Like most right minded people I hate my job.
I particularly hate my job in the summer when I can’t rely on football chat to help fill those awkward moments around the coffee machine. Instead each morning is a slow death as I dredge my subconscious in a desperate effort to plug that deafening silence coming up with such pearls as “Weather’s shit again”, “What a lovely sunny morning” and the dreaded “So, busy then?”. The latter invariably meets with the response “Yeah, flat out” even though you know full well that they are sitting at their desk surreptitiously eating Jaffa Cakes and cruising the internet for cheap sci-fi DVDs.
It also seems in vogue at the moment for people at work and the halfwits on Sky Sports News to bemoan how short the summer break from football is. I for one couldn’t disagree more and would happily see footballers flogged all year round like the bloody rest of us. But that’s by the by and I fear I’m in the minority on this (or more likely the silent majority). As the close season drags on endlessly (and in between devising my next conversational masterpiece to dazzle my work colleagues) my mind wanders to next season.
Berra - Captain Fantastic?
This week I have been mainly wondering who’d be El Capitano if (heaven forbid!) Craddock and Henry were both struck down or indeed dropped. These seem the best candidates:
Christophe Berra: Yogi was made captain at the Jambos when just 22. By all accounts he found it particularly stressful dealing with all the off field antics the Romanov circus brought to the Edinburgh club and isn‘t keen to take up the mantle again. Probably needs to concentrate on defending for the time being anyway;
Chris Iwelumo: If my memory serves me correctly (which it probably doesn’t) Big Chris was stand in captain at times last season. What with the broken foot and Doyle’s arrival Big Chris is going to have a fight to get back into the first team so captaincy seems unlikely;
Nenad Milijas: Former captain of Red Star Belgrade so he’s no shrinking violet. Whether someone with a drink driving conviction is a suitable captain is another question altogether.
Kevin Foley: Foles doesn’t appear the most vocal of players but many a great captain has lead by example. My personal choice at least until we sign Stevie G.
Let me know if I have missed someone obvious. Also I‘ve just been watching Psychoville on BBC2 and pontificating on potential dwarf on dwarf action. Would their child automatically be a dwarf or could he/she be a regularly sized human?
I don’t think there’s any doubting the fact that if Henry remains fit and in decent form, he’ll play 38 Premiership matches this season, making the debate over picking a captain slightly redundant, as he’s Mick’s first choice.
If something happened to Henry, I could see Mick giving it to either Foley as Sam mentions or Ebanks-Blake. For me, SEB leads from the front and always puts everything in so he’s an outstanding candidate.
Nice first post Sam. Welcome to the Wolves blog team.
I hate summers too. If there is a World Cup or Euro Championships I get slightly less bored but it doesn’t take long til i’m counting down the days til the new season!!
Have to say thats a really good question………..I’d say they would definately have dwarf children!!
You have got to be joking if karl henry starts every game next season.
I think perhaps dave jones could fill in the captaincy. In my opinion, he was the best centre mid we had last season. henry seems to do nothing and i can’t remember one game when i thought “well didn’t henry play well”
I don’t think a striker should be a captain as it can be hard to lead from the front and captains should always be defenders or CM
@Hallam – I wasn’t suggesting that I thought Karl Henry should start every match, I was just saying I think he will. McCarthy hasn’t drafted in another holding midfielder, which I think speaks volumes about the faith he has in his captain.
I take your point about strikers not being great captains, but there have been a few who have done it well; Shearer at Newcastle being one such example. But I definitely agree that the best skippers are normally centre-halves or centre-mids.
Good stuff though Hallam. I like a good joust over team selection. We’ve all got our opinions.
not sure where the henry vitriol comes from. a lifelong fan,plucked from stoke city stiffs, plays an integral part in winning the championship, yet he still gets slagged off. he marshals 90yds of pitch on his own as we attack in a 4-2-4 formation (effectively with our wingers) yet he does nothing? i suppose you’d prefer an atkins or corica type? or better still, a kevin nolan on 50k a week? i hope he has another great season
Great point Ben.
And not only does he hold down the midfield, he can also be effective going forward.
What about that burst forward away at Sheffield United to set up Iwelumo’s volley for Wolves second, or even the last game of the season at home to Donny, where he charged on in the dying seconds to win the corner, which Stearman headed home.
And like Ben says, he’s a local lad who wants to play for Wolves. What more can you possibly ask?
I’m a big fan of Henry too and I think when he played well last season we played well as a team. The problem for me was that in a couplle of big games last season I think he went missing and we lost badly. If McCarthy intends to continue playing wingers then Henry is going to have to be at his very best if the defenders are going to be given the protection they need. I have yet to be convinced that Henry can cut it at the top level but I defintely think he has earnt his chance to prove he can do it.
Isn’t Milijas a holding midfielder? And Surman a midfielder/defender?
Not saying Henry won’t start, the fact he’s been given a new contract suggests he’s in first-team plans. At a guess, MM might start with two defensive-minded CMs next season. That suggests a pairing consisting of two from Milijas, Surman and Henry. Two of those three have started CM against Bristol, Port Vale and in both games down under.
If Milijas is as good as everyone makes out, and Surman continues his good pre-season form, that might make it difficult for Henry to hold down a regular place. Also, on a side note, has Dave Jones featured at all this pre-season? Haven’t heard much about him. Injured or just out of favour?
Andrew. I’d imagine Jones is out of favour and going to be on his bike. I recall a mate telling me at Burnley last season that Jones said himself he had no chance under McCarthy (although he did come back impressively after that – so probably a stupid anecdote to give!)
As you can gather, I like Henry a lot, but it’s all about opinions. I was under the impression that Surman is a left sided player and wouldn’t play in the middle, but who knows?
As long as we’re not shoving square pegs in round holes, then I’ll be happy enough. Safe to say Milijas will start if fit.I have a hunch that Edwards will mature a lot this season as well – certainly has potential.
Shame that. Went to about 9 games I think last season, plus the ones on telly, and always thought we looked better with Jones alongside Henry in the middle. Plus Jones has ability from free-kicks. But if we can get around 1 mil for him it will give more money to be reinvested I suppose.
If I remeber rightly, when Surman signed McCarthy made some comment about him prefering to play in the middle. I think that’s where he’s been playing in pre-season so far, but stand to be corrected on that one.
Big fan of Henry, have his number on my kit, saw him once (that happens living in Perth) at Palace last year and he was class, his positioning/covering sense is excellent.
I’d have Kights and then SEB as skipper in absence of the 1st choice couple.