‘Out of darkness cometh light.’ So read the banners spanning the centre of Molineux’s South Bank before Wolverhampton Wanderers played their Championship opener against Blackburn Rovers.
It’s not a difficult message to comprehend. Wolves suffered an utterly miserable relegation from the Premier League in 2025-26, effectively left to wither by the very people responsible for nourishing them. 2026-27 is new. New promise. New bigwigs. New gaffer.
But the dawn of each new season gives lie to one of football’s great false assumptions. The Wolves supporters converging on Molineux in the scorching Friday evening sunshine resplendent in gold don’t care what division they’re in. At least not tonight.
A dose of Championship reality
Starting from zero offers the cruel extremes of elation or misery. This opening night threatened to end badly for Wolves, who scored first but found themselves behind against a Blackburn team expected to improve under returning manager Tony Mowbray.
The danger posed by established Championship teams to relegated opponents is that they can be sturdy and streetwise. Blackburn were both in the West Midlands in their first game of the season.
2026-27 is a bracing test for Wolves. The bar is high; the expectation that they will return to the Premier League at the first time of asking isn’t universally held but it was overheard frequently on the streets outside the ground without much need to strain the ears.
Relegated teams have certain advantages over other promotion hopefuls but those who drop on the back of disastrous seasons can be difficult to turn around.
The new manager tasked with that job is Cesar Peixoto, a 46-year-old former Porto midfielder who is in his first managerial role outside Portugal and never played a competitive match beyond its borders either.
Peixoto told reporters after their 2-2 draw with Blackburn that Wolves wanted all three points. He wasn’t happy with one but they were perhaps fortunate to even get that. The clock ticked into stoppage time with Rovers in front.
The goals scored by the away team pointed to a vulnerable spot that Wolves can expect opposition managers to target in every Championship fixture until Peixoto resolves it. Understandably, he wasn’t overly concerned after one match.
Yet it was a clear and repeatable blueprint that yielded both Blackburn goals.
Both came from deliveries into the box right under the nose of the goalkeeper and were finished with one touch by a player lurking in what ice hockey lovers would describe as the blue paint.
Sean McLoughlin smartly glanced a header beyond Dan Bentley to draw the visitors level. Andri Gudjohnsen turned in Oladapo Afolayan’s pass across the face to give them the lead. Both were defendable but not defended, good finishes from an attacking perspective but concerning for Wolves.
Wolves were saved by Raul Jimenez’s penalty in stoppage time
‘Out of darkness, cometh light.’
In need of a goal, Peixoto turned to a Molineux favourite. Weeks after playing in a home World Cup, Mexico striker Raul Jimenez played his first Championship match at his other home.
Jimenez, now 35, followed Wolves into the second tier after his contract expired at Fulham. The fans around Molineux know exactly what they’re getting from a striker with 55 Premier League goals to his name, but only half of his Wolves story can be told on paper.
The Mexican hitman supplied a commemorative scarf to every fan on the South Bank. That’s the kind of figure Jimenez is at Wolves. The buzz when he came on was palpable and Peixoto was rewarded for giving the faithful what they wanted.
After replacing highly rated young winger Matheus Mane, Jimenez did what Jimenez does.
He won some flick-ons. He got himself into the box and tried to nick a goal by throwing a leg at anything small, round and rolling he could find. He let his opponents know he was there, naturally, but the first goal of his second spell at Wolves was familiar in another way.
Mowbray and Blackburn disputed the decision to award a stoppage-time penalty for Ryan Alebiosu’s handball, but once the offence had been adjudged to have taken place inside the box, what happened next in front of a sea of Jimenez’s scarves was never in doubt.
It truly didn’t matter in that moment whether Jimenez was scoring in the Premier League or the Championship or League One or anywhere else.
