In his programme notes ahead of Wolves' Premier League meeting with Chelsea, head coach Julen Lopetegui has called for supporters to 'be the 12th man' inside the stadium, while also praising the work of Wolves Foundation as the club celebrates their Focus Fixture this afternoon.
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Good afternoon and welcome back to Molineux as we call on your support once again for another important Premier League match, this time against Chelsea.
We are in the final few months of the season now, and each game is going to be vitally important if we are to achieve our aim, which is to be playing Premier League football again next season – and we can only achieve that if you are with us from the first whistle to the final minute of the match.
The support of our fans is always important, especially inside Molineux. You can be the 12th man from the stands as you push our players to do everything they can to try and win the three points.
We are all aware of the difficulty that faces us over the next nine games, but we can only achieve our aims if we are together. The club, the players, the technical staff and the fans all need to be together and creating an atmosphere which will help us overcome any of the difficulties we are going to face – beginning this afternoon against Chelsea.
Today, we play against maybe one of the best squads in the world in Chelsea, but one who have not had the results they would have wanted recently. Football is sometimes not easy to explain. We all saw their last match against Aston Villa; they lost 2-0, but they could have won that match 7-1 because they had incredible chances – but that is football, and I welcome Bruno Saltor and the Chelsea staff, players and supporters here to Molineux today.
Chelsea have a fantastic squad with big quality players, and now they are going to want to react with the change of coach. Always within the short time after a change there is a reaction, so we have to be ready for that, but we are going to put the focus in our will to win, in our strengths, in our energy, and in our hunger to be able to overcome this kind of team.
Many of our players and staff were also present at Molineux last weekend for the women’s first-team fixture as they won 5-0 in their league match. A lot of us here at Wolves have young daughters and we are really excited about the development of women’s football in this country.
By having our women’s team play at Molineux in front of thousands of supporters, we are offering them the chance to feel the same experiences that our male players feel, and it’s important that we provide as much support as we can to them because football should be a sport for everyone. It doesn’t have gender.
We should all be very proud and happy with the development of our women’s and girls’ teams, and I wish Dan, his staff and all the players the very best for the rest of the season.
Today is also a special day for Wolves Foundation as we celebrate the fantastic work they carry out in the community.
This is another part of the positive intention that football has and earlier this week, I visited one of their sessions in All Saints which encourages children to focus on football and away from knife crime. Wolverhampton is fortunate that our club works in a very good way to help a lot of people, especially children, because they need to have these facilities and this possibility to play football in a safe environment – away from all the dangerous things they could face.
I think this programme is fantastic and this weekend we will do all we can to highlight everything the Foundation does to help people in our community and encourage our fans to give their support to the Foundation so they can continue this vital work.
Please give the players all your support this afternoon and enjoy the game,
Julen.
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Supporters can find the head coach's notes, as well as a host of bespoke content for the visit of Chelsea, in the latest matchday programme, which is available to purchase here for just £4.
