Premier League Nonsense

Who’d be a coach? Mick McCarthy, in the hot seat at Wolverhampton Wanderers has come in for heaps of abuse this season with fans calling for his ouster and telling him he doesn’t know what he is doing.

And to be fair they do have reason to gripe. Their 2-1 away win at Loftus Road at the weekend against fellow strugglers Queens Park Rangers was their first three points in 12 games and no fan likes to see his team lose or draw week in, week out without feeling at least some frustration.

But what would changing the manager at Molinuex achieve? Wolves don’t have deep pockets; they are not funded by Russian oligarchs or Arab sheikhs. They won’t be able to tempt Jose Mourinho with a move to the Black Country. Even a Martin O’Neill or David Moyes is beyond their pocket book.

Back in the late 70s, early 80s Wolves did go round splashing cash they never had on players, Andy Gray was one of the first players to move for 1 million pounds, and building a new stand but they crippled themselves in the process and consecutive relegations saw them end up in the old Division Four, the lowest tier I the professional game, playing in front of crowds of 3,000 plus.

It was all a far cry from the 1950s when Wolves were one of the biggest clubs in Europe; pioneers who played the best the continent had to offer and often beat them. In fact it was the Wolves of Stan Cullis and Billy Wright that encouraged a young Irishman, George Best, to take up the game.

They beat the likes of Honved, back then Hungary were perhaps the best team in Europe and had recently embarrassed England 6-3 at Wembley, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.

They have had moments since then. A team built around players like Ferek Dougan, John Richards and Kenny Hibbet flourished for a while in the 1970s and when they did finally start their climb back up the table from their nadir striker Steve Bull was at the heart of everything.

Those names live on in Wolves folklore but their demise from the top table of Europe to Premier League strugglers has been hard to take for the support as the abuse directed at McCarthy has shown.

Since taking over the club in 2006 the club finished as champions of the second tier and are now in their third consecutive season in the Premier League. They have struggled in each of their seasons but then what club low on funds hasn’t?

Last season the big clubs didn’t like playing Wolves. They won at Anfield while beating Chelsea and both Manchester clubs at Molinuex. Proof, perhaps, that McCarthy does know what he is doing? Of course they lost to just about every other team in the Premier League and only escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth.

This season has been bereft of upsets. Sunderland are the only team from the top half of the table Wolves have beaten and during their 3-0 defeat at home to Liverpool recently the chorus of disapproval cascaded round the famous stadium. It says much of Liverpool’s current plight that losing to them should be greeted with such displeasure!

Wolves have a tidy enough squad and in Wayne Hennessey one of the best keepers in the country as his performance at the Emirates in December proved. Stephen Hunt plays the role of pantomime boo boy admirably while their strike partnership of Kevin Doyle and Steven Fletcher, the club’s record signings at 6.5 million pound each, are tidy players; Fletcher a consistent goalscorer.

And on the flank Matt Jarvis became the first Wolves player to be capped by England since Steve Bull more than 20 years earlier.

What more can Wolves’ fans expect? They are never going to challenge for the Premier League unless some bored, stinking rich tycoon comes over and says have some money. Their best hope of any kind of success is to follow the West Bromwich Albion model of promotion followed by relegation on a frequent basis. But given the rivaly between the two clubs even that is unlikely.

If McCarthy does keep Wolves up it will be the fourth season on the spin he has performed a minor miracle. Fans should be grateful for what they have. They only have to look at the current lot other ‘big’ clubs like Sheffield Wednesday, Derby Couny and Nottingham Forest for the alternative.

# posted by Me @ 2:56 PM