Saturday, May 4, 2013 was seen as one of the darkest days that Wolverhampton Wanderers had experienced in recent memory. The club, less than 12 months after losing their Premier League status, had suffered their second successive relegation after losing 2-0 away at Brighton & Hove Albion to fall to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1989.
Three days later, Dean Saunders was relieved of his duties at Molineux and with the club possessing a wage bill that would eclipse some competing in the top flight, it was difficult for the club's supporters to find any kind of optimism with their immediate future uncertain at best.
But their demotion to League One has turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to Wolves. It's easy to say that in hindsight, but the club needed a year out of the spotlight to undergo a rebuilding process that wouldn't have occurred if they had remained a Championship side.
Saunders may have remained at the helm while Steve Morgan and Jez Moxey could have considered throwing more funds at a lost cause in the hope of somehow regaining their place in the Premier League with a group of players that had lost the cutting edge and winning mentality required to succeed in a league that demands momentum and perseverance.
While relegation brought bad publicity for the club, it ultimately gave them the chance to start from scratch. The reduction of the wage bill remained a pressing issue, but the biggest decision that the club's hierarchy had to make during last summer was finding a manager that the fans trusted to bring back the kind of football that would make them proud to support their team again.
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Kenny Jackett probably wasn't the first name on many people's lists, but he was someone who had past experience of earning promotion to the Championship and who could stabilise a club who had employed and parted company with three different managers in the space of 15 months since the departure of the much-loved and respected Mick McCarthy.
Despite a exodus in the summer, Jackett opted to place as much attention into acquiring new players as he did focusing on developing the club's younger talent. Danny Batth had been due a regular run in the first team, but for some other members that had spent time on the fringes of the senior scene, they were being trusted to make the step up.
Their integration into the first team was aided by the capture of Sam Ricketts. From a supporter's perspective, much focus was being placed on who would score the goals for Wolves, but the signing of the former Bolton Wanderers defender, who was quickly installed as captain, was arguably Jackett's shrewdest bit of business of the off-season.
The campaign didn't start positively for Jackett and his new side. In fact, losing to Morecambe in the Capital One Cup could have quickly deflated the belief that Wolves had chosen the right man to lead their pursuit of instant redemption. But once his side found their groove during their remaining fixtures in August, there has been no looking back.
After the Morecambe debacle, Wolves suffered just one defeat in 17 league games with their efforts only being slightly undermined by the remarkable early-season form of Leyton Orient. Christmas and New Year proved to be a rocky spell for the team, but the first half of the season had provided them with the platform to flourish after the turn of the year. And flourish they did.
Wolves responded to losing at Gillingham by producing a run of nine successive victories that helped them eventually surpass the efforts of Brentford and Orient, who were rapidly losing steam in the three-way battle for supremacy in the division.
Once at the summit, little has stopped Wolves in their quest to get themselves over the line, with the determination of the players being echoed by the astonishing backing from their fans who are epitomising the energy that is currently present at Molineux. Jackett has not only delivered the kind of results that they crave, but his brand of football has been widely appreciated and acknowledged by the supporters too.
It took until April 12 for their return to the Championship to be confirmed but such is the belief within everyone associated with Wolves that the job had long been done to ensure that their stay in League One was going to be a temporary one. Much of the credit will rightly go to Jackett and his team, but some praise should be spared for the owner and chief executive who haven't always been overwhelmingly appreciated in the city.
With promotion in the bag and the sight of over 30,000 supporters packed inside Molineux for their Good Friday showdown with Rotherham United, Morgan and Moxey could finally sit relaxed in their seats knowing that they had finally got it right at a time when failure to make an instant return to the Championship could have seen the club remain in the doldrums of League One for a prolonged period.
The evolution at Molineux is by no means complete, though. Wolves are still four players short of possessing a team that would have a realistic shot at back-to-back promotions. But the foundations have been put in place for the club to potentially become an established Premier League side sometime in the not-so-distant future.
