The arrival of Roger Johnson over the summer was supposed to go a long way towards solving our defensive frailties.
And to begin with, it did.
The former Blues man was a towering presence in the wins over Blackburn and Fulham, seemingly a class above the other center backs at the club.
Combined with the stark upturn in form of Stephen Ward, the back four suddenly seemed a lot tighter.
Sadly though, this didn’t last.
As Wolves began to struggle, so did Johnson, culminating in the newly-crowned skipper losing his place to the fail-safe Jody Craddock.
Back to square one then it would seem. So what now?
Well, the one thing that all fans seem to agree is that we lack pace in the center of defence and this continues to hamper our progress.
We’ve had one remotely mobile center back during McCarthy’s tenure and that was Mancienne, who sadly lacked the physicality to consistently succeed.
Mouyokolo was also presumably brought in to fill this void, but injuries curtailed his chances and he was shipped out in the summer to make room for Johnson.
So if we are to dip into the January market for a defender, surely pace and power are top of the agenda?
Here are some possible targets.
Nedum Onuoha
The Man City defender impressed on a season long loan at Sunderland and will almost certainly leave the club in the January transfer window.
Wolves, Albion and Bolton have already been linked with the player and others suitors are likely to emerge.
If the club want to make a serious zanaflexhome.com statement about their intentions, bringing the former England U21 international to Molineux would do just that.
Whether we buy him permanently or just loan him for the second half of the season, I believe he should be our top defensive target.
I don’t think we’ll get him though.
Danny Collins
If you believe what you read in the papers, Wolves are hot on the heels of the Stoke defender currently on loan at Ipswich.
Without wanting to sound negative – no thanks.
Have we not been down this street enough times?
Can anyone hand-on-heart convince me he will give us anything that Stearman, Berra, Johnson or Craddock wouldn’t?
I don’t think so.
Sadly though, he’s probably the sort of player who will rock-up come January.
Carlos Cuellar
McCleish needs to wheel-and-deal for players and Cuellar is one of those heading for the exit. We were heavily linked in the summer, so maybe there’s something in this one.
Seems to cover the ground a bit quicker than our current center-halves, and shows more poise on the ball.
Can’t dislodge Dunne or Collins from the Villa side though, so perhaps I’m bigging him up too much.
Would be an interesting signing and I wouldn’t be disappointed to see him arrive.
Alex
No, I haven’t gone mad.
The Chelsea defender slapped in a transfer request last week and I would love, love, love to see him in a gold shirt.
Whether Wolves can make it happen though, I’m not sure.
A cheeky loan deal to the end of the season maybe?
Wouldn’t mind one of those rocket free-kick goals either.
A penny for your thoughts?
By the way, my top 3 targets (all positions) would be, in this order:
Frimpong
Onouha
Maynard
By contrast, the players I believe WE WILL get are:
Gardner
Collins
Didn’t McCarthy sign Collins for Sunderland? He’s definitely the most likely to arrive, though I’d hoped those days were behind us. I would like to see Onouha, he’s pacy and has looked useful whenever I’ve seen him. Alex is a tad unrealistic! Think he’ll follow the money like Anelka.
I’d like Frimpong, Onuha and Diouf off your lists, if we could get Onuha on a loan to buy deal that would be perfect. Please, I’ve been good all year, let me get a nice Christmas present not the lump of coal that would be Collins and Gardner!!
By the way think your a little harsh on MM with regard to mobile centre halves, he has got Stearman, who is one of the fastest players in the squad. I think it been unfortunate that with injuries we haven’t been able to play our strongest defensive line up all season (from left to right Ward, Johnson, Stearman, Zubar).
That said our response with injuries has shown how bereft of quality our reserves are Elokobi and the lack of pace centrally being the cases in point so getting someone of Onouha’s or Frimpongs quality and potential would be an incredible boost to the team and might just turn things in an upward direction.
There’s quite a bit of hype around Frimpong – personally I think he’s a likely loan deal for us!
Collins
Frimpong or C.Gardner
Carew
(McCormack represents a wild card, and I can see the deal come trough. The best part is that it looks like it’s the same sort of arrangement Wolves did in the O’Hara deal. First loan, and if he manages to produce the goods in premiership Wolves will buy him).
Cuellar is a good player but has played virtually all his games at RB. Don’t forget MON paid just under £10mil for him do he’d obviously be on a fair wedge.
I wouldn’t mind him on loan.
What about John Djorrou on loan? He’s well down the pecking order at Arsenal now.
Just noticed it makes it seem I think Cuellar is a RB. He certainly isn’t although that’s where Villa played him.
djourou’s been starting for arsenal now that they’ve got injuries so he’s out, and its a fair point that we’d never pay cuellars wages. and on the striker front, i wouldnt want to see carew anywhere near molineux and nicky maynard would be over priced for what he is at i reckon 5mil maybe plus. onuoha and frimpong would be top of my list, only seen onuoha playing at right back so dunno what he’d be like shifting to centre half
I think we will get:
Frimpong
McCormack
We’ve been linked with Diame, a decent midfielder whose contract is up in the summer. I reckon we could get him then if we stay up
Onuoha (who’s name my iPad seems committed to autocorrecting to ‘onions’) would be a great signing. Plug up the gaping hole in the back and then build from there.
I’d still say a pacy defender is our number one priority. Doesn’t matter how many we score if we still leak goals the other end.
We’d never get Alex. But a man can dream…
I’m waiting for Clive from houstons’s third successive “don’t by players… Just sack mick” comment now…
Sacking MM? Madness
I agree, I dont see a better alternative who’d happily come manage us.
Or Johnok or Jed… 😛
Why pick on me and jed,i can’t think why?.MM a twonk who can’t manage at this level.
would love to be wrong,i really would if its the best for wolves, i would take the flak.
Can you stop that dog from barking for a while.Hamlet.
Don’t want to turn this into the classic ‘happy clapper v mindless idiot’ debate, but comments like Mick “can’t manage at this level” are really quite stupid.
Having got a team promoted, kept them up twice and improved the points tally in each season (I believe we’re on more points than either of the last two seasons at the 14 game mark), I’d love to know what a manager has to do to prove he can manage at this level…win the league perhaps? would that persuade you he’s maybe alright?
Time will tell,as is time is a great healer,if you get my drift..ps less of the mindless
idiot.Unless your relating to McIdiot..UTW.
i’d argue that he kept us up due to the frailties of others rather than tactical genius. McCarthy has been found out at this level and not for the good.
McCARTHY OUT!
Wasn’t picking on you two – just saying that you’d have the same opinion as CFH! 😛
Sorry about my dog by the way – I forgot to walk him, he’s getting a bit restless!
Hallo boys and dogs, I’m back!!!
Well, Morph Onion, methinks you had better go back to school and retake Maths, I haven’t done two successive sack MM blogs, I’ve been doing it for 2 years!!!!
It’s interesting that I now am happy to defend most of our current squad as good enough against the clappy happers on here.
Get in a good manager, who will soon fuck off the likes of Ward and Berra, sort out Johnson and O Hara’s problems, and up the table we will go.
Not rocket science.
Now, the wonderful 3 million war chest, perhaps a certain Mr. Torres is available????
Good to see you the other night Benjamino and Scooped.
Putney, your Dad looks well, and for any of you lot who reside in Wolverhampton, let me recommend Penn Tandoori, bottom of Mount Road, on the Penn Road. Excellent food and service.
FOMM
Alex is more likely to go to the Arsenal , Man Utd or even Spurs than sign for us. He is a quality player and surprised AVB has bombed him out.
How about the window signings of: Danny Collins, Daryl Murphy and Keet Andrews.
That should sort us out nicely.
Whoever he is he must not have played for Stoke, Sunderland, Hull, Birmingham or Bohemians. If he’s been on the books of Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool or Arsenal I’ve no doubt he’s the kind of ‘class’ footballer we should be signing. If his name contains more vowels than consonant I will be especially confident of his suitability.
Sign Walter Samuel. Sorted. Or Maicon.
I’m not Johnok, Jed or Clive but lets get rid of MM !!!
But I don’t think we will.
So far his dealings in the transfer market have been suspect to say the least.
My feeling is that Frimpong might come till the end of the season.
Would Doyle fit in at Arsenal?
How are we going to tempt players?
It will, as far as I am concerned, be a fascinating ‘transfer window’.
One thing I am sure will happen is that Kightly will return, fitter and more confident, after his spell at Watford.
This, in itself, could be our best signing….
hehe, knew I’d forgotten someone! 😉
Just to qualify my last post it should read:
“So far his RECENT dealings in the transfer market have been suspect to say the least.”
I like several of the new recruits being suggested here, and I definitely think we need the re-inforcements. But back on the subject of Johnson … I also don’t think the man should be written off yet. Good players don’t turn bad, just like that.
My 2p advice to him would be to give up his captaincy. I think this responsibility makes the job all the tougher and I think he will focus a lot better on his job and settling in if he didn’t have other players to worry about too. I remember when Paul Butler was playing really well for us and then was made captain. After a while as captain his play had similarly deteriorated and he eventually also lost his place for a while. He decided not to be captain anymore and when he came back in the team he retunred to his previous good form.
I know Johnson probably thinks he wants to be captain … but personally I think he would do better to hand that responsibility to someone like O’Hara or Henry and just focus on marshalling that defence.
Just throwing that out there … not sure if anyone thinks the same.
Go Wolves!!!
Out of these options I’d only pick Onouha, but he’s on Man City wages and although he reportedly wants to leave, he also won’t want to take much or any pay decrease.
Out of the other options you’ve mentioned Danny Collins is a Champ standard player and we also wouldn’t pay the wages of Cuellar (who I don’t particularly rate) and certainly not Alex.
Cuellar can’t get in the team at Villa and Collins there is the biggest donkey I’ve seen, so that’s not encouraging.
If Mick brings in a similar centre back to those we already have then I will lose what little faith I have left in him; we don’t lack for immobile, powerful CBs.
I think available quick and mobile CBs are thin on the ground, so I’m not going to play ‘football manager’ and speculate. I doubt very much we’ll bring in a CB that ticks the boxes (or could pay the wages).
Prove me wrong Mick.
I agree with this. Onwards only with Onouha, “One Onouha, there’s only one Onouha”, onomatopoetically.
A back-four of Zubar, Stearman, Onouha, and Ward would be just the ticket. But, yes, sadly he’s probably way too expensive …
The Ward renaissance is complete. Amazing how this list is devoid of left-backs, considering some of the comments here last season (um, many made by me).
PS. Can’t we have a more imaginative tag-line for Roger Johnson’s picture than “Struggled”? I suggest “Baldrick”.
Yep, Stephen Ward HAS improved a lot. He’s no Ashley Cole, but if you compare him to the carcrash who is big George then you can see that he’s streets ahead and in terms of ‘problem areas’ of the team I would say there are more pressing concerns than replacing one of our few ‘form’ players.
I hope I’m wrong, I hope we can do enough to attract a big name or big wage player, but I don’t think we can/will pay.
I like your proposed back 4 though for sure, although I think there is still a place for Roger Johnson as all he needs is confidence because we know he CAN do it like in the first 2 games where he was great.
For striker and midfielder it seems we could perhaps bring in someone that fits the bill of what the boys have been talking about (namely pace and creativity), but for defence…I’m really not so sure.
A good left back, Ward in reserve.
A good defensive midfielder, Henry in reserve.
A good striker, what do we do if Fletcher is injured.
3 players to help me relax. 3 players to keep us up. 3 players on a transfer budget of 3 million.
3 million will not by one.
Ah well.
Come on Thomas, stark upturn in Ward. The improvement is from out of his depth (as he was in the championship) to barely adequate. His lack of pace holds back the team both defensively and going forward, without genuine pace he is not fit for premiership purpose.
Johnson is too good to be out of the team for long. In my view the defensive problems down to MM and his need for two widemen. Playing only 2 in midfield leaves us wide open for teams with more pace or numbers, I believe a 3 man midfield with one holding midfield player would solve a lot of our defensive woes. Mm has to play with one wide man, shouldn`t be a problem as Jarvo is one of the quickest wingers in the premiership.
If we buy a pacy centre half who would he replace, Berra perhaps, I`d replace him with Stearman. Whoever he signs won`t make a tinkers difference until our dinassur manager stars using tactics which work in our league.
Mark, I fully respect your opinion, but I’m at a loss as to what you’re seeing when you watch Ward this season.
Obviously, like many others you’ve seen him struggle in the position over the last few years. I would totally agree that he looked out of his depth defensively and I would definitely have brought in a left-back over the summer.
However…
His performances this season have been nothing short of phenomenal.
That’s right, phenomenal.
He has been by far and away our most consistent, effective outfield player to date (albeit with little competition) and deserves massive credit for a startling upturn in form. How anyone can draw any other conclusion is beyond me.
You say:
“His lack of pace holds back the team both defensively and going forward”
I would say he’s been our BEST attacking outlet down the left, particularly when combining with Jarvis.
He’s made countless blocks on the line, he’s made next to no mistakes, he’s scored goals, yet still, STILL, you tear him down in EVERY SINGLE COMMENT YOU MAKE!?!
I would go as far as to call it a vendetta.
You are entitled to say whatever you want and I’m sure plenty of people would agree with you.
On this particular point however, I, do not.
You then go on to say:
“Johnson is too good to be out of the team for long.”
This is a bloke whose been achingly exposed in nearly every game he’s played over the last couple of months and not only that, he came out and called his own fans ‘a disgrace’.
Give me Ward in the team over Johnson every single day of the week (on current form and attitude of course).
I do agree that playing 2 midfielders leaves us wide open at times and I too would be playing 5 in there, but with two wingers and two central midfielders sitting. We’d need to buy the second one in January though, as we only have Henry to play the holding role.
I just watched the goals we let in against United.
Any one else notice that the last 2 came from their right wing?
Anyone else notice who was AWOL at left back?
Yes, no prizes for guessing, Mr. Ward.
So, from 1 – 2 down and still in theoretically with a chance of scraping a point, we go to 1 – 4 down, coz our phenomenal left back is too slow to play catch up, thus also making our goal difference wider, which may come back to bite us on the arse in May.
Thomas, this time you have written with your roses on, I’m afraid.
There is a dearth of good left backs in the Prem, so if ours is as good as you lot think, how come he hasn’t been linked to another club?
Coz he’s fuckin’ shite, thats why!!!
FOMM
I have to say I agree with Thomas too, i think your suffering the same phobia that MM has when he puts the names on the team sheet. Aways the same old favorites, but in your case its for criticism.
Ward does not deserve it, Thomas is right his performances have improved no end he was fantastic against Sunderland, and has scored key goals with great finishes for the team as well. I have to say I would prefer him to be captain than Henry. He has been a revelation this season, and fully deserves the comments from Thomas and the support of the others.
Get off the teams back and try supporting them for a change, we dont need so called supporters that slag off the team its in the name, try living it for a change.
You know, all of you Wardites are completely missing the point.
Yes he has improved from previous seasons…………….but he’s still too slow for the Premiership.
He’s still not positionally aware enough for the Premiership.
He goes wandering about, loses the man he’s supposed to be closing down, then does a couple of “wonder” clearances, which, if he did his job properly, would never have needed to be done in the first place.
He looks “good” to you lot coz you have only his shit performances, of previous seasons, to compare him to, not a good left back he might be keeping out of the team.
Sometimes I despair if any of you actually watch the games, with any kind of analytical brain, or just see everything through the proverbial roses.
If they are that good, let me know where I can get a pair, coz it must be nice to live on the same planet McDickhead lives on.
FOMM
Ward has had enough games this season for us to compare his performance through those games – face it, he’s been brilliant for us!
Thomas that’s exactly what it is, a vendetta. Our best player by miles but still Mark and Clive go on about him. I love it, week in week out he is making them eat shit.
Appreciate the agreement mate, but no need for the ‘eat shit’ comment. Lets keep it about football.
yes, sorry got a little carried away. Eat humble pie I guess…
He’s that good we keep losing.
Eat Humble Pie !!!
We are 4th from bottom..
Lower than the Baggies who came up a season after us…
Clinging to every point…..
Progress….? Ambition…… ?
After 3 years we still have a squad full of really good Championship players…
But still, its the best position we have been in for decades, and we keep being reminded we should be grateful for what we have. it is Christmas after all…
At the risk of being pedantic here… right now, we’re only one point beneath the Baggies, and two years of Premier League football means that none of our squad can be called ‘Championship players’ – you can criticise their ability, but they don’t deserve to be called this!
I think Fletcher has been our best player and Ward the most improved. You will not see Ward ever linked with a move because he is still a dodgy left back. Brilliant first touch, good use of the ball but defensively still suspect. But he is not the major problem in the team, that is the defensive midfielder who doesn’t tackle.
your praise of Ward and the comment that he has been our most consistent player show how bad we really are Thomas. Its not Ward standing out, it’s the others being dreadful. Ward is the best of a bad lot and that is no complement. He is woefully slow, continues to stand off his man and is exposed time and time again. Can’t fault his commitment though always puts a shift in!
But Ward was a stand-out player during our first three games where we were actually playing decent football as well… remember the block that stopped 2-0 being 2-1 at Fulham?
3 games Hamlet 3 games out of 15 – doesn’t say much does it
Hi Thomas.
If Vendetta was a better left back i`d play him instead of Ward, whose lack of pace means for me simply he is not fit for purpose, and a 3 and a half year contract does hold the club back.
You can`t improve your basic pace, you either have it or not, and so many of your blogs have followed the theme of our defence needing more pace. Well you can`t have it both ways, if you want more pace its to replace those who lack it. Ward continues to get skinned by pacier players, its not just my opinion its fact, its what Merson said on sky sports on Saturday, about him standing too far off to stop crosses coming in, and being given the runaround by Valencia.
You`ll be doing a pre Stoke blog tomorrow, and i`m sure Pullis has Pennant down to play wide right, surprise suprise. I endured our teams pitiful endeavours at the Brittania last season, where amongst many issues Pennant toyed with Ward all night, and got by him and crossed for at least two of the goals. Around the festive season we have Walcott at the Emirates and Lennon at White Heart Lane, licking their lips at the prospect of running at our pedestrian left back.
Mistakes, well I was at Everton a few weeks ago and who was it who gave away the penalty because the chap he was marking moved quicker to a corner. For me though thats as irrelevant as goal line clearances, the bigger issue is the need for pace, quick feet and mobility to be a premiership player. Ward lacks all of these.
I agree, he does from time to time get skinned by players with a turn of pace. However, so does every single other full-back in the Premiership.
Tell me this Mark, Jarvis beat Smalling for pace in the build-up to Fletcher’s goal. Does that mean Smalling is not fit for purpose?
No it doesn’t.
Cliche got skinned by Sturridge on Monday night in the build up to Chelsea’s first goal against Man City. Does that make him not fit for purpose?
No it doesn’t.
Zubar got stitched up by Mata against Chelsea, so does the same apply to him?
Full-backs get beaten by wingers every single week. That’s the job of a winger. The job of the defender is to prevent this. Some weeks, one will come out on top as Ward has many times and other weeks top international wingers will get the better of him.
Weeks have gone by this season where not a single winger gets any change out of Ward, but these of course go completely unacknowledged.
My question to you is thus:
Why do you consistently single Ward out when the likes of Berra, Johnson, (both slower than Ward by the way) Stearman and Zubar are as culpable if not significantly more?
That above anything else, is what sticks with me and dilutes the relevance of your critique.
Thomas, I have to agree. I hate to disagree with you Mark (especially this close to Christmas!) but Ward aint that bad. He’s looked pretty exciting going forward, scored a couple of goals and coped admirably with some of the best wingers in the league.
He isn’t the quickest but his positioning has improved – shown in goal line blocks and last ditch tackles (not so much at Everton!). I think he’s good enough for our team at the moment and there are higher priorities than a left back.
First time I’ve seen you get off the fence for a while, I like it!
I don’t sit on the fence, I say what I see. There’s a crucial difference.
Pennant has fallen out with Pulis, doubt he will be playing.
Ward got murdered at OT.
See my above comment.
A lot of negativity towards Collins, he hasn’t had the best of times at Stoke but under Keane at Sunderland I believe he won player of the year two seasons running! I think he’d be an alright signing, he can play across the back. Would prefer Onuoha of course (West Brom are set to bid 4m, surely we can outdo them!)
Like we beat them to Odemwingie, Long, Tchoyi et al?
I’m not fixated on the Albion, but you DO have to question why a stream of good and great players are going there while we get…Roger Johnson.
They may have come up later than us, but for whatever reason they must show more drive, more ambition and pay better than us in order to attract these players. Could be their manager too.
This is why I have little faith that we’ll be making any particularly exciting signings this window and I’d be prepared to put money on it that if Onuoha had a choice between us and them he’d choose them. Anyway, we won’t out bid them.
I wish we could.
Didn’t know we tried to sign any of the above….
Yes, the great players such as Billy Jones and Gareth McAuley, have been streaming in to them.
I wanted us to go for long, but we have two good forwards equally as good.
If we won the next games, and we still near Albion I think we’d be the more attractive proposition. Younger squad, some bigger names and would probably offer better wages.
We may not have tried to sign any of these players, I use them simply as an example.
Of course some of their signings are also not as good, although McAuley’s a starter, but on balance I have to say that I believe they HAVE signed better players than us.
But I don’t want to get bogged down with Albion, because there are several similar sized teams who have.
My question is why? Why can’t we attract them?
Would we really offer better wages? If so then why don’t we have players of the calibre of Odemwingie and Long? Fletcher and Doyle aren’t as prolific as Odemwingie, therefore I think it’s incorrect to say that our strikers are ‘as good.’
If you think I’m wrong and that in fact our team is stronger, we can attract better players etc then I’d love to know why you think that Louie. Also, if this is the case then what IS going wrong as surely our results would be better than teams like Albion etc?
Well Thomas I also say what I see, If you can do it – so can I. Its amusing that your defence of Ward is apparently based on the premise that all our other defenders are just as crap a) this doesn`t promote a solution to the left back or other defensive problems, and b) take it up with MM as clearly his Specsavers account must be closed, and c) although it does explain our lofty league position. I`m sure the owner talks about this with his manager on occasions.
i`ve always said MM picks the starting eleven, not the players themselves. Its not entirely their fault if they are skinned game on game, season after season on the pitch. I`ll let others berate Berra and the centre half folly, plenty of ammunition there. At least Stearman and Zubar have the attributes of good pace, (and probably inconsistency) whether its used to best purpose is another issue, pity only one seems able to get a game at any one time.
OK, OK, I hold my hands up and apologize for slagging Ward off for being responsible for 2 of the goals at Old Trafford.
Sad bastard that I am, I have just sat thru the game and the inescapable fact is Ward was actually responsible for all four goals, by failing to cut out/off the bloke who was steaming down their right flank.
ALL FOUR GOALS.
Worth putting capitals for those who will not see.
If he had been doing his job, none of those crosses or passes inside would have come off.
I daresay they would have scored some other way, but we’ll never know, coz the easy route was, as always, down their right wing.
The third goal actually went between his legs, and if he had looked down, he could have stopped the ball with his nose.
So, to all you Ward lovers, I apologize, he did have a good game…for him……otherwise we would have let in a shed load more.
How come other managers do their homework, and always pick on Ward, yet our manager cannot see his shortcomings?
And don’t give me any bollocks about how much he has improved, that’s total shite, he’s still fuckin’ useless as a left back.
FOMM
Funny how in pretty much every other game their right winger hasn’t had much joy…
Bale switched wings against him, Hoilett came to life when Elokobi went to left back, Duff was anonymous, N’Zogbia went past him about … not at all!
He’s not perfect, he could certainly be quicker but is he shit? no. is he our weak link? no. Has he been our best player? yes
I know it is a bit of a negative way of looking at things, but at the moment I think if any other club in the Prem comes in for a player we fancy (maybe except Wigan, or possibly Blackburn at a push) they automatically seem to go there. Matt Mills even sacked us off for a Championship side.
Whether it is wages, better offers or simply the fact that Wolverhampton isn’t the most fashionable place in the world to ply your trade, I don’t know. The sad fact is though that if we fancy a player like Onouha or even a loan deal for Frimpong, but then someone like Fulham or Stoke came sniffing around, they’d automatically snap them up over us.
‘m not sure what sort of contact we had with him or if any sort of deal was ever discussed, but it seemed like even Shane Long chose to sack us off in favour of the Baggies.
We just don’t seem to have any sort of clout in the transfer market. O’Hara and Johnson feel like two fairly isolated incidents where we’ve managed to actually get a player we want to sign.
I’d love to be proved wrong though come January, so fingers crossed.
I think it might be to do with the fact that they don’t want to player for McCarthy!
If you had the choice of playing for an established premier manager like Hodgson, who has experianced a Europa league final.. or Mick with one of the weakest squads and no tactical skill other than play it back to the keeper and boot it upfield to give away possesion again.. which one would you choose.. it anit difficult to work out is it.. while McCarthy is there we will never attract quaility players who can prove to be a success in this league..
Totally agree!
I think ‘fashionable element’ aside, it must be down to the fact that we won’t pay and the way we’re managed.
After all Stoke, Sunderland, Wigan, Fulham, Albion, Swansea, Norwich, QPR aren’t exactly footballing giants are they? So I think it’s rather more about the money they’re prepared to pay in comparison to us than prestige.
I think that players can also see that we have a small-time mentality, that we are a championship side struggling continually to survive with the big boys. This I would lay on MM’s doorstep, as he doesn’t seem to be able to move the club onwards for whatever reason.
We had one bid rejected for Matt Mills, Leicester had a bidding war against themselves and won. If he’d had the choice I have no doubt he would have gone to us.
Sorry typo I meant:
“I think it might be to do with the fact that they don’t want to play for McCarthy!”
Bulls**t! If this is true then we’ll see Fletcher sold in the Jan transfer window – and perhaps Jarvis too! If that doesn’t happen then what does that say about this theory?
Say what you want about the manager’s and the player’s ability but I just don’t belive this!
Read the words Hamsterlet, the blog says players who do not want to sign, not players who have already committed to the cause. It’s called a contract, and if we don’t want to sell them, then they must stay…..or do a Tevez.
FOMM
Can I just say that I’ve really loved these 3 blogs. They’ve been really emotive and I’ve enjoyed the inevitable arguing over who may and may not join!
Well done lads!