Wolves fans have become used to sad endings for their Molineux favourites as of late.
Regrettably, it appears another player is about to join a list that already includes Raul Jimenez, Joao Moutinho and Conor Coady.
Very few great players get to stage-manage their departure from the scenes of their glories in the way Ruben Neves did at Molineux last season, riding off into the sunset on a wave of applause and adulation from the adoring masses.
But Wolves have been incredibly unfortunate when it comes to sending off the heroes of their greatest recent team.
Jonny Castro Otto seems likely to be the latest Nuno Espirito Santo stalwart to end a celebrated Wolves career on a sour note.
Fans do not yet know the full circumstances of the training-ground “incident” that saw the Spanish full-back miss the weekend defeat at Arsenal, with his absence set to extend into this evening’s Premier League game at home to Burnley and, in all likelihood, beyond.
But for the matter to have been elevated to a level above head coach Gary O’Neil, it must be deemed to be serious.
For a player who every Wolves boss of recent times, including O’Neil, has spoken of as a model professional, it will be an unfitting conclusion if he is never seen again on their team sheet.
But with less than a month to go before the opening of the January transfer window and with Jonny on borrowed time at Molineux even before the latest developments, there must be a better-than-average chance that the Wolves fans have seen the last of the man who was a lynchpin of Nuno’s successful sides.
Jonny is mobbed after opening the scoring against Leeds in 2022 (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
For many, the 29-year-old is the finest full-back or wing-back they have seen in a Wolves shirt. He took over surprisingly from Barry Douglas, a popular figure, on the left flank of Nuno’s side and not only matched the promotion-winner’s impressive form but helped take the team to a different level.
Jonny was a solid, reliable presence in both wing-back roles, as a full-back on either side of a back four and even on occasions as a makeshift member of a central back three until two serious knee injuries began to take their toll a couple of seasons ago.
And he has been an important member of the dressing room.
“Jonny was a beast,” former goalkeeper John Ruddy told The Athletic last summer when it appeared the defender would leave the club along with fellow Nuno-team alumni Neves, Moutinho, Jimenez and Adama Traore.
“He was a hell of an athlete, a pitbull of a man. More often than not, you knew what you were going to get from him. You never had to worry about Jonny. You just let him crack on and do what he does because he’s such a good athlete and defender.”
Just a month ago, O’Neil said: “He trains unbelievably hard every day, even when we don’t do a hard session and he always wants to do more.
“He understands where he is but that doesn’t affect his professionalism.”
Yet it has been clear for a while where Jonny stood in the Molineux pecking order and his career.
At the start of the season, when O’Neil had a fully fit squad, he did not make matchday benches. Jonny often found himself as the 21st or 22nd man in a game when a boss can select only 20 names.
Jonny is shown a red card against Leeds in March (Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)
When he did make the matchday squad, it was usually because the only alternative would have been a youngster from the under-21s with no Premier League experience.
And his only taste of league action this season was four minutes as a substitute, helping his side see out a famous 2-1 win over Manchester City at Molineux.
That would, at least, be a more fitting on-field finale than being sent off for a horrible challenge on Leeds’ Luke Ayling 19 minutes after he had scored a fabulous goal in a 4-2 defeat last season.
That game, which saw the end of his first-team action under former boss Julen Lopetegui, would have been Wolves fans’ final sight of him in their colours were it not for the Manchester City cameo that took him to 129 appearances, which have brought six goals.
Yet still, finding himself under investigation for an incident on the training ground is not how Wolves fans would have envisaged the ultimate ‘steady Eddie’ of the Nuno era bowing out.
Only those involved in “dealing with” the aftermath will know what happened last week, but any untoward incident would be generally out of character.
But if the matter drags on into January and Jonny makes his anticipated exit under a cloud, it will rank alongside Jimenez’s Molineux tears, Moutinho’s Molineux no-show and Coady’s ushering out as the latest incident in a sad final chapter for a glorious Wolves era.
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)