Sam Johnstone is hoping to earn his first ever three points at Molineux this weekend as he finally gets the chance to feel what it’s like to be on the home team when he steps out in front of the Wolves supporters.
The goalkeeper was put straight into the side to face Nottingham Forest just over 24 hours after signing for Wolves from Crystal Palace on deadline day, and admits the nervous energy was flowing through him at the City Ground.
But having experienced playing at Molineux three times before when he was at local rivals West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, Johnstone has yet to taste success at the stadium he now calls home, and he is determined to use that adrenaline to good effect on Sunday and help the Old Gold claim their opening win of the new Premier League season when they face Newcastle United.
On his deadline day move to Molineux
“It obviously happened quite late in the window, but I'm buzzing to be here. It had kind of been spoken about a little, but in football, you never know what's going to happen. When I got the call to drive up here and do the medical on the Wednesday afternoon, I packed the car and set off.
“I did my medical late into Wednesday, it was about midnight by the time I left the training ground, but then I was ready to train on the Thursday.
“It was kind of in the media and I had my own personal situation at Palace, I obviously wanted to play football, but I’d been out with my elbow since March as well. I was training and getting back up to scratch and then this move came around. I’ve known Cuts [Neil Cutler] for a long time and Dezza [Shaun Derry] and I’d heard good things about the manager, so it was as a no brainer.”
On adding to his collection of midlands clubs
“I know my way around the midlands, and I've enjoyed my time at every club I've been at in the midlands, and I'm pretty sure this will be the same. We are from up north, we did enjoy living down south, but we're going to be back this way, back closer to friends and family and enjoying my football.
“I’ve played at the ground a few times for opposition, and it's always been a great atmosphere, a great stadium to play in, and from the outside looking in, it is a really good club, and I could tell that. I've also known Daws [Craig Dawson] for a while, and speaking to people, they all say positive things, so it all backed up my thoughts and it was a no brainer. I didn't have to think about, it was literally, got the call, packed my bags, got in the car, and set off.
“It is what it is really. It didn't really come into my mind [joining a former club’s rivals], whenever I've moved clubs around the midlands. I just want to enjoy my football, keep getting better and playing.”
On battling Jose Sa for the number one spot
“He [O’Neil] told me to come in and fight, just like you would in any other position really. It's healthy competition. We all push each other every day – even from Cuts.
“Cuts pushes us massively every day, and we all push each other, and I think it's just kind of something we all have to get on with, and we'll do our best help each other and support whoever plays.”
Matt Hobbs and @CraigDawson__15 discuss @samjohnstone's qualities on the Wolves Express podcast 🎧
— Wolves (@Wolves) September 10, 2024
On going straight into the team against Forest
“Even now at 31, coming into a club for the first time is still a bit nervous. You don't really know many people's names and faces, and I have to introduce myself and meet a lot of people, but I actually enjoy that feeling in a weird way.
“I've turned up at clubs a day before and played the next day, so all my experiences previously came into helping me again on this one. I was nervous, but had good nerves around the game, around playing, around people judging me, new fans judging me, my new teammates judging me, but it was a crazy few days.
“I woke up early because I was just thinking about the game, and I was just trying to remember everything, trying to remember my warm up, as I hadn’t warmed up for a game in a while, but I enjoyed it.
“Once you get on the pitch, it’s just a game of football. I can fall back on a lot of experiences that I've had over the years, a lot of games that I've played, and your adrenaline's going and everything else, and just fit into the game. For the way we play, I hadn't done much practice for that, because we play a little bit different to when I was at Palace, so I was trying to get used to people on the pitch as well, and it was a quick, crazy weekend really.”
On getting up to speed with the team’s tactics
“On the Friday, I’d done a little bit with the team again, but it was very minimal, and then the next thing you're away at Forest in front of so many thousands of people trying to implement that. But it will take time to get to know people and learn the way we do things, but we practice that every day.
“I felt it was a case of trying to do it without taking too much risk, especially on my debut, where you don’t want anything to go wrong. I was managing the risk level during the game, but, to be fair to the manager, he told me if there were any issues, or a bit of pressure that we've got the big lad up front, you can hit him, don't worry about it and we’ll crack on.
“He didn’t put any pressure on me at all to be 100 per cent doing what they've been working on, because I think he realised that they'd done it all last year, all preseason, and I’d done 20 minutes of it! It was a little bit different, but there was no pressure on me. It was just me managing the situations during the game.”
On aiming for a first Molineux win
“It's a great atmosphere for us to play in front of – and obviously not so good for the away team, so hopefully that'll help as well. But the way we play football, we've got a good team, and hopefully we can get some big results at home.
“Playing here for different rivals, I just remember the atmosphere here, playing in the night games, under the lights, the pitch was wet and nice. You've got the flames when we come out and walk out of tunnel, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever won here, so it would be nice to change that at the weekend.
“I can't wait for Sunday and the chance to make my home debut. I’ve got that same nervous adrenaline, energy, and the atmosphere at the Molineux has been brilliant every time I’ve played there, so it'll be good to play here now as a Wolves player. But it's a massive game. Newcastle are a very good team, but so are we. We’ll go out on Sunday to try and get the three points.”
