From day one, there has been a section of Wolves fans that have never taken to Mick McCarthy.
I’ve always thought that to be insane, as you will have seen with my comments over the last couple of seasons on this very blog.
Maybe it was because Mick was given the nod over fan’s choice Paul Ince that some refused to give him a chance.
You would have thought his first season would have eradicated that feeling completely, when our team managed to make the play off places against all the odds (we were favourites to be relegated after the mess H*ddle left us in).
Of course there was one match where we showed that kind of form.
Southampton at home.
Matt Murray had one of his worst games ever, Michael Kightly missed a penalty and we lost six nil. The fans sang ‘Super Mick McCarthy’.
Even at ten years old I understood that this would be a rare sight, but I was proud to say my club’s fans stuck by our team whether we won, drew or lost.
Can we say that right now though?
Yes, our form has deteriorated. Yes, we have just lost to our arch rivals. Yes, our key players are letting us down right now. But it’s times like these when we need our support to be louder than ever. All of us.
The fans and club are getting further apart, but you can do your bit to stop that.
When the Molineux faithful want to be, they are a rowdy lot and the Golden Palace can be an intimidating place. We are the type of team who feeds off that atmosphere and our more competent performances stem from it.
In my opinion, it’s one of the factors of why we play better against the big teams. Like the players, the fans are more up for it than against the Wigans, the Norwichs and dare I say it the Swanseas.
So when you are watching our beloved team on Saturday, whatever you think of the manager, whatever you think of his selection and whatever you think of this or that player, give them your support.
Cheer them on, make some noise and you will get a positive reaction. Because the players are soft like that.
A great point and well made Louie. Of course we don’t all agree all the time on everything. Sepp Blatter makes a valid point that football is all about opinions (even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day), but we all united by a desire to see the Wolves do well, and venting spleen on matchdays is counter productive.
All for one and one for all!
All for one and one for all!
Hands in the middle.
Gooooooooo teaammmm!
…did I take it too far?
haha no, but I’ve had the theme tune from dogtanian and the muskhounds in my head all morning since typing that.
Also very chuffed to get a withnail quote on wolves blog…
This your first post on here! Congrats Louie! 🙂
Yeah, we should give Wolves our full support – we can win this game and we should win this game! It’s not a hopeless cause, and it can get us back on track!
…doesn’t stop me from being extremely nervous though!
“We are the type of team who feeds off that atmosphere and our more competent performances stem from it. In my opinion, it’s one of the factors of why we play better against the big teams. Like the players, the fans are more up for it than against the Wigans, the Norwichs and dare I say it the Swanseas.”
I agree with that Louie.
The atmosphere tends to be very flat against the bottom sides, whereas when the big boys come to town, the crowd definitely has a more gung-ho, nothing-to-lose attitude.
If we had that every game, I think it would certainly help.
p.s. don’t ever say this blog only takes one point of view!
p.p.s. I hope you’ve got your tin hat on Louie.
I think the player’s are very flat against the bottom sides no so much the
fans me thinks..its up to the management and coaching staff to get the team
up for the fight then the crowd will do their bit.
I for one, think a bad result for the team saturday, will be a good result long term
intriguing… how so?
Because I believe if we lose, then Mick will get the boot, this can be the only successful way forward now.
I don’t want to be waiting for later in the season when its too late to do anything about it.
In general I feel if we win a game, it’s despite Mick’s decisions, not because of them.
He’s simply not good enough at this level.
If we lose, I think it’ll be unlikely that MM would go because who would replae him?
That I don’t know.
I’m also cautious to be ‘careful what you wish for’.
then how on earth can you suggest that we will only be successfull moving forward if you have no clue as to who the next manager would be?
Um…quite easily, i’m not the one who’s meant to have all the solutions, i’m just pointing out what i think the problem is.
I can real off a load of potential managers like the next man, but whats the point really at this stage
…thats how on earth
I’ll keep an eye out for the chap in the wolves end jumping up when Swansea score at the weekend then! It can only be a good thing after all.
Blimey.
Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I want us to win and win well, but if we don’t it won’t be the end of the world, thats all i’m saying.
Can’t agree with you there! Despite what you might think about the management at the club we need a win or at least a point out of Saturday to get the confidence up in the players so we can have a go at Man City and Wigan. Our season won’t be over if we lose at the weekend but it will make things a bloody lot harder.
I think i’d be more inclined to stick with this point of view. A loss to give mick the boot is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Personally i’m still with mick. It’s the limited amount of quality players we have that is the problem.
We have the quality players, he’s not being playling them and in turn i believe he may have lost the dressing room because of this. It would explain the under par performances. The camp is unsettled.
Who bought them then,Mc’Idiot.thats the problem its all his own doing.
If you’re referring to it being a proverbial kick up the ass for the team… then I dare say they’ve had enough of that already!
If not, then I’ll be interested to know your view
A loud crowd, and a big win on saturday could do wonders. Sad i’m stuck in sheffield for it!
I hope adam hammill pulls a great game out of the bag too… I’ve been backing that kid to my mates since we bought him…
Great blog and agree entirely. I do think though 2 more losses in the next 2 games could tip Morgan to change manager if not before. The difference now is this is our 3rd year in the EPL and he has invested heavily in players but we are current getting worse and MM will not drop some of the poor performers. e.g. Johnson has recently been terrible but he can’t drop him as he is captain and it would send a signal that he has wasted money if he did.
Its interesting to hear that there is a supposed correlation between a flat atmosphere and dropped points against so called relegation rivals. Surely it comes down to motivation, man management, being up for the battle etc.
Do other sides have a rocking atmosphere for each and every game which spurs the team on to win/succeed? Struggling to think of a ground I have been to this year or the past three where the atmosphere hasnt been the usual sterile PL sh*te (not mentioning last Sunday).
We never see eye to eye, do we, Louie??!!
The fans and the club aren’t getting further apart, the fans and the manager are.
Yes, we are all grateful for the part he played in getting us promoted, and staying up with something left in reserve the first season.
Cast your mind back 2 years, when we were struggling mightily, and looked doomed by Christmas, he did something, he changed tactics, we improved, and stayed up.
But, and this is the big one, at the start of last season, he apparently forgot everything that happened the previous year, and reverted to the tactics which got us trouble at the start of our first year in the Prem, and then got pissed off and bent out of shape when he was criticized for it.
He then proceeded to become more and more stubborn and pig headed, seemingly more interested in satisfying his own ego than getting positive results on the pitch, and we came within 3 minutes of relegation, only surviving because of Tottenhams efforts, not our own.
Personally, I had no axe to grind for Ince, never having been a big fan of his, so McCarthy’s appointment was OK in my eyes.
Where he lost me was at Old Trafford when he played 10 “reserves”, giving the impression he had bottled and given up before kick off….a wonderful message to send to his team and the fans.
As to your point about being up for the “big” games, against the top teams, if we carry on with the same attitude and performances as recently from our players, they should be “up” for every game, coz all the teams will be above us!!
Having said all that, I agree we should get behind the team from the off on Saturday – I will be in my recliner with my coffee and bagels at 6.45am – and see how they respond to the noise and support.
If we win, brilliant, if we lose, then size 12 boots on all round, and collective kicks up the arses!!!
PS I don’t consider a draw as a positive result.
FOMM
Agree – a draw would be poor given the run of form we’re on
I’m confused………….I agree with everything you’ve said there Clive. Are you feeling Ok?
I still think Mick will get us out of this though, not sure if I’ll be so confident if we lose on Saturday.
One of the reasons why McNumpty has not been accepted by some fans is his determination to stick two fingers up at them as soon as he is criticised.
This only makes the situation worse and comments like “Carl Henry and ten others” is the latest example of this. So any criticism he gets he has brought onto himself, managers have been sacked for losing less than five games in a row and it might be a time for him to show a liitle humility and empathy, before he alienates even more people. Stop being so bloody smart mouthed and learn when to keep your big gob shut.
How on earth does saying ‘Karl henry and ten others’ constitute sticking two fingers up at the fans?
It is good management to stick up for a player on a bad run of form, instead of publicly lambasting them and undermining their confidence.
If he did not stick up for every single player, he would lose the support of the dressing room. Its Henrys turn at the moment. Well said Super Mr Doyle.
Can I just say, unless you can prove me otherwise, the statement that we were favourites to go down in McCarthy’s first season is complete myth. I doubt you’ll find a bookmaker who gave those odds.
We weren’t mate. It’s just horrid spin.
Just like it’s bullshit to say that people hated McCarthy from the start. He was more popular in his first season than any manager in probably 30 years at the Wolves
Things started to turn in his 2nd when we saw the problems with his style which have since manifested over the last few years.
Well played Louie! I remember that 6-0 vividly. It was the craziest game ever. Up until recently, I thought it was the most inappropriate game to ever remember Mick by should he ever leave, but it has peversely come back into focus for me.
IE: We were brilliant for the first half but were something like 3-0 down. (Saganowski hattrick in the end wasn’t it?!)
It rings true doesn’t it? Despite the many changes in personel, we still seem far, far too wide open.
But more than that, we still seem like the one team who could be on the end of a freak result like that, even today.
As for getting behind the team, it goes without saying I agree, and despite sitting in the Billy Quiet, I’ll give them a cheer (to the bemusement of those around me!)
But your line: ‘The fans and club are getting further apart’ is your most pertinent IMO.
I feel both parties are equally responsible for that.
Heckling Henry will have made Mick’s blood boil, but my blood was bubbling away when, for example, we all sung Mick’s name until we lost our voices at home to Villa a couple of years ago – and Mick slagged us off!
Us fans and he are football’s ‘odd couple’. When we love him, he hates us and vice versa.
Let’s just pray for a win on Saturday to lift us all. It’s already feeling like that Grimsby home match with Graham Turner when Birchy scored twice. (1991?) It feels like its assuming ‘Judgement Day’ proportions already.
Hope we win 2-1 like we did all those years ago when Turner needed a win most. Remember Birchy’s second? A 50 yard dribble past 3 players and shot into North Bank goal? God bless you Birchy!
Were you at the game around then Ben, i think it might have been against Oxford? We were 1-0 down with a couple of minutes to go and the crowd were chanting, ‘We want Turner out!, we want Turner out!’. Then we scored 2 goals in a minute(the first a very dodgy penalty) and the crowd started chanting ‘We want Turner in!, we want Turner in!’ Wonderful!
Well said Louie. Stick the liquidator on to pump the noise up a few levels too!
We can’t, we might sing something naughty and offend a Baggie!
Personally I blame my daughter. She never had a season ticket until this year having done well with her GCSE’s. Now sitting in the Billy quiet and as such never had the 30 odd years of misery that being a Wolves fan is all about according to me her dad.
Anyway to put my perspective on it with just over ten games gone and all still to play for stick with what we have and get behind the team that way no one can say we turned on our manager and deserve anything that comes from the fall out?
I think we need to stop confusing support with criticism.
Yes, of course, we need to and will support our team through thick and thin (if fans are not prepared to do that then Wolves is not for you … go support Man U).
But on the other hand I also believe every fan has the right to voice his opinion on how the club is being run and how they want to see it run. There is nothing wrong with being passionate about your club and wanting it to succeed!
The manager and the players of any football club are paid professionals to do a job. And the ones at Wolves are not doing it. Period. It isn’t personal to Mick or any other player. It isn’t about “turning on Mick” because of a recent bad run of form, nor is it about “a group of fans who never liked him”. It is simply about the fact that the current manager and squad *HE* put together are not capable of taking us further forward in the Premier League. Nothing wrong with that if that is all we aspired to … hey, we’d still support the team if we were relegated (been there, done that – over and over actually for the past 40 years!).
The fact is that this is now the third season where we are struggling, despite some alleged strengthenings of the squad. There is a pattern here. It’s called not being good enough at this level! After an entire season last year that almost saw us relegated, we only added one more player. WE ARE STILL THE SAME TEAM that almost got relegated last year. Stop deluding yourselves. “Hard graft” doesn’t turn the average kid into a rocket scientist, and neither will it turn a championship player into a premier league one. This is the fundamental flaw in Mick McCarthy – his failure to recognize the quality factor at this level and the need to have players who can single-handedly create something out of nothing and win games by turning on that quality. Without that, sure, we will win some nice games when luck goes our way, and the team play like they’re in a cup final. But on average it will not move us up the table.
There is an old saying in management which says that when things go *repeatedly* wrong, don’t look at your tools or your methods, but look at your people. Look at the people: they are a manager who has never succeeded beyond this level, and a squad of largely championship players. There will be no way forward without change.
So we can all clap and cheer on Saturday, and sing our support for Wolves, but the fact will remain that whatever the result, we’ll still be in the same predicament of having a relegation-fighting quality squad, hoping and keeping their fingers crossed that luck will favor them again this year.
And even if it will, will they change then?
Good points well made mate. I do sometimes despair when a fan can try and make a point like this – albeit less articulately – and he is inextricably pronounced as being ‘fickle’ or told to f**k off down the Hawthorns.
There are some empirical facts behind your post, about Mick’s win ration in the Premier League for us.
It is woeful.
Reconcile this with Morgan’s recent argument that we’re the fifth biggest spenders in the league (on transfer fees) 2009-present, and you have to question what is going on.
Questioning it doesn’t mean you’re a numpty. Far from it. It means that yuo have a concern about the state of affairs at the club you worship.
Nor will questioning it stop you from screaming yourself hoarse on Saturday to get behind the lads. We should all be doing this!
Another old saying in management: Good managers solve problems, bad ones create them.
There are currently as many problems to contend with as I can remember under Mick. That’s a worry.
GoWolves, i love you!! Why don’t you blog every day. You’ve expressed exactly what i’ve been too thick or too lazy to put into words. Nothing more one can add. Absolutely brilliant!
Just speaking from the heart. Usually I get labelled fickle or not a “true” Wolves fan just because I want the club to succeed and I expect better, so thanks, appreciate the refreshing change in reaction to my post 🙂
I’ve supported Wolves for 40 years with a passion that I care for no other club. The reaction and audacity of some of the players who criticize us fans for expecting more of them offends me, especially when they have only been part of the club for a few months and we’ve supported it all our lives! I wish they would focus on their job, which is to win games, not to patronise their fans.
Here’s hoing they do just that on Saturday and that Mick finds a better formula than the one he has right now 🙂
Agree with this.
Just to expand further. It was interesting to read Jamie O’Hara claiming after the Newcastle defeat that we did much better once the fans got behind the team in the second half.
I’ve always found this an interesting way of looking at it. Why did O’Hara think the fans suddenly started to get excited in the last twenty minutes? Was it a random decision to suddenly get really noisy?
Of course not. There has to be a spark – a corner.. if we’re lucky maybe even a shot!
I know people will say it’s a chicken and egg situation but I find it extraordinary that the fans are being asked to shoulder part of the blame for this current predicament.
Top post mate. Agree with everything you say. Perhaps you should consider running for Prime Minister?
Bloody well posted sir,Facts are better than maybe’s..What ever happens
saturday win lose or draw its only papering over the cracks.
I am not going to write a post today. I confirm i agree with GoWolves 100%. Just one point – the only way you will get change is by adjusting the salary structure at the club, which i believe Mr Morgan will never let happen.
Couldn’t agree more about the likes of Johnson slagging off supporters.
I was at the Newcastle game and the fans were right behind the team at the beginning. It wasn’t lack of support that resulted in us going in 2-0 down, just lack of quality.
‘Disgraceful, disgusting, it stinks’,i think were you’re words, Johnson. I couldn’t agree more.
Sorry to read in E&S that ! mick is hurting!Yes hurting the fans by staying.
I see Mick says we offered McFadden the same deal as Everton and surprise surprise he chose them.
Well, here’s an idea, why didn’t we offer him 18 months if we really wanted him?
He’s 28 (I think) and had a cruiciate injury. That’s really not that big a deal these days.
Didn’t we give Elokobi a new long term deal just after he came back from the same injury?
How did we think we’d beat Everton AND Celtic without offering him a better deal?
Is 18 months that big a punt? Considering it could be one of Mick’s last rolls of the dice I’d have pushed it if I were him.
Where can I get my ‘Sack Mick McCarthy’ banner on Saturday?
Are we playing Swansea, or singing Mick’s Swan-song?
Karl + 10 Mick… you can’t take it back!
Bedsheet and a tin of Black Paint 🙂
I’ve been getting splinters in my arse over the McCarthy debate and interestingly it’s the Stick with Mick brigade that are annoying me the most. The one’s who think he can do no wrong and call anyone else with another opinion fickle. The fans have and will never stop backing the team on matchdays. The fans will deliver, it’s time for the players to.
I’m not saying that Mick can do no wrong, I’m just saying that he’s not a completely crap manager that other people make him out to be. There are people like GoWolves who know what they’re talking about but I think there are others who just go with the crowd and say ‘MM out’ without any real criticism – just because he’s the easiest target for them to take their anger out on when things aren’t going well.
I remember reading a Fulham forum after we beat them, and most people on there were screaming for their manager’s head… I’m sure their 6-0 QPR win would have changed their minds though! 😛
What has turned me off about Mick is that he has insulted and disregarded the fans’ opinions. Instead he chooses to belittle them and ridicule them.
They are the ones who pay his wages and he should just shut up about it or use a little more tack.
“The fans and club are getting further apart, but you can do your bit to stop that.”
Yes, Louie. Pity that the club seems incapable of doing their bit, though.
Fair article Louie but as many have said:
It is not the club and the supporters in conflict, but the MANAGER and the supporters.
I support the club NOT Mick McCarthy.
The evidence points to him being the source of the problem.
Much as I respect loyalty Louie, in this case to me, it is misplaced loyalty
Everyone is entitled to an opinion and it will vary.
‘If’ we win on Saturday and it’s a big ‘if’, I shall be pleasantly surprised and certainly it will cross my mind I am wrong about Mick.
I will be happy to be wrong about him.
However, at the moment, he seems to be the ‘cancer’ at Wolves.
I do not believe any manager could do worse and I think he has lost the plot.
Like our team, there are too many ‘holes’ in the defence, to defend him.
Looking back to ‘glory days’ in the championship will not help against Swansea whom, I think, we are all underestimating.
They have a manager with a brain we don’t….