Why I support a no-hope team like Wolves ?

This is the $ 64 million question I think I need to answer. My formative teenage years were in the 1970s and the top entertainment during those times was the colour TV (introduced during the 1974 World Cup Final between Germany and Holland). Oh how, it changed people's lives forever. We could actually see in S.E.Asia what was going on 'live' as it happened halfway around the world. There was no Internet, no Facebook,Twitter, no PCs (first introduced in the early 80s), no mobile phones, no IPhones etc. It was really like living in the Stone Age !

Every week, Singapore would get the English Premier league shown on Channel 5 maybe delayed telecast (2 - 3 weeks later) IN COLOUR. And the games then were played in a very passionate and rough and tumble manner, and of course being part of the Commonwealth, English football took a firm hold in the hearts and minds of many ordinary Singaporeans and Malaysians. The games were less skillful than those today and we had no Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. to watch.

So, in those days, one of the more unique sounding teams was Wolverhampton Wanderers, or Wolves for short and I kind of fancied myself like their chief striker John Richards, who played once or twice for the English national team. I had no idea where they were or if they were even champions. But I faithfully bought the SHOOT ! magazine every week after school (it was available at the neighbourhood shop for about S$ 1 a copy, a princely sum then) and followed their fortunes. I was kind of naive, not wanting to follow a big name team like Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United etc. but the uniqueness of supporting an obscure Midlands team had its appeal. So I stuck with them, even though their glory days of winning the league twice in the 1950s to early 60s were long gone, even before I was born.

Since I followed them (say around 1976), they have only won the League Cup ONCE in 1980. That's IT. Andy Gray headed in a solitary goal against Nottingham Forest and it was 1-0. That's the ONLY major silverware they have won in the last 30 years. Very Pathetic YES. They have been relegated several times since the 1980s and their last stay in the lower regions has been almost 15 years. I forgot them altogether, although I visited the stadium Molineux in 1987 (23 years ago) with some University friends. So I am not a true blue die hard supporter. I am just a FAIR WEATHERED SUPPORTER.

Call me a romantic, but the PLUS POINT of supporting a no-hope team is that :

Whenever they win a game against any other Premier league team, its like WINNING THE CUP FINAL .No one expects them to win anything, let alone stay in the top flight of the Premier League, so their being in the top 20 for  2 years (2008 till now) is already a cause for celebration.

They invest a miniscule amount of money on players, have no brand name stars, and have been using their stadium for 30 years with little upgrade. Money is tight. I have been to the town of Wolverhampton and it is woefully sad and run down many factories have closed shop decades ago (it is an industrial town) and the onlyrevenue is from their university and polytechnics which offer decent degrees and diplomas in Engineering.

So when they win a match I celebrate like they have WON THE CUP FINAL  !

Compare that to someone who supports Arsenal, Liverpool,Man U or Chelsea,their supporters expect them to WIN A TROPHY EACH YEAR. When the do, its EXPECTED. When they don't its a massive DISAPPOINTMENT. So the supporters are JADED, winning is like so boring. So when a team like Liverpool loses a match to Wolves, its a MAJOR DISASTER.  So their emotions are OK we won (this week), BOO we lost to XXX.

Life must be quite torturous for those fans, the expectations are always rising each season.

My approach with Wolves is this ; They lost last week (OK) ; This week they won (YEAH, OLE,OLE, OLE !!! )

 So I am a FOREVER OPTIMIST.

 So on 30th Dec 2010,  Liverpool  0    Wolves 1.

 Its TIME TO PARTY !  OLE ! OLE ! OLE !