2023 was definitely a wild ride at Wolves.
The club were in a very precarious position right at the start of the year, with Julen Lopetegui having just come in as the new manager with the task of keeping Wolves in the Premier League.
There were bumps in the road, but the Spaniard achieved what he was asked to do, before making a rather abrupt exit just before the current season.
It’s been a year that fans aren’t likely to forget in a hurry, and Molineux News looks back at three of the best moments of 2023…
#3 – Wolves 3-0 Liverpool (Feb 4)
This was the result that had many Wolves fans believing for the first time that there was a genuinely good chance of staying in the Premier League.
Wolves had been languishing in the relegation zone for most of the season, and hosted a Liverpool side who were having struggles of their own.
Despite the Reds not being where they should in the Premier League table, this was surely going to be a test for Wolves.
But Wolves would turn in a brilliant performance, with Joel Matip scoring an own goal inside five minutes after good work by Hwang Hee-chan. Craig Dawson, making his debut after signing from West Ham United, lashed in a second during his imperious display, and Ruben Neves also scored after arriving late into the box.
It was the club’s best performance of the season up to that point, and a building block for a successful safety mission.
#2 – Wolves 2-1 Manchester City (Sept 30)
There was surely no way that Wolves were going to get anything from this game, with Manchester City rocking up at Molineux having won all of their Premier League games so far.
Wolves had been struggling a little in the league, with Gary O’Neil still putting his stamp on the team after coming in just days before the new season, and VAR falling short of the expected standards in some games.
Everything pointed to a comprehensive City victory – but Wolves would upset the odds with a sensational display at Molineux.
Wanderers took the lead with a Ruben Dias own goal after a superb run by Pedro Neto, but were pegged back by a Julian Alvarez free-kick.
But in the second-half, Hwang Hee-chan – dubbed ‘The Korean Guy’ by Pep Guardiola before the match – scored the winner for Wolves, who defended brilliantly for the final half an hour.
Dawson was especially brilliant, nullifying one of the game’s most lethal strikers in Erling Haaland, and Matheus Nunes – who went on strike at Wolves to force a move to City just weeks before – was substituted off by Pep Guardiola at half-time.
#1 – Wolves secure Premier League safety (May 7)
2022/23 was one very stressful season for Wolves fans.
It was an horrendous start to the campaign, with Bruno Lage paying the price at the start of October when he was sacked after a 2-0 defeat to West Ham United.
Steve Davis and James Collins took interim charge and steadied the ship a bit before Julen Lopetegui arrived to undertake a safety mission that would ultimately be successful.
Lopetegui, who’d been targeted by Wolves several years before, came in with big pedigree, and his appointment proved to be the club’s saving grace.
After signing some brilliant players in January like Dawson and Mario Lemina, Lopetegui turned Wolves into a competitive outfit that was difficult to beat – especially at home. The football was not especially great, but it was definitely effective at times.
In the end, Wolves’ safety was secured on May 7 with three games to spare, which was miraculous to consider, given how awful Wolves had been for half the season.
Without doubt, sealing Premier League safety was the best Wolves moment of 2023.