Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo has revealed how his dream home became a nightmare.
The 44-year-old is now a meticulous planner and has guided Wolves to seventh in the top flight – winning September’s Premier League Manager of the Month award.
But the former goalkeeper has not always had such a keen eye for detail after buying a plot of land on a hill in Guimaraes, 34 miles outside of Porto.
Wolves fans sing ‘Nuno had a dream’ but his idyllic home became nothing more than a pipe dream after he failed to ask about planning permission.
Ahead of Saturday’s visit of Watford, he said: “I bought land because I wanted to build my house there. The land is still there but I forgot to ask the council: ‘Can I build a house there?’
“It was in Portugal, on the highest hill in Guimaraes and I said: ‘What a perfect place this would be.’
“But I forgot to ask them: ‘Can I build a house there?’ When I did, they said: ‘No!’
“The land is still there and, afterwards, I went again and asked, ‘Can I build?’ and they said: ‘no, the area is protected!’
“It comes up for application every 15 years when they allow some development. But they told me: ‘This area here? Forget about it! You cannot build there.’
“Will I sell it? Do you want to buy it? I should have checked it out but it was in 2002 and I was 27.
“It was going to be my dream home. It was perfect. We sometimes go and just sit there.
“It is beautiful. There is a hill with a big church (Santuario da Penha) and the views are fantastic. But building, they don’t allow it because it’s over 200 metres – under that yes, above that, no.
“The guy I bought it from doesn’t live in Guimaraes any more.”
In contrast to Nuno’s home woes in Portugal, Wolves host Watford having not lost in the league at Molineux since January.
They have lost just twice this season – to Leicester in the league and Carabao Cup – and Nuno insisted he will not change his approach.
“What you have to become is really strong in what you do. That’s the point of building a team,” he said.
“You don’t know any other way – it would be absurd to do it any other way, changing something that’s already working.”
