Wolves' promotion push: The numbers are on side from here

But supporters don’t have to remember back too far to recall the 2001/02 season when an 11-point advantage was blown to allow Albion to steal promotion away.

And that’s perhaps why there were a few butterflies when Nottingham Forest departed Molineux with three points last weekend, cutting Wolves’ lead at the top of the Championship to nine points.

It was a defeat that had been coming for a few weeks with Wolves having not hit their best since the 3-0 triumph over Brentford on January 2.

Never fear, though, the numbers are still on Wolves’ side.

And, looking back through the leaders on this day in the past 16 seasons – taking in that fateful 2001/02 campaign – throws up some interesting statistics.

93.75 per cent promoted

This is perhaps the most reassuring of statistics for Wolves fans.

Of the leaders on January 27, 15 managed to get promoted one way or another.

Eleven did it as champions, three through the play-offs (including Hull, who had slipped to fourth) and one automatically in second.

The only anomaly? Ipswich Town in 2004/05.

They led the table by two points on this day 13 years ago, but finished third with 85 points and lost in the play-offs to West Ham.

The Tractor Boys are still waiting to get back to the promised land.

Two Premier League champions

Amid the Black Country promotion battle of 2001/02 (sorry to bring it up again...) it’s easy to forget Manchester City nipped in ahead of both Wolves and Albion to lift the title.

Since then, the trophies have rolled in thanks to an influx of money from abroad (sound familiar?) – not counting the numerous trophies City are bound to win this season under Pep Guardiola, they have notched up two Premier League crowns, an FA Cup, two League Cups and a Champions League semi-final.

The more recent example are those plucky 5,000-1 underdogs Leicester City.

They led the table with 60 points on this day in 2014 and went on to win the Championship with 102 points.

Two years later, they were completing the greatest fairytale in modern football by winning the Premier League.

Seven clubs still in the top flight

This is varying success, depending on when clubs went up.

On top of Man City and Leicester, Brighton (2016/17), AFC Bournemouth (2014/15), West Ham (2011/12), Newcastle (2009/10) and Albion (2007/08) all topped the Championship on this day and are all in the Premier League now.

Newcastle have yo-yo’d since, but the six others have not tasted relegation since winning promotion.

One now in League One

At the other end of the scale, it’s been quite the journey for Portsmouth since they converted their lead into Championship glory in 2002/03.

They went up, reached two FA Cup finals – winning one of them – and faced Ronaldinho in the Uefa Cup, only to plummet through the divisions, threaten to go out of existence, get taken over by the fans and then ex-Disney boss Michael Eisner.

They are currently enjoying some third-tier stability with ex-Wolves boss Kenny Jackett at the helm.

No foreign managers

Perhaps the one statistic against Wolves is that all the sides who led the table on this day over the past 16 years had a British manager at the helm.

But in Nuno Espirito Santo, Wolves appear to have a very special type of foreign manager, one who has dispelled myth after myth this season in taking to the Championship like a duck to water.

Wolves have worked hard to open up their advantage, Nuno won’t allow them to throw it away from here.

Three points at Ipswich today would be a good next step.