If only….

By: Matt | May 1st, 2008

I am sitting in my seat at Molineux. It’s 4.53pm on Saturday 19th April, 2008. I have my head in my hands, peeping through my fingers at what is happening on the pitch. A few seconds ago I was preparing myself to bask in the warm welcoming satisfaction of a vital win that put our playoff destiny in our own hands. Now I’m nervously obscuring my view hoping that what is unfolding in front of me doesn’t result in a hammer blow to my sanity and totally ruin my weekend, maybe my week.
Tommy Miller of Ipswich is standing over the ball, placed on the edge of the Wolves penalty area. It’s the 4th and final minute of injury time and Wolves are leading 1-0, hanging on for a vital win. Miller steps up, strikes the ball, I see the net bulging and my worst fears have been realised. There is no time to kick-off, the referee blows the final whistle.

I have gone over that moment and the moments leading up to the free kick time and time again in my head. What if Breen had just stepped back, rather than challenge for the ball that led to the free kick? Couldn’t have Olofinjana just held the ball up for a little longer seconds earlier? Why did Hennessy hardly move, surely he could have stuck a hand out? This is all an example of ‘counterfactual thinking’. Counterfactual thinking is thinking about a past that did not happen. This often happens in ‘if only…’ situations, where we wish something had or had not happened. This can be so powerful we can change our own memories, adjusting the facts and creating new memories. It can happen to cover up trauma or may be just excuses to avoid facing uncomfortable truths. It can also be to explain what is otherwise unexplainable. Michael Kightly was doing it a bit himself yesterday, claiming if only things had been different against Ipswich and Coventry our playoff place would now be assured.

It’s been a season full of counterfactual thinking, the ifs, the buts and the maybes. Southampton’s last gasp equaliser, Eastwood’s missed penalty at Ipswich, the dodgy penalty QPR were awarded at Molineux (ok, ok, our penalty was an even worse decision), Schmeichel’s incredible injury-time save from Ebanks-Blake at Coventry. The truth is that much has also gone our way, last minute goals against Charlton, Coventry and QPR to name only a few. You are where you are at the end of the season, because that is where you deserve to be. At the moment we deserve to be 7th, and after the final regular games of the season on Sunday, I’m hoping we’ll be in 6th. If we are, we’ll deserve it.

I’m taking over from Daryl as the Wolves blogger. With only one game of the season to go you could say my timing is worse than a Kevin Muscat tackle, however I’m hoping our season will last for a few more weeks yet. In truth, I doubt I will be but this season in the Championship has been nothing but unpredictable, so who knows?

On a final note…Wolves new home and away kits are launched at an awards evening at Molineux tonight, it’s all very hush hush but…here’s a sneak preview of the kits here