I was just putting together the preview for the Chelsea match, when the news started filtering in that Wolves have been hit with a ‘suspended £25,000 fine’ for fielding a weakened side against Man Utd back in December.
What a complete joke. I’d just love to know how the Premier League arrived at this ludicrous decision.
McCarthy - Happy to put the issue to bed
A token punishment like this sends out the message that it’s fine for the top sides to rest their better players when the fixtures pile up, but not the teams struggling at the bottom. Why should there be one rule for them and another for us?
Why was it not brought up when Man Utd fielded a second-string against Hull in the final game of the last Premier League season? Surely it’s the exact same principle. The only difference being that Man Utd won that game, whereas Wolves were comprehensively beaten at Old Trafford. Had Wolves got something from the game, would the same punishment have been handed out? I’ve got to believe the answer is no, which is why this fine makes no sense to me at all.
I didn’t agree with the side Mick McCarthy fielded on that night, but it’s my right as a Wolves supporter to be upset, angry or whatever else I want to feel. It has absolutely nothing to do with any other club or the Premier League for that matter. They’ve simply jumped on the bandwagon and dished out a punishment that they believe the majority of outsiders will stand up and applaud.
Wolves have already begrudgingly accepted the ruling, but I’m glad Jez Moxey at least made the point that this ruling has much wider implications for every club in the top flight. The Premier League have set a dangerous precedent in my opinion, which will almost certainly cause them one or two headaches in the future. And when this inevitably happens, I shall look on with glee. I just hope it doesn’t involve my club.
Here’s the full statement from our chief executive:
“We are obviously disappointed but we respect the Premier League’s ruling especially as they have now used our case as a clear warning to all other clubs, some of whom have made similar changes to their teams in Premier League matches in the past, that this is not acceptable in the future.
“We made a detailed representation to the Premier League and pointed to those precedents involving other clubs in previous seasons.
“This ruling may now lead to a wider discussion regarding the issue of squad rotation and the Premier League’s rules.
“We look forward to fully participating in any such debate at future Premier League meetings.
“One thing that’s never been in question is the integrity of our first team manager, Mick McCarthy.
“He picked a team that, in his view, was in the best possible position to get a result in that particular game.
“He made it unselfishly and with the best interests of Wolves in mind.
“Today’s announcement means we can draw a line under the issue and concentrate fully on the remaining Premier League games.”
Absolute disgrace. I thought this had been put to bed but the idiots in charge of the PL have shown just how incopitent they are yet again.
It’ll be interesting to see what team Chelsea field against us on Saturday with an important Champions League game a few days later. I’m sure they don’t want to risk Drogba or Lampard getting injured but if they’re fit, legally, they’ve got to play now haven’t they?
Thing is Nico, its different rules for them.
It pisses me off that these rich clubs continue to get the rubs, both on and off the pitch, when they don’t even need them in the first place.
It’s like the Olympic Games strapping weights on the feet of Eric the Eel when he’s trying to beat Mark Phelps in the swimming pool.
The fact Phelps doesn’t need any help is inconsequential, just like when Man City came to Molineux and got EVERY decision under the sun. You’d think human nature would side with an underdog, but human nature and rationale don’t apply in the Premier League.
Remember John Terry appealing a blatant red card last season and getting it rescinded, despite video footage proving he deserved it? The same week we tried to get Iwelumo’s red reversed when he was kicked in the face by St Ledger at Preston.
I’m waiting for them to plant drugs in Rory Delap’s arms and order them to be amputated.
It’s so bloody one-eyed it should make me laugh.
hahahaha love the rory delap call
I understand what you’re saying, but there is a big difference between squad rotation and making 10 changes from one game to the next. As a Chelsea fan it was frustrating to see this happening, especially given that teams such as Leeds/Aston Villa/Sunderland have all got results at Old Trafford this season. Whilst I accept that your win at White Hart Lane took a lot out of your players, picking a whole different side must have sent a message to the Utd players that your manager didn’t think you had a hope. I’ll look at it in another way. We play Wigan in our last game of the season, a team you could potentially be fighting for to stay in the league. It is possible that (i) we will have nothing to play for in terms of league position (ii) we may have an FA Cup Final/Champions League Final in the following days. How would you react if we picked 10 different players from our previous match vs Liverpool, and subsequently went on to lose to Wigan. And the 3 points that Wigan get may have huge consequences in the relegation battle, just as your failure to put up a decent side may alter where the title goes. Not for a minute am I saying you would have definitely won the game if you’d played your full strength, but it would have probably been closer, and would have stopped these awkward questions. I do however support you about the FA Charge; Liverpool were never punished for playing their second string versus Fulham a few years back against Fulham- a result that effectively sent Sheffield Utd down!
Eddie you make a good point and believe me, no Wolves supporter expected or wanted 10 changes that night at Old Trafford.
However, if the scenario played out in the way you suggest, with Chelsea fielding a weakened side against Wigan, I’d be annoyed, but I wouldn’t expect you to be punished (well, I wouldn’t have before yesterday). It’s your club and your manager has to do what he thinks is best for his side, just like Mick McCarthy did what he thought was best for Wolves.
You don’t owe us any favours, just like we don’t owe you or Arsenal any.
How the Premier League have the audacity to think they can determine what constitutes a ‘weaker side’ is beyond me.
How many changes have to be made to constitute fielding a weaker side anyway? I’d argue Chelsea resting their best 2 or 3 players makes their side significantly weaker.
Wolves actually have a large squad of players with very similar ability (i.e. OK, but not particularly good). So even by making ten changes, we’ve probably not weakened our side to a lesser extent than the Chelsea side that rested 2 or 3.
It’s a silly argument I know, but an example of what the Premier Leauge are letting themselves in for.
I agree Thomas, I wasn’t particularly happy with what Mick did and don’t agree with anyone putting out a weakened team but it happens and we weren’t the first team to do it so why do we get punished.
If you were to play a weak team against Wigan on the final day I won’t be happy but I’d have to accept that it’s Ancelloti’s perogative to play whoever he wants. We’ll be well safe by the final game anyway so it won’t matter!!
The fine obviously is a direct judgement from the league that it was the wrong thing to do.
But with the punishment being so minimal, it seems to contradict their hard nosed stance.
I don’t get it. And I dont’ understand how that was more serious than Liverpool fielding 10 reserves in the season Sheffield United got relegated. Their team was so random, Neil Warnock’s scouts literally didn’t know who the players were. Had Liverpol won, Sheffield Utd would have stayed up.
The same Premier League also decided against throwing West Ham out the league despite being guilty of signing an illegal player. They contravened their own bloody rules to keep West ham in the league!
When you see the performances of referees at Molineux, most notably Jones v Man City and Clattenburg v Spurs, it makes you wonder if there is an imbedded conspiracy to shaft clubs like us.
And for those who say these decisions even themselves out over a course of a season…They don’t!
It’s complete and utter bullshit. If we drop Doyle do we get a £2K fine? EPL is a fucking joke. And do the EPL have it in their power now to assert which players are better than others, and assign values on their appearances accordingly.
Bewildering.
What does the suspension mean anyway? If we rest 1 player will it come into force or does it have to be 10 again. Are the PL telling us that if a player is too tired to play we have to force them to or else we’ll get a £25,000 fine.
Does this mean that it’s no longer up to the manager to decide who is fit to play? Should team sheets now be submitted to the EPL for approval?
If it is that’ll be the end of the Hofs career!
Well, well, well what a surprise…NOT!
Always been one rule for the Wolves and one for the rest going back years according to some of the old timers I know.
I would actually update this to expand it to one rule for those Sky4 clubs, one rule for those clubs who have been in the EPL for five years or more and one rule for the rest!
The Premiership is the biggest farce of a league and this ruling proves it. The whole thing is bent from top to bottom.
- What is the point in having a first team squad if your getting told how many player you can change?
- Who are the Premier League Board to judge that half of our squad isn’t good enough? They are registered players, some of which are full international.
- How can the Premier League Board justify interference in a managers decision?
- How can the PL board make an assessment that the players who played against Tottenham @ WHL would provide stiffer competition than the fresh players who played against Man Utd?
Quote: Scudamore: “You have to be realistic: they’ve got a squad, and therefore you can’t argue that they deploy the benefit of that squad in a game on Sunday.” Reference Man U v Hull
Says it all!
Does this mean chelski have to play Ashley (girlie name) Cole, against us, even tho’ he’s gotta busted foot?
We should stick two fingers in the air by putting out all our reserves and Academy and schoolboys this weekend, and see if the fine kicks in, then take the PL to court and sue the basstids!!
Trouble is, the kids will probably go and beat chelski!!!
As moxey is partially responsible for team selection, coz presumeably he was involved in hiring MM, then any fine should come out of his fat backside pockets.
This will be just another excuse to put up prices and not spend on new players.
Yeah, let’s all blame the fat controller!!
FOWB
WHAT THE HELL!!!
Those arrogant pricks!!! I hope they outline exactly what constituted the fine… as a “weakened side” could mean absolutely anything!!!!!
FUCK OFF PL AND FUCK OFF BIG 4.
Totally agree – even the Blue nose I work with thinks it’s a disgrace and in his words ‘I hate the Wolves!’
Absolute joke – what about all the big four teams that do this exact same thing.
I hope MM highlights the hypocrisy of this the next time that French tw@t at Arsenal sends the kids out. £25k is nothing to Wolves, but that isn’t the point here.
They should just have ten teams in this league and close it off to promotion so that all these “big teams” can just bum each other on a bed of £50 notes. The evidence…
1, Crap referees – never been one to moan about Refs, always rolled my eyes in the backof my head at the nob heads in the crowd that shout for every decision. BUT… how many times have we been denied potentially match winning decisions by Refs favouring the established clubs. I laughed at Megson when he said this at the Albion, but I now feel his pain.
2, Early parachute payments – MM stated we lost out on two signings to Portsmouth due to the wages on offer and now the Premier league is considering giving them money early. We keep being told football is now business, so f*ck them – they have spent beyond their means and should pay the price. Notice how Sullivan is all for it as West Ham have 4 points from Portsmouth this season – another kick in the balls for Wolves. It’s even unfair on clubs like Albion that yo-yo and would love to spend £80k in wages on players but manage their clubs sensibly and get relegated as a consequence. Sorry portsmouth fans, but you could always start again with an AFC alternative or Southampton is just a few miles up the road – and besides everyone else you have ever played hates your cow bells anyway.
As the South Bank so articulately stated “Premier league – full of s**t!”
Rant over – roll on Chelski!
Sorry for another consecutive post but I still havent managed to get it out of my system.
FUCK OFF PREMIER LEAGUE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
so bloody incensed, all the other things like shitty refs… everyone knows it, just cant prove it… but this is just a BLATANT kick in the balls!!!
It’s not the fine i’m bothered about, 25k is pretty much nothing to us, it’s the principle. Why the hell should we be punished and not Man Utd and Liverpool in games which were relegation deciders, it’s an absoloute farce.
I think it’s already been said, but do we now have to ask the Premier League who we can and can’t play? It’s the manager’s descretion, end of story.
This is MM’s fault for being a total prat. The fine (if it is ever enforced) should come from his pocket not the clubs.
Regarding us being ‘screwed over’ by the officials this season i think to a certain extent that is due to selective memory.
The Bolton game at home and Stoke away within a few weeks were 4 points gained by appalling offside decisions in our favour.
Yes there have been terrible decisions against us but this inferiority complex doesn’t serve us well.
Let us not become a club of Neil Warnocks!
Soz Kwolf, I don’t buy that.
* Portsmouth home, blatant handball not given when their bloke catches it (Wilson was it?)
* Villa home Richard Dunne rugby tackled Doyle twice and was not even booked, we didn’t get a pen when it was a straight sending off offence.
* Fellaini away at Everton assaulted Doyle from behind, ref waves play on and 10 secs later its 1-1, with minutes left.
* Man City (home) Elokobi fouled for their first, Bellamy offside for their second. Yes it ends up 3-0 but it patently isn’t fair.
* Howard Webb at home to Wigan bodychecked David Jones thus directly handing N’Zogbia an open goal when it would have been cleared.
You could compile a video of them all, as there’s countless others I have not mentioned.
Yes we had 2 offside goals given to us, but nothing else. If luck does even itself out over the course of the season, then we are due at least 5 outrageously unfair decisions in our favour. What are the odds?
Don;t forget the blatant penalty we should have had at Wigan ( Keogh)
At the end of the day its a suspended fine.. which in reality means no fine.. if it acts as a deterrent to stop teams rotating their sides ridiculously in the future then surely we are big enough to take the slap on the wrists on behalf of all the clubs and just move on.
Dont agree with you Adam I’m afraid – it should be the same rules for everyone and it just isn’t.
we should be able to play whoever we like, where will it end, will the FA start getting involved when everyone plays cr@p teams in the FA cup.
Funny how it’s an unfashionable premier league club that gets the rap on the knuckles rather than Arsenal!
I understand your argument.
I just feel ”where will it all end” is probably exactly where the Premier League are coming from. They don’t want to get to a stage where the bottom teams are focusing on the winnable games so much so that they cant be arsed to play the bigger teams. If that happens the Big 4/5/6/7 will think sod it, if they can’t arsed to play us we’ll form a 10 team league or a European Super League and fuck the Premiership off… I think the Premier league are conscious of this and the increasing frustrations of fans, which is what this 4th place play-off might be about.
Its unfortunate they’ve clamped down on us when they should have acted sooner but I’m with K-Wolf, the idea that there is some sort of Wolves vendetta is ludicrous.
Fair play.
Dont see it as a wolves vendetta though – all the other smaller clubs seem to get the same treatment from refs. We get nothing at home, the spurs game was probably the worst I have seen.
Dirty cheating bastards
utw
The Guardian have a great take on this –
Wolves Tea Lady XI
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/18/the-fiver-arsene-wenger-europa-league
Kick in the b*llocks number three…
Portsmouth might now be able to sell players outside of the transfer window! What a crock of sh*te, lets be done with it and give them 20 points because we feel sorry for them and an account at their filthy managers brothel for the entire first team!
Is there another rule book I’ve missed over the past 35 years? If this was happening to Wolves no one would give a flying f___! Except Sullivan of course because of the three points they took off us in the first game of the season – snake.
It’s a joke ay stourbridge. Why the hell should the rules be bent to save Portsmouth? Ok, i feel for the fans, but there’s a transfer window for a reason. They should have raised the money they needed in January, not hoping for a knight in shining armour to come in and save them, which obviously isn’t happening. They got themselves into this mess, why the hell should we feel sorry for them?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8522283.stm
just found this on BBC. Seems it’s the whole world vs Wolves now.
Brilliant news Hallam – the correct decision no doubt.
Rich – looks like Burnleys manager agrees with us too! (he’s so low profile I cant even remember his name!!!). I wonder how many of Portsmouth fans felt for Wolves when we nearly went out of business under the Bhatti brothers? My guess is not many!
Funny how the Prem has turned me into a selfish, even more Wolves centred supporter!
Ok so it now seems the Premier League have rejected the proposals. Thank god for that.
After having time to digest it, if this fine represents a change in policy from the FA then I have no major problem with it. Section E, rule 20 is very vague and open to interpretation. Perhaps the FA are ready to draw a line in the sand, obviously hoping it will be an adequate deterrent.
However, I can’t help but feel this decision has opened Pandora’s box. Teams are allowed to accumulate massive squads, but not allowed to use them as they please? Will it be applied in the cup games, or will the FA admit defeat and accept that they are no longer viewed with any great importance? Surely, as a major source of income for the FA they would be loathe to this outcome.
Also, football is far from an exact science. Surely, if he had to in court, MM could argue that he played Elokobi centre back in that game because he felt he could counter the physicality of Rooney. I’m sure he could make similarly ridiculous arguments about every player. We all know it would be perjury of the highest order, but there is no legal precedent for prosecution against someone’s opinions about footballers, although perhaps there should be!
I’m sure the FA are more than aware of all these permutations. I think with this, all the talk about the play off and the demise of Portsmouth, there is a palpable sense that the FA know that the status quo cannot continue.
Jealousy.
That’s what it is.
They are all friggin’ jealous of us.
As we all know, there are English people,………and there are foreigners.
By the same token, there are Wolves fans, and there are the rest of the world.
They cannot get over the fact that we are superior in every way to mere mortals, and so are punishing us with as many punitive measures as they can.
Why else would moxey have been foisted upon us?
And if you believe that load of bollocks, then I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.
All I want to say is fuck ‘em and the horse they rode in on!!
We will always be up against it, isn’t that part of being a Wolves fan?
But what would happen if we put out the same team when utd come to The Golden Palace, and we beat ‘em??
FOWB
United fan here. Most of the clubs and fans including me are and will support Wolves on this one. Sad to see that despite all clubs doing this Wolves are singled out for this. Micks decision was justified as you won your next game against Burnley. The top 4 do this quite often but never get pulled up for it. Also how can they decide what the strongest Wolves team is?.Every team has a squad of 22-25 players and the manger has the right to pick any of those players irrespective of what his team was in the previous game.
Thanks for the support – any chance you can rest Rooney in a couple of weeks to return the favour?
Quality article. Interesting to see how other teams have done exactly the same without any punishment. Worst being Liverpool playing a weaker team (9 players changed) against Fulham ensuring their survival and Blades demise. Must be that 1 extra player we rotated that got us the fine. Surely the PL aren’t showing preferential treatment to Liverpool.
Even the Man U fans think it’s ridiculous, that speaks volumes.