So, the window has finally closed, the rumour-mill can relent and Natalie Sawyer can hang-up her strappy yellow dress until the next time she’ll need it in January.
Your thoughts on the overall pantomime?
Gauging Wolves fans’ general consensus about our activity – or lack of – appears to be as tricky as sealing that elusive striker that so many of us craved.
The legitimate fear is that one injury to Dicko will cause the wheels fall off our bandwagon simultaneously. Couple this with failed bids for Andy Delort, Chris Wood, Callum Wilson (and defender Harry Maguire) and a minor twitter meltdown is understandable isn’t it?
Not least when the clear inference can now be made that our miracle-working manager identified targets for Plan A, B and C eventualities and was ultimately backed with none. After Kenny’s remarkable track record in the transfer market to date, then surely he deserved more?
The alternative view leans a little more on sympathy and would argue that signings to improve our upwardly mobile squad – rather than add to it alone – is a trickier task than many appreciate.
My own view lies closer towards the latter, whilst acknowledging what a depressing drain our ‘Bomb Squad’ had on our efforts to strengthen, even if the club still argues otherwise.
And while I am quick to berate Morgan and Moxey for undeniable failings in the past, I am not going to point the finger this time, aside from the following hindsight embellished grudge:
Tying those wretched Group 3 players – many unproven on English soil – down on long contracts in the first place, when today’s due diligence methods would have averted this maddening profligacy.
I actually have a bit more sympathy today, for the following four reasons I feel are valid:
1. We only play one-man up front on his own, which renders the ‘every club needs four top strikers’ argument as largely irrelevant under Jackett. Under Kenny’s model of progression, midfield options of genuine quality are actually more imperative. In this regard, we have purchased Rowe, van La Parra and Saville to add to last season’s history makers – none of which have been sold!
2. While a striker of repute was identified and targeted, we would not have seen him play any time soon anyway, such is the dizzying stranglehold we assume in games in midfield. Replace one in the middle for one more up top and the recipe stands to fail. Essentially, we would have signed a player (say, Chris Wood) only to tell him to sit tight until Dicko gets injured, which immediately weakens our bargaining power. A by-product of success perhaps?
3. All of our current players are bloody good footballers. For so many years, we have seen one dimensional players operating in one dimensional roles, with little ability to adapt as necessary. Mick McCarthy’s attempts to change his 4-4-2 to cope with the inevitable extra man in the middle were laughably primitive – not to mention belated – when looking back. These players are different. While observing van La Parra for example, you sense he could handle a role up front if Dicko were to go absent, such is his intuitive grasp of the basic principles comprising the modern day footballer. He is equally mobile, physically strong and adept on the ball – however much I hate round pegs in square holes. James Henry was hardly a weakness when he deputised on the right against Blackburn, was he?!
4. Our bench. To drop Price, Henry, Ricketts and Jacobs from last season’s all-conquering title winners took decisiveness. That Jackett has done so to IMPROVE our on-field XI means our bench is as compelling as I can ever remember. Whatever people’s thoughts on Leon Clarke, he’s a striker waiting for a sustained first team run, while Jacobs and Henry are proven quality.
All in all, I remain in a largely relaxed state about whatever didn’t happen before 11pm last night.
In today’s immediate world of bite-sized consumption, a Jim White exclamation and an immediate Compton photo-call are not so much wishes but outright demands amongst many – me included in seasons gone by.
Nowadays, the vision of Patrick Bamford in Old Gold looks as perverse as a wobbling purple dildo in a Sky Sports presenter’s ear, however much it would make me smile.
Like the purple dildo, it would raise spirits for its extra-dimension, but would not be guaranteed to work half as well as the real thing on a Saturday afternoon.
Personally i was upset about price, i get that with jackets rigid formation we need more midfielders and to be honest a fair few of them could play dickos role. But we now have a few too many midfielders, jack being a victim to this.
I guess I’m not entirely convinced by the head coach’s tactics, Morgan and moxey’s spending structure and the general feeling i get from wolves.
On the plus side we have significantly reduced the over bloated squad size, got rid of some of the bomb squad, created a better team togetherness, kept our best players, improved our overall fluidity of play and as much as I’m not convinced by the head coach, he is better than McCarthy.
I’d just like to add that attendance at the wolves still isn’t close to what it should be for our current form and i think thats a reflection of being burnt once and twice shy. Atleast we have a wage structure and thellwell is finally fulfilling his role.
I hear a lot of talk about Kenny’ jackett identifying the players we have brought in, take a step back and think of thellwell because I think its more him, then of-course it has to get through scrooge’s pie factory.
Not convinced by the coaches tactics?!? Not convinced by the head coach?!!?!
It’s been nearly a year of almost uninterrupted victories mate.
We haven’t lost at home in the league in 2014.
We’re playing the best football I’ve seen in 25+ years.
What more does he need to do to convince you?
Hmmm almost a year of uninterrupted victories in league one albeit with a squad he built from scratch and how many of those victories at the time were convincing (i didn’t go to away games).
It’s not like I’m saying the head coach is no good, i did say i prefer him to McCarthy.
Best football in 25 years??? Well thats down to personal opinion.
You really have got the wrong handle, mate.
Excuse me Mr Optimistic chappy. Whilst I do not know your age and therefore do not know how long you have supported the club, I would like to add that I have seen the Wolves play since 1969. The game v Cardiff alone made me state that it is the best football I have EVER seen from the Wolves.
I do not at all understand what you are seeing, but I will bet that you are either alone or in a very small minority.
UTW/FOWB
Can I add my four penny worth to this.
I have been watching Wolves since 1953, second leg of FA Youth cup final. I have to agree with Brompton that this is the best TEAM and FOOTBALL that I have ever seen down the golden palace, and that includes the great side of the late 50’s.
Like many others I would have liked to see a big No 9 to be putting the crosses in, but where do we find one. Wood MAY have done the job but at what cost to the spirit if one of our hero’s from last season had to drop out.
Give Jacket a chance he is doing a bloody good job for us, I am the first to admit he was not my choice when he came. Bloody glad I was wrong on that one I can tell you.
We are 5 games into the season so should not get carried away but I am in no doubt that we will be there or there abouts at the end of the season, and if we do not get promoted this year that might not be a bad thing as it would give a very young side another year to develop.
Righ thats it rant over. Keep up the good work and BLOODY WELL SUPPORT JACKET and the TEAM
I feel like fraud, I’ve only been on the gravy train since 1956, as a team we have never passed and held it like we are now, ell that’s what I think
Optimistic Wolf???? Change your handle mate it ain’t appropriate
And I thought we were doing so well!
Just goes to show what I know.
I only hope Pessimistic Wolf never contributes to this blog.
Huh! Dazed and confused.com by the thread starting comment. KJ has done almost everything right, even selling the Scotsman, which I initially disagreed about but with the success of Dicko, you cannot argue with that.
On the serious side of things, I agree completely. I’d have liked a striker and possibly some more defensive cover, but for the precise reasons you state, I think we’ll be alright. Kenny will go into the loan market anyway.
As a football fan, you always convince yourself your team needs more players. I bet there were even some Chelsea fans cursing Jim White for the lack of action at the Bridge. You can’t please all the people, all the time.
Really enjoyed following the last couple of hours of the window on Twitter. Fantastic entertainment. This short animation about Man Utd fans reaction to their summer signings tickled me:
https://twitter.com/Berbakay/status/506521679766777856/photo/1
And whilst I don’t (officially) condone idiots wielding purple phalluses as Sky Sports hacks try to do their job, it does highlight the utter ridiculousness of the coverage. Part of me thinks they get what they deserve and it certainly breaks up the monotony.
I know you are a creative writer Ben, but even I’m impressed by the use of a purple vibrator as a metaphor for Wolves transfer activity. I doff my cap to you.
Ben,
Your’e spot on with this article matey boy, absolutley hit the nail on the head, parhaps could have knocked it in with a purple thumper.
Ben, I’m also with you too, what the Feck do the team have to do to prove how well we are playing, not lost at home since December 14th, come on people what do you want. Liverpool & Man City almost at the top of the Premier league Man au trying to buy Europe it’s downright obsene. Man U £135 m, Liverpool £117m Man City £60-70m. The plonker that Man U snatched at the death, so famous I can’t even recall his name, he demanded £335,000 A WEEK.
We turned the french guy Delort because he was going to break our wage structure, well bloody good show I say. These current lads playing their heart out for us, are all in a tight wage constraint so I take my hat off to them. Would rather witness these guys playing for us too a man than that shower who spent millions yesterday.
We need a striker who can knock em in, of that there is no doubt, but Kenny will pevail, we shall win this league. Bloody easily too after what I witness on Sky (Notts Forest and Sheff Wed) what a load of rot they were.
Patience peopl, faith in our current manager and we will succeed.
🙂
Thomas,
My apologies the second paragraph was for you, but I was in full rant mode by then.
🙂
Stu, I know Dicko has only scored one this season but he’s got 14 in 24 appearances for us. I call that a striker that can knock ’em in. And this is at the sime time as making the space and chances for others to score.
Martin.
I love the guy, can’t get enough of his goals, my thoughts are the injury scenario and January’s African Nations cup when we could lose Sako & Dicko.
🙂
Yes, and we have Mcalinden and Clarke as cover. I was however very disappointed when we missed out on Wilson ,which also can play on the right wing, and Delort. George Saville, a typical shrew Jacket signing, is enough for me to chill and claim we did ok in the transfer market.
Jackett mentioned getting in players on loan when the loan window opens. I’m sure a lot of clubs will have interesting players to offload after a hectic january window. We’ve had a lot of success with signing players permanently after a loan period.
Never change a winning team :=) chill
StuWolf, well said…
Well for one I`m not bothered about wwfc not playing the nonsense game in the transfer window. As KJ has repeated often, anyone coming in needs to be better than what we have, quality and not quantity. Simply can`t argue with that.
As for Wigan signing that chap from the French division 2, well he won`t score against our mean defence, and he must like playing in front of small home crowds to have gone to one of the worst supported teams in the championship. Money grabbing clot, should have gone to a club moving forward under a manager with a vision, and a way of playing which already has us drooling at the quality of football, having been starved of that for so many years. There will be plenty of free transfer or last year of contract players around when we need to get some new faces. The attendance – well Sheff Wed only got over 20000 for the visit of table leading Snotty Florist, who probably had a decent following as well. Its an expensive game this watching your team home and away, no-one mentions crowds with sky money subsidising everything anyway.
Keep the faith.
Using the wage structure excuse for not signing players is pathetic. I don’t care how much people around me make, as long a I get paid a good amount.
Are they/we going to use this excuse again next year because wages for Premier League players is going to be even higher.
If Kenny thought one of these guys could improve the team by 10 or 15%, can you imagine how good we would be. Isn’t that worth a million or two?
Wage structure is key. As is dressing room harmony. We DO NOT have to pay extortionate wages, as we have done before. Look what mess that has got us into. In Kenny I trust. He will get who he wants in time, and we will be better for it in the long run. I applaud the Club.
A sensible man speaks.
we have a quality young squad of talented footballers who play for each other with great squad harmony ,so why upset the dressing room by paying excessive wages to some unknown french second division player .IN KENNY WE TRUST.HE has given the team and the club back to the fans .LOUD AND PROUD TO BE WOLVES .he has given us a team to be proud of again .WOLVES AY WE
Natalie Sawyer hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Your’e a bad lad
🙂
Was underwelmed when we appointed jackett. How wrong was i, the football is the best i have seen in years! One thing i cant get my head around though is the signing of leon attitude clarke and keeping him at the club yet we let kevin doyle leave when we all know what a giid lone forward he was under mick. If clarke is better than doyle i will eat my hat. Must be direction from the board about chopping the wage bill.
If anyone is disappointed with the lack of late transfer window activity, consider the other conclusion: we have not lost a single one of our stars! McDonald, Sako, Batth etc could have attracted very high bids. They are still with us. We’ve finally lost Doyle for a few months, so that’s a saving. If he does very well at Palace we can refuse to extend the loan in January and ‘blackmail’ them into paying a good transfer fee! If they don’t pay, another PL team might, if our Kev has performed well enough. If he’s been useless, we get him back, but will have saved wages. Let’s get a striker in on loan and that’s our squad sorted till January. In the meantime we have goal scorers all over this team and with growing confidence, goals will come from everywhere. Compared to the McCarthy era we are a vastly more modern all-round footballing team with no need for a big guy upfront.
Good article Ben. A pantomime it truly is these days. Another analogy …….
Returned home yesterday afternoon after a 19 hour journey from France. Over 2 hours were spent on the M25 where I was amused to be alongside a Mclaren road car. We were stationary and then crawled alongside each other for miles and miles !
Why should I change my motor when I had travelled in comfort, at a reasonable cost, at a decent speed ( well, in France at least ) and I have the necessary means of getting to the Mol ?
The moral ?
No need to spend on a flash model when you have the ideal tool at hand to do the job. Better to wait and save for when the time comes for a change.
I’ll have to use that final metaphor/simile at some point – brillaint piece of writing!
Dissapointed not to see signings, but we’ve done better recently under Jackett than the last 3 guys, so no finger pointing from me. It makes sense not to spend too much given the strength of the squad and financial fair play rules – we spent A LOT last season I believe. Certainly the most in league 1.
Absolutely awesome post Ben. I have nothing to add or comment on, you certainly said it as it is.
In pre-KJ era I used to hope & pray we would sign a player or two.
With KJ at the helm and a decent squad I no longer have ‘transfer envy’.
Plenty of quality back-up in case of injury, and we play a system that suits the squad. As happened on Saturday when VLP came off at half time and Henry took his place, no disruption at all with the change.
Ben
I described the prose of your last blog as being:-
“as purple as my loon pants when I first watched the Wolves”
You always have to go one better don’t you!
But as the Bishop said to the actress:-
“Putting the purple dildo aside for one minute, let’s get down to the matter in hand.”
You’ve really nailed it there mate.
There’s not much to add, except to underline the fact that KJ and KT have built an enviable reputation for picking up loan players, and players out of contract, and turning them into very successful signings.
Let’s wait for the loan window to open before we all start turning into ‘Optimistic Wolves’.
Do you think he’s a spy from Sandwell?
Great article, Ben.
I think the one thing I would add to it is that the maddening profligacy is not simply caused by the Bomb Squad/Group 3’s continued presence, but also by lessons learned from them.
I don’t believe that we should have broken the bank and given huge wages to Andy Delort. A player with no experience in England. And only second division experience in France. Outside the top 5 in Ligue 1, most teams would struggle in the Championship, so why are we advocating top dollar for an unproven striker from a second rate foreign league? Forgive me if I draw parallels with Tomasz Frankowski and Bjorn Sigurdarson. It’s a “thanks but no thanks” from me.
Plenty of reasons to be happy:
1) We didn’t lose Sako.
2) We still have the loan window to strengthen the squad.
3) We still have all of our squad of champions.
4) We bought three impressive looking midfielders in this window.
5) We still own Siggy, Cassidy and Doyle. On the books we’re NOT short of strikers. I hope there’s a recall option on at least the first two. I also think Macca’s going to push himself that bit harder knowing he’s only one injury short of making the bench. It’s only human.
Ok, so we lost Price, but potentially only for one month while he keeps his match fitness.
But mostly, not selling any of the first team is the real coup.
Good article and I agree with most of the points. I think the issue is actually complicated, and there are two sides to this coin (as there often is with most arguments).
On one hand, I do actually believe Wolves do need another proven forward who can score goals out of nothing, who is ruthless in front of goal and capable of finding the net even from the slightest of half chances. Players like that win games you would otherwise watch fizzle out in front of you. But *really good* forwards cost *a lot* of money (wages especially) and Wolves in my mind still have not come to terms with this fact and shy away from the sticker price of a striker proven to be better than what we have. Hence, deal after deal slips through our fingers while the other clubs take them on.
On the other hand, to be fair, when Wolves did splash out on some higher wage players, we got very badly burnt by prima donna implements akin to the purple kind you refer to in the Sky Sports picture you show above, so until the baggage is off loaded, I can understand the reluctance to shell out big money. I think sooner or later they are going to need to bite that bullet again, but I would definitely prefer they: a) wait until they are certain they find the right player, and b) wait until promotion to the prem to shell out big bucks.
In the past Wolves have emptied the coffers in the championship to put together a team that could barely get promoted, but then there was nothing left to strengthen with when we got to the Prem. Personally I would rather we build slowly and incrementally and save the cash for when we go up so maybe this time we stay there longer, even if it takes us a couple of seasons to get there.
And on a final note, I have always emphasized that football, like many other sports, is a TEAM sport. So even though a 25-goal a season centre forward is highly desired, EVERYONE on the field has to be chipping in the goals. Remember those goals from Lescott from set pieces? Everyone, even the centre halves and the full backs, have to start chipping in. After all, remember when we had one of the best forwards of all time in the way of a certain Mr Bull, and despite having him on the team, we still weren’t quite good enough for the Prem, so the striker alone is not a panacea in itself.
We have a great team. We have good balance to the team. They are young. They are learning and improving very quickly. Let’s give them time and patience to let them continue to develop, and when the right forward is found, hopefully Wolves will get him, and we’ll take off!
Meantime, let’s watch, support and be entertained!
Go Wolves!
I’m disappointed.. we needed a striker and still do..Andy Delort looked really great ..even better than Chris wood ..was it because they didn’t want to join us or was it the money…?
No doubt it was the money.. but we should be able to sell the Club and the future..I’d love to know who negotiates..
Is there a big name player who would join us on loan?
Was hoping for another signing,but not to bothered at the mo.
No doubt I’m sure KJ has got his eye on someone to fit the bill in the loan market.
If we continue to play the way we’re playing,i’m sure some fringe premier player would fancy his chances down the mol,so I say have faith in KJ ONWARDS & UPWARDS UTW.
Don’t you just love a great debate…
So many good points of view, with an exception however that point of view was his/her own thoughts as much as most of us feel were misguided.
I’m with the camp of I’m happy(ish) with the transfer window. Johnson being the only blemish.
With regards to a new striker, now that’s a can of worms…
Firstly, KJ has stated on more than one occasion that he wants his forwards of midfield and wings to be chipping in with double figures from each position, that is in his tactical play to take the stress off the striker and give free reign. With that in mind I still feel Dicko will score 20+.
Then there’s the reason(s) for not landing a striker.
We have a wage budget, the sensible option to stop us landing in the shit again.
Any striker that comes in knows they are behind Dicko as is still playing well and may be a while till gets a starting role. How many “good” strikers want that?
In the frenzy of clubs buying players right up till the last minute of the window, clubs tend to hold on to their 2nd & 3rd choices just in case they do not get their target as they too need backup (we’re not the only club as much as we feel we are).
As much as I’m on the fence with regards to Morgan & Moxey, I feel that as they were willing to back KJ with a higher bid than Wigan does show ambition… and the apple cart should “NOT” be rocked in going beyond the pay structure… – unless it’s a player that is so good he is beyond our grasp anyway. (Top 6 regular).
I’d be well pissed off at work if the person sitting next to me was earning double my wage and contributing maybe 5% more. Good stand made by everyone at the club.
Now with regards to the purple dildo adage… The real thing may be better as you say!!!… However I bet that some ladies view this and think its a great to have as a stand in aswell as on occasion it stands up better and in some cases can out perform! But what do women know about… errr football?
Anyway my overall thoughts on the activity… I’m Buzzing!
Oh and Lynx… You’re right about the car…. The expensive one may have all the bells and whistles but for long periods you will be stuck in the same traffic jam and will go just as slow… So get a reasonably priced, reliable Volvo and do it in comfort.
Preferably a purple one !
I was totally agreeing with your comments in your last paragraph until you mentioned Volvo!
Just cleaned a zillion French flies off the car and not a dildo in sight, not even a red, white and blue one !
Several hundred years ago, we had a promotion season where 5 of our team were in double figures scoring wise, other players also chipped in and we scored a shed load, and won the division.
We have, this season, a plethora of midfield players, who by their very existence, are dynamos buzzing up and down the pitch.
This to me is much more useful and has the potential for lots of goals from everywhere, rather than a lone striker, waiting for something to plonk on his head.
Someone mentioned Bully above, but he was a one off, never to be seen again in our lifetime.
Another reason not to employ some johnny foreigner is that it will take them ages to get up to speed and used to proper football, with opposition.
Look at all the ponces from Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern, etc etc.
Only a few times per season do they have to really play against any kind of reasonable opposition.
The rest of the year they play against what is basically our third division standard, which makes them look good and “worth” a brazillion quid.
Mark my words, none of the billion dollar men just signed for all the Prem clubs will hit the ground running, most will be found wanting, and some will be complete flops.
And there is proof in our recent history that bringing in newbies dont always work.
Look at the shit, 10 new players and still shit!!
No, I love our lot.
Smiles on their faces and smiles on ours.
I aint saying morgan and greasel are right, but El Maestro Jackett hasn’t put a foot wrong and we should just let him get on with what he does best, and we’ll have another championship party in May!!
And did we sign the purple dildo, or loan it out?
Seems to me we should send it to sandwell, as they are getting stuffed every week!!
Class Houston Pessi Neand….
Agree on all accounts, however I don’t think I’d watch MOTD if they show extended highlights of the Purple Stuffing…
I might actually place a bet on us trading divisions with the Ashitn. (That is the correct spelling is it not?)
Actually, you don’t need to waste letters, shit will do just fine!!!
I never expected us to sign anyone permanently anyway, we rarely do that on deadline day.
In many ways a loan or two would be more sensible, as we’re not tied down financially, and a loan player can be bought in as a backup.
In a long Championship season, they’re likely to get some game time, which is more than can be said if they’re a Premiership reserve or youngster.
I duly attach a calming message from “King” Kenny Jackett…………
I’m relaxed about where we are and KJ has done enough so far for us to trust him to eventually sort the additional striker issue whether through Monday’s loan window or in January as he did so successfully in League 1 with Dicko. The intriguing question for me is the issue of wage structure in this whole debate. Whether we do go up or not, if Wigan can usurp us that means either our existing talent or new talent will know that the clutch of clubs at the mid to bottom end of the PL and a few in the Championship may likely offer better deals. To that end, expect protracted negotiation and frequent misses to become a feature of our transfer windows in the future. I’m not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just to set everyone’s expectations that M&M have set their course and appear to be sticking to it.
StuWolf… Love it.
Sutton Coldfield Wolf, I agree with statement that we could well miss out on fair few and if we do go up, I would rather us bring through a few more youngsters, keep the core if the 1st team as they are all young and learning their trade and just splash out on the ones that want to come and play for Wolves because they want to, not because we can offer £5k or £20k more than a club that thinks throwing money at it will solve their issues.
Take for example a lot of Audi drivers… They throw money away on their cars thinking it makes them look better than everyone else and have the attitude to match… But they are not… and all they have is an empty bank balance with the bailiffs ready to pounce… (and they drive like nobs!) (This is a general statement and not aimed at the good Audi driver that may be reading this).
Read into that what you will but I prefer for our club not to pay inflated wages.
Think someone made this point a little earlier on but as disappointed as I am that we weren’t able to find another striker (not devastated mind you, we do have the loan window!) we are not a one man team anymore! Last time we were in the Championship we relied a hell of a lot on Sako and i guess Ebanks Blake as well but if Dicko got injured it isn’t going to turn us from a great team to an average or worse team!
And this is also assuming that Clarke wouldn’t do good…he could very well surprise us! Doesn’t seem likely I admit but you never know! 😛
On Clarke, it is a bit surprising that KJ hasn’t at least given him some Championship minutes given his form pre-season and the likely boost of confidence that spell will have given him. I’m not saying I rate the player (compared to Dicko he simply looks lethargic) but just that it was common knowledge that his confidence at the end of last season was shot to pieces. I can only imagine it must be pretty low now too. Scoring for fun pre-season and not getting even 5 minutes in a Championship game. This may indicate that even if he was brought in to the lineup to replace Dicko, as a confidence player, he would probably struggle.
Dicko does so much off the ball – I think he’ll be a real loss when he plays for Mali, more than Sako as we have proven wingers and midfielders who can step in.
Great comments on here except Mr. Opto at the beginning of this column. I’m surprised that no one has made any comments on the Express & Star negativity. I’m starting to be “turned off” by the negative input from our Wolves supporters on how bad we’ve done on the transfer window. Jacket knows what he’s doing and with limited money to spare, I’m sure he will do the right things when needed.
As always, good reading material and thanks for sharing the video of the rather large purple rubber toy. I do hope he washed it prior to shoving into his ear.. LOL…
Slightly off topic… but manager of the month awards nominees should be up shortly….
Surely KJ will be in with a shout?
Young team, just come up, best defence in the division, beat 3 that came down as-well as beating a promotion favourite… not forgetting the best football played by any club in this division.
Any more reasons for KJ nominations?
On no not the ‘manager of the month’ curse, hope we keep under the radar until we are promoted.
My only concern with the transfer window was some of KJ’s comments on disappointments and that maybe a premier league club will try to poach Kenny from us.
Let me see now. Ah yes, How about snappy dresser?
🙂
Nice…
Well I suppose he has improved his dress sense with age… He’s like a good single malt and matured into a classic (as earlier pic shows).
BARDWolf…
I’m not concerned with KJ leaving, he’ll never get a chance like he’s getting now with any other club. Listen to any other club fans and all you’ll hear is the same that the boards not backing and the ones that do back the managers get sacked quite quickly as they expect results yesterday.
He’s got something special with Thelwell and the board, he is confident in taking us up to the next step and I reckon he is also confident that he will keep us there.
We are the right size club that he can help grow, attracting more fans, sponsorship etc. He’s not in it for the money, he’s in it for self motivation, pride and I reckon to leave his name as big part of footballing history.
When he was at Millwall, he wanted a lot of our youngsters as he knew he could mould them into playing the way he envisages a team to play. Now he has the pick of them and will want to blood a few more.
KJ’s staying, he has unfinished business with Wolves. He wants Premiership football and I do believe he also wants to win a cup trophy or 2 or 3.
Anyone thinking he needs to be signed up to a 4 year deal… Forget it, his morals are the same as when he started with us, he prefers a shorter contract as his morality would not want to take 3 years of wages if he was sacked. Added to that contracts are pointless these days, if another club wanted him and he really did want to go, then a contract does nothing but give Morgan a couple of million that he does not need from the coffers of another club.
Is there any chance we can sign Natalie Sawyer and play her up front with Dicko? She would look jolly nice in a gold shirt, especially with her luxuriant brunette hairdo. It would be nice for Natalie to knock one in and then run over to the fans (well just me actually) with a nice embrace. It would certainly make an ugly, balding middle aged bloke very happy indeed. Perhaps she could do the ice bucket challenge as well…………..
The shit have got more chance of scoring than you have with her!!!
But you can dream……………
Cheesy
Be careful what you wish for, her two Brothers have been at Molineux on trial this week, apparently they have some pretty nifty footwork. Me old Dad (God rest his soul) told me look to the siblings before marrying the daughter.
🙂
I am going to regret posting this but I feel I will only be voicing the opinions of most red blooded male bloggers here.
I think we would all rather see the delectable Natalie knock one out in front of the South Bank than knock one in.
Perhaps it could be part of the half time entertainment.
I know!….. I’m sorry!
But somebody had to say it.
I think you and Brompton are going to have to sit on the naughty step.
🙂
We”l have to shift a load of bloggers out of the way to find any room.
What are you suggesting?
My response is to copy and paste the response by StuWolf to my earlier post on her.
StuWolf says:
September 3, 2014 at 3:27 AM StuWolf(Quote)
Your’e a bad lad
I most certainly am one of those red bloodied male bloggers though, as I tend to agreee with you, even though I would prefer for her to carry out that activity privately!!
Changing the subject – what did you think of the England performance last night?
Not too much really.
The two Saints, St Irling and St Urridge were quite impressive and Wellbeck looked lively when he came on.
But they still seem to me to be 11 men in search of a Kenny Jackett.
I think everyone on this blog will know what I mean.
Apologies if i have upset people with my comments on Kenny Jackett, let me explain my reasons for not being 100% convinced.
1. Flexibility during a game – being able to adapt the formation and personnel of the team during a game when its going badly, although jackett has not been truly tested with this because of his evident skills at setting out the team structure well at the start of any game. I would use the home game against Walsall last season as the best example of where I saw him lacking at this.
2. Comments off the field – 1 million times better than lets say Dean Saunders at commenting on the team and his direction for it, Kenny has done well to make that connection with the fans. However he does occasionally put his foot in it, for example, his comments before and after on players such as Ohara and price.
3. A potential problem – i am very happy with the fact that the club has stated it now has a wage structure in place at wolves which has upset some fans i speak to because of missing out on potential signings, my thoughts on this are i would rather have the wage structure. However because of point 2 i dont want Kenny to be a yes man all the time, will he fight his corner if he truly wants a certain player, for example the defender from Sheffield United.
These are just niggles that I have with our head coach, he has done extremely well under the pressures and constraints to reverse this club from being a complete shambles to something we can all be proud of again. I am forever optimistic about wolves, it holds a special place in my heart.
Its early days this season and i hope Kenny and the lads continue to go from strength to strength, i am optimistic about Kenny and the teams future, let’s keep this exceptional run of form going, maybe get a striker for back up in the loan window, and give the team more play time together so they can continue to create the flowing football and understanding of each other’s game that we all love to see.
UP THE WOLVES!
P.S. That letter from Kenny was funny as f**k, the creators of this blog deserve a big thumbs up for their work (please keep up the excellent work) and i reserve my right to say its not the best football ive ever seen at wolves but under Jackett i think it could be very soon!
Optimistic.
I remain optimistically pessimistic that you are now a fully fledged realist who has certainly taken an opportunistic approach with this reply.
More power to your elbow, we now understand and I hope appreciate where your’e coming from. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I genuinely think you have explained yourself eloquently here, I think some of the problem lay in the fact that periodically we have a certain unsavoury type that comes on and lays into our Neanderthal blogger from Houston, I for one based my reply to you on the assumption you may have been the said chappy in disguise.
If we rounded up on you I for one apologise and look forward to more additions from you in the future. For my part I have to say, ” this is without doubt the best Blog site on the net” and I shall strive to supply my views and opinions as long as I am tolerated.
After all there are not many places left for a one-armed fat balding Gay bloke to hide nowadays except on a site like this.
Regards
Walter Mitty
🙂
Mr Optimistic Chappy,
Having read your post I now will address you correctly, Optimistic Wolf. I respect what you have written and as has been said by StuWolf and Shrews Wolf, understand where you are now coming from. Your initial post certainly came across as being from a person who was not at all optimistic, but gave the impression of being against what we are achieving as a club and certainly not in support of Kenny.
I am glad you are on here and I look forward to your views. We all have different opinions on the way we do things at the club, and that should never change.
Regards
Nice reply Optimistic Wolf….
Your points are now very clear and I can fully understand your concerns.
There have been times in games that the legs have started to go on the forwards and I’ve been wondering why changes had not been made or made earlier. As a mere mortal and not in the realms of knowing the players, I have then relaxed in the knowledge that KJ does know his players and the system and whether another system or player may add a benefit or make it worse.
A knackered Dicko with 10 mins left can still find a burst of pace and trickery that Clarke would not have.
His tactics are working overall, so I’m happy that I may be wrong and I agree with the letter… It was class, so thanks for provoking its appearance.
Wish me well fellow bloggers.
In ten minutes time I am going to embark on a journey into deepest, darkest Wales.
It will take me past what is probably, at this moment, one of the most dangerous spots on earth.
Celtic Manor. Where the Nato conference is being held.
I thought I might pop in and sort a few things out as I’m passing.
Good luck with trying to sort that out mate. As you are aware I spent 34 years in the British Army, and with a Queen’s Commission since 1994, and I never managed to sort anything out!!
Enjoy your journey to Wales my friend.
Welcome one and all!!
I’m brining my Mother-in-law……….
Let’s see you serve her!!!!!!!
That’s a bigger challenge than Doogooder passing Celtic Manor with
All the sh1t going on there.
🙂
The sign says Serving, not Servicing!!!
Now your’e splitting hairs !
Sod it, she still qualifies…
She’s an old Banger.
🙂
I’ll bring a big empty glass and you keep topping it up!
Nothing changes then
🙂
Not one to whine if the measure is short but when the schooner comes into port could complain that the porter brought dry sherry to whet my lips.
Totally off subject, but had to show y’all the new restaurant wot just opened near Chez Clive.
The comments will now roll in………….
Serving pulled chicken with tossed salad ?
Looked liked Charlton badge for a min there…
Charlton… Uncle Wankies…
Could be their new slogan!
God. Fancy having an uncle called ‘wankie’.
Cod be worse.
The owners wife was Auntie Septic
😉
Not Aunty Fanny then ?
Please tone the language down my Uncle Ben Dover and Auntie Irlene Dover read this site. Kenny awarded championship manager of the month, excellent news for Kenny for a superb August, onwards and upwards.
Don’t wish to try for Brinkmanship of the year award but !
This one just opened in Pendeford,
So I phoned them up and said'”Hello there are you Foo King the Manager”
The guy on the other end said, “No you irrriot, I’m Wan King the Chef”
Well that’s lowered the tone of this great site.
🙂
I picked up a bird from there a while back. We were “at it” all night, nearly every hour on the hour – awesome. Around 2am I had another stonker and nudged her and said “Fancy a 69” . She said “No …. I no cook this time of morning”
The old ones are usually the best!!!
The Junction Fish Bar, Gornal. A much more sensible way of naming a take away. None of all this ‘wanky’ nonesense in there.
CHEESEBURGEROFDEATH
I do hope there’s no wanky nonsense in the Junction Fish Bar… Not touching the TarTar sauce from there if their is!
Brompton Wolf
Sometimes the ones are the best… But I reckon you’d have preferred her 22yr old daughter on that occasion.
??????????????????????
If the symbols worked (in my text above), then have fun deciphering. If not worked the just ignore!
Nope… The text icons do not work from an iphone!!!
So here’s a photo of them!
Just read my earlier post? What happened to the word “old”… That sentence of “the the ones are always the best” makes little sense!
Is this an ageist site? Does the site automatically delete old?
Watch out anyone of 65, your post could disappear.
Or it could be that I finished at 00:30 last night and got home at 1:30, then just waking up could be the culprit. But I doubt it… 🙂
So that is Goodnight Vienna to the Doog, Stuwolf, Lynx, Brompton Wolf………………
but not little old me!!
Headlines today in Wolves News Now…..
West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace has called for the transfer window to be moved.
“West Brom fans have asked for the stands tobe changed, so they face away from the pitch”
England fans have asked for West Brom to take their manager back.
🙂
I have just received a strappy yellow dress in my office. Anyone know who it belongs to?
Brompton.
Being a commissioned officer in the British Army I’m sure you can put it to good use on a Weekend, Sylvia.
🙂
What am I saying here????
I was in the Gordon Highlanders, if it doesn’t fit Brompton, I’ll take it off your hands.
Being a civilian for 7 years now, I no longer use that attire, and I am sure you as an ex Highlander would not like “yellow”, so ……………. I’ll go and find the owner and see if she wants it back!
That’s it now – l promise no more of this nonsense and I shall keep all my posts to football related issues.
Yes Clive, I know, I need to get out more!!!
Brompton,
How much more can you come out?… I mean that dress is a good indicator!
Good morning, boys and girls.
Really boring having no football to watch today, so rather than resort to poking fun at the shit, which is far too easy, I thought about what is really the only hot Wolves topic of the moment, and that is a new striker.
There has been lots of talk about this Delort bloke, and others, not coming coz it would upset the present wage structure, and it would be wrong and unfair to the current squad to pay higher wages, especially to a relatively untried newbie.
We all know about the two relegation seasons where supposedly wages were halved for bad performance, quite rightly, but my questions are :
Is there an incentive plan in place for the players, whereby they get a significant raise/bonus for promotion, and when would a new signing fit in, at the higher wage level?
Would we dangle a carrot for new signings, based on possible promotion aided by their performances?
The real world, except American sports, is based on performance driven results, as in sales commissions etc, rather than the “we think you will be good, therefore you must be”, attitude.
My opinion is we don’t need any more “proven” players, look where that got us over the last few years, we should carry on as we are, working diligently at developing our academy players, meanwhile letting our scouting system uncover gems for El Maestro Jackett.
The real problem is value for money, distorted out of all proportion by the greed of TV companies, Premiership teams, and oligarchs wanting instant success.
Comments?
Good evening Clive .Good post .
I suppose that this is the dilemma faced by most managers.
A gamble, a calculated risk or a do or die decision usually taken towards the close of the season.
At the moment we have a squad who bond together, who play attractive and effective football and are obviously looking to carry the winning momentum forward this season.
Introducing new “blood” at a premium could disrupt matters.
However I recognise that time doesn’t stand still. The great Stan Cullis wasn’t afraid to drop players and the great team of the fifties changed throughout the era.
I am confident that the regime in place at the Molineux has plans in place for any contingency.
Like you I deprecate the modern trend to buy instant success but that’s the world we live in today. Not all things have changed for the better although most have.
Always an optimist in life and most importantly always an optimist for The Wolves.
Agreed Clive…
Bonus structures should be in play… (And may actually have a baring-but we’ll never know).
A half decent basic plus a win bonus and (how well played) bonus based on the view of KJ.
Maybe a small goals scored, assist and clean sheet bonus, but the main bonus should be on each game won and the position in the table at the end of the season. That way you encourage success rather than just playing to pick up a guaranteed pay and stuff the consequence.
You’ll never see a poor good sales person and the crap ones soon drop out the running!
Should I assume that Kieran Agard isn’t as good as we thought as he signed for Bristol City last week? Just under £1m to move back to League 1. He would have been a good squad player
Clive.
Good day from the Scottish Highlands, all kilted up with Wolves shirt at the ready to hopefully see Kevin McDonald earn his first cap against mighty Germany.
The debate,
I was under the impression all football teams operated a bonus scheme.
Appearance money.
Goals scored bonus.
Clean sheet for Goalie bonus
We all know they get money docked for various offences through club or manager protocols so why not bonuses for positive stuff.
Little picture to highlight it can have a detrimental effect also.
🙂
Here’s a quick debate I hope a few will throw an opinion or two on…
I heard a bloke on the radio talking about changing the points system, giving teams 4 points for an away win to encourage teamed to not park the bus infront of goal.
At 1st I thought nahhh, woukd never work, but then it got me thinking that how many times have you watch a dead boring game and wondered why you turned up, when it felt like the teams had not.
The more I thought about it, the more this bloke made sense… maybe even more changes.
5 points for an away win
4 points at home win
3 points for a score draw away
2 points for a score draw at home
1 point for a goalless draw
0 for a loss
Now that to me would make it a damned good game for the spectators as the teams going to play away will know that getting an away win instead of parking the bus for a 0-0 draw could prove a heavy mistake at the end if the season. Only 1 point between a loss and a goal less draw… and the chance to get 5 points away from home.
The games should surely then be very open with both teams looking for the win every game and at least a score draw to get some valuable points on the board.
The only downside, would be the prediction league games as they will be a headache for Thomas (sorry in advance if this ever took off).
… Couple of errors in there… Fat fingers and no proof reading… But I hope you get the gist!
Morning Shrews Wolf.
Did we not have a very similar debate some 30 – 40 years ago during the Don Revie era (error). Yes Leeds won every game 1-0 but the football was as dull as last years away shirt. It was like wading through treacle, enduring 90 minutes of the new order footy by the media appointed Genius and master coach Revie, who then took it to a whole new level and became England manager and introduced the same rubbish to the England game. His legacy lingers painfully long in the English game with boring inept managers employing the same arse numbing tactics to eek out a win at any cost for talentless teams.
Your thoughts throw up an opportunity to watch the Wolves in particular under King Kenny amass an even better total with some excellent away football. Not many Wolves fans are not entertained by it, or come away disappointed by the lads away from home, the home record is even more impressive. It would be interesting if someone sat down and totalled last years points under your proposed system, the 103 points we achieved would be surely dwarfed.
Personally, I think this is something long overdue in British football, some teams are guilty of stifling a game to ensure they come away with a much needed point all at the expense of entertainment. Some people on our site have voiced concern over the empty Molineux seats this season, had those 1-0 games been forced into do or die games with the opposition trying harder thus making Wolves step up a gear, then people would have seen more goals and at the end of the day that’s what brings the crowds in. We all come to see goals, so your points system would bring back the punters still sitting on the fence some weeks. Look at what hype did last year at the MK Dons and the Rotherham matches fillings seats was easy at the thought of an exciting game, and we weren’t disappointed.
Bring it on I say, anything that brings goals is a winner in football, away goals counting double in the European competition livened up that football and made it great to watch.
🙂
I sat down and totaled up like you suggested.
We would have obtained five million points, scored four hundred more goals, and won Wimbeldon!!
And changed the strip to low cut yellow dresses.
God, I hate these international breaks!
Glad to see SuperMac didnt play for Scotland, ( now there’s an oxymoron) so didnt get injured.
Roll on the weekend……We’re all going to BlackpooL”
You’re not!!!!! Nor me, as I couldn’t get a ticket!!
As previously suggested, if you got out more you might find a way to a post office or something to mail a cheque or other form of barter to obtain said ticket.
A REAL Wolves fan would, anyway!!!
Like a number of posters, I started going to the Mol when Billy Wright and co were top of tree. The current crop are undoubtedly playing football of a far greater quality than ever before. Anyone doubting this should get hold of a DVD of our 1960 cup win v Blackburn. Arguably, the only player on the pitch to show anything like the skills of current players was Peter Broadbent – we now have skilled ball players throughout tge team. That takes heaps of strategic vision! Well done Kenny Jackett!!