and, while none of us wanted to be there, it turned into a really enjoyable season in League One.”

Of course, recounting these memories ahead of another new away era starting at Deepdale, is now extremely bitter-sweet, given Jackett’s sad passing this summer, at the age of 64.

Wolves will be marking Jackett’s loss with his family and former players at a fixture in the near future, but he also received many mentions from McDonald, who was the special guest in the museum, corporate lounges and on the pitch at half-time for the opener against Blackburn.

Personality-wise, Jackett and McDonald were chalk and cheese. Professionally however, they clicked seamlessly and spectacularly, and the midfielder swept the board at the Player of the Year awards that season.

“Kenny, god rest his soul, was so great for me as a manager,” McDonald declares. “He probably had to get on at me every single week in training but it was all for the right reasons, and we all loved playing for him during that time.

“I feel fortunate I got the chance to work him for those three seasons, and have so many brilliant memories of my time at such a great club.”

There have been other memorable trips to Deepdale in the none-too-distant past.

George Ndah’s incredible solo goal in 2003, Chris Iwelumo’s hat-trick and red card in 2008, McDonald’s majestic equaliser to secure a point against nine men in 2015, the inflatable ‘Sharkey’ flying around the away end in 3-3 draw after Wolves had already been promoted in 1989. Those were the days.

On Saturday, without doubt, that same roar will return from a packed away end ahead of kick off from a fanbase desperate for success, just as they were in 2013.

For some, it might bring back memories of the legacy of that squad revitalised and rebuilt by a manager, now sadly no longer with us, whose status in the annals of Molineux history is forever assured.

But for all, it will also be a roar of hope and optimism, that maybe, just maybe, this season may also finish with an upwardly mobile success come next May.