I was pleased to hear Jody Craddock has been offered a contract, pushing his stay at the club beyond the 10-year mark.
Not many players hang around long enough to earn a testimonial these days and anyone else who remembers his traumatic first season at Wolves will know exactly how hard he’s had to work to get here.
He won’t play regularly, but you just know whatever the team, whatever the situation, Jody will come in and do a job if called upon.
Another defender I hope to see staying is Ronald Zubar. Details of a rejected £1.8 million bid from Besiktas have emerged today, which is sizable chunk to turn down for a player entering the last year of his contract.
Hopefully that signals the club’s intent to hold onto the Frenchman. I truly believe he’ll be a force in the Championship, where his pace and power will come to the fore and the odd lapse in concentration he suffers won’t be as costly.
More interesting comments from our manager this week too. How great to hear Solbakken talking candidly about creating an identity for the side by having a clear style of play:
The first is that I want to create a style of play where everyone can recognise Wolves from game to game.
“I want people to recognise our style whether we’re playing Manchester United in the FA Cup or Aldershot in the Capital One Cup.
“We want to be a team that will be 85-90 per cent the same all the time and then we have to adjust depending on the opposition for the other 10-15 per cent of the time.”
Without wanting to sound smug, I spoke about this exact issue nearly a year ago in this article. In a nutshell, all successful sides have a clearly defined style of play and that’s exactly the direction we need to be heading.
What does everyone think about the new away kit?
The vomit-inspired colour combination isn’t my cup of tea, but it does hark about to the late 90s as we continued our long struggle to escape the Championship.
Who says the club don’t have a sense of humour?
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I’m not a fan of the away kit. Would have liked to see another fairly classic black one, or a simple white one. The colours on this new one seem to be all over the shop, no matter when it was inspired by.
I’m in shock that we rejected 1.8m for Zubar. Mental. We should have taken the money and run.
Glad Jody has been kept at the club, even though he won’t really play. It shows we look after our players and gives off a good vibe in my opinion. Also, I’d fancy him to be a decent coach.
The away kit isn’t the best but (surprise surprise!) I sort of like it! 🙂
WHat Stale’s been saying though is HUGELY encouraging however! With everything that he’s said so far I have the feeling that the guy really does know what he’s talking about – he has more of a tactical plan that Mick it seems as well!
And as for Jody – great news! He deserves a testimonial even if he won’t be a part of the first team!
The sooner we part company with Burrda the better. We’ve not had one decent quality shirt since we’ve been with them.
Pleased for Jody, well deserved, great pro!
Things are looking up with our squad actually being taught tactics – does this signal the end of the pass back to the keeper from kick off routine – let’s hope so!
Funny story about the kick off routine.
When Ben and I did that charity walk from the Hawthorns to Molineux before the 5-1 derby, we were chatting with David Instone for a good chunk of the time.
One of the points I was vehemently hammering home was how annoying our kick-off was. I said it was the same hoof every game and every kick-off.
He said he hadn’t noticed but would look out for it at the match.
Then what bloody happened? They decided that would be the one match of the entire season they passed it round like Barcelona from the kick-off.
Typical.
The tactical side of things sounds intriguing from what Elokobi’s been saying in the press.
I posted this on the previous entry about 30s before Thomas posted this one… so excuse repetition but…
Bit of defense of Roger Johnson from Stears and Fletcher on Twitter in the past couple of days. Tim Nash calls some of the action going on in the training matches interesting. I just wonder if, especially given was SS was saying about RJ when he arrived, if he’s making a bit of an impression in training and found some sort of form. Wonder if SS has got the stomach to play him if that’s the case, in spite of the potential of a fan backlash…?
I think Johnson could be a big player for us this season. Clearly he had a dramatic dip in form last season – but there again tell me a player that didn’t. He is clearly good enough for this league and we should get behind him. Hopefully his issue was McCarthy’s non tactics and Solbakken can bring him back to where he was a couple of years ago.
I’m also interested to see if Milijas gets to play this season – these are exciting times!
I don’t think Stale is that bothered about a “fans” backlash, has he recently said – he is being paid to build a team.
We all know that Johnson can play as long as he’s not on the bottle?. I for one would’nt give him a second chance but stale may think he’s worth another chance so i’m happy to go along with what ever he thinks,johnson himself knows its perhaps his last chance,so give him that second chance..
Craddock,imo i think we could have spent the money on demidov.craddock is past his best and will struggle in the championshite.They could have given him some sort of coaching job if they wanted to keep him for his testimonial and all that.
The away strip i quite like it,its nice and bright and its better than some of the ones we’ve had in the past..FOJM
“They could have given him some sort of coaching job if they wanted to keep him for his testimonial and all that.”
That is pretty much what they have done.. Craddock said himself there’s more chance of hell freezing over than him playing this season.
I’m a great believer in the second chance….God knows I’ve had enough of them………and let’s face it, we all thought signing Johnson was going to be good for the club this time last year. Whatever the reasons for his drop in form, let’s move onwards and upwards.
If he gets his chance under SS, and takes it, them good luck to him. If not, then bollocks to him and off with his head!!
Ward, however, is beyond hope and needs to never darken the Molineux first team corridors again.
Just wondering but have you ever had any traumatic experiences with long-nosed Irishmen in the past? 😛
PS the boots should be blue as well as all the strip, and why not paint all the showing skin blue as well? A La Mel Gibson, Braveheart,
“WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAALLLLLLLAAAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEEEEE”
Scare the shit out of the opposition!!!
FOJM
Like it clive,thanks for the history lesson,but in real life he was a real bastard,like POXEY.FOJM
Apparently Mel Gibson in real life is a bit of a bastard as well!!
And would’nt it be nice if some of our players were ” a bit of a bastard” on the field?
I don’t mean dirty, just more in your face and harder, instead of back off, back off, oooh nice shot mr. …………….fill in the blank
A bit like Muscat you mean! lol, as for Stale? I think he is his own man and not a fans? man and not afraid to make his own decisions regardless of who he upsets – thank god! has he said the other day it’s his job to build a team to get us promoted and win matches.
I think Jonson should be given a chance. Like the article states do you remember Craddocks first season?
I like MM but putting Johnson as captain didn’t help Johnson. Imagine the reaction from the squad about new guy going straight in as captain, plus the pressure that goes with that.
The style SS has talked about is being compact and closure together (hopefully putting an end to the huff and run tactics). This I think will favor players like Johnson and Stearman who like to bring the ball out of defense.
1.8m for Zubar should have been accepted.
Craddock is a charitable jester and I respect our club for not being morals.
Never mind all this brave new era stuff, I still can’t get over the new picture of Clive. He looks almost handsome. Still obnoxious though, I hope…
Thank you for those kind words!
My mate Scooped accused me of posting a 20 year old photo, but it was took on Anna Maria Island beach at 7.30 am last October 25th. I can prove it coz that was my 60th birthday morning, and Mark G Davies and wife were there with us.
So eat yer hearts out you lot of old farts reading this, I cor help it If I’m bostin’ lookin’!!!
I’ve got a pimple on my a$$ that is better looking.
Jealousy is a terrible thing!!!
It is interesting to hear what Zubar and Elokobi say and how Staale has got them thinking.
I think everyone, Johnson and, (dare I say it Clive), Ward included, have capabilities beyond the limited vision of MM. It seems that ‘charismatic Solbakken’ has got them all thinking outside the box….Interesting times and good luck to Jody…
An Irishman thinking?
Nah, surely not!
Hey, watch it 😉
It’s what happens inside the box i’m concerned with,(Defending mostly)
And if thinking out the box means spotting the danger befor it arrives
well thats fine with me…FOJM.
On the suject of Johnson, I’m sure he fits into the large bracket of players that we’d happily sell for the right price. However, having paid what we did for him a year ago there’s no way we’d get anything like that for him now. The other alternative would be to loan him out and, given he’s one of our highest earners (even with an alleged 50% pay cut!), we’d probably have to subsidise his wages significantly. Either way we’d be taking a massive hit on the bloke. Therefore, I assume SS has took the common sense approach of keeping the bugger, making him work for his money and hopefully getting something in return! Makes perfect sense to me.
I think the new away kit looks fine but – being from an era when you just had a spare set of shirts to wear if there was a colour clash – it is, in my opinion, a pointless waste of money.
Forgot to mention. Jody Craddock’s new contract is a very good thing. Loyalty is a rare and undervalued commodity nowadays. Well done to the club for recognising and appreciating it!
Good luck to Jody
I wasn’t keen on Johnson staying as he really pissed me off last, and that was before the drink issues! Still, a couple of weeks in the Sun and I’ve mellowed a bit so, like CFH, I’m prepared to give him another chance. He should be a big asset. Maybe he was struggling under the MM regime and certainly giving him hthe Captain’s arm band so early was just stupid.
Hoping SS can bring the best out of Johnson and the others, including Ward. Can’t wait for the first Kick-off!
Adlene off to Forest. He has signed.
Now that is really fucked up.
This is going to come back and haunt us in more ways than one.
He was one of the best players in our squad, proved at Forest he could play, as he helped them avoid what at one time looked like certain relegation, and we sell him to a division rival?
Fuckin’ Brilliant bit of wheelin’ and dealin’ greasel.
Seems like nothing has changed.
Really pissed off my day.
I hate to rush to judgement, but is anyone else beginining to see the same old warning signs.
We lose Demidov to Frankfurt as soon as personal terms are discussed. It seems we had this guy at a good price but……… I seriously doubt Frankfurt are paying ridiculous wages.
Adlene to Forest, agree all Clive says.
Now we are being conditioned to think Johnson is going to be great.
Vokes is probably not a great loss but again, when he first arrived he was knocking the odd Championship Goal in and needed coaching and development.
This is where we seem lacking, players seem to get worse when they join us and better when they leave. I hope SS turns this around.
Look I know we are a tightly run finacial icon but it seems to me Jez is only prepared to play in the bargain basement. Occasionally a good buy but if we really wanted Demidov, then sommetimes you have to really go out and buy them.
I for one am getting nervous, is SS gonna put up with this. Anyway lets wait and see but it seems like business as usual again.
Eintracht Frankfurt are playing in the Bundesliga next season in front of 50,000+ gates. In English terms we were competing with Newcastle. Who’s going to win that battle ? As for Guedioura,he didn’t want to play for Wolves. He wanted to play for Forest. He made that very plain at the end of last season.
Be honest, none of our squad wanted to play for us at the end of last season!
If they all got their wish and were shipped out, then SS could have a potfull of money and really start from scratch!!
Has anyone read the article on the official website about Johnson? Solbakken says this season can be a “revenge” mission. I would suggest he’d be better off going for a reconciliation mission, actually.
Solbakken goes on to essentially say that the fans will forgive him if he plays a few good games. Actually, even if he plays blinding football this season, if he still struts around like a peacock thinking he’s the big “I am”, Wolves fans will still have a tough time warming to him.
His first step is to show a bit of humility. Be a man, stand up and say “What happened last year is gone. I am a Wolves player and I want it to stay that way. Let’s go forward together.”.
I doubt it’ll happen…his silence since about November last year has been deafening. But we shall see. Prove me wrong, Roger, prove me wrong.
If we get promoted on the back of a solid defence which includes RJ do you think anyone will care? Remember football fans are as a fickle as a womans taste in men.
Personally for me last season is gone, and as long as we are competitive I couldn’t give a tosh about what RJ did or didn’t do.
Time to move on fella!
I, for one, am less than happy to see Adlene sold for the usual ‘undisclosed fee’. I know he was happier(and better) at Forest than under Mick, but who could blame him for that? I’m expecting a lot of players to improve under a better coach and i reckon Adlene would have been a really useful member of the squad. What’s the odds of Wayne being beaten by one of his long range humdingers when we play them?
What’s interesting is how quickly the deal was done and dusted. No chance for Stale to see him in the flesh and maybe try to block the move. Well done Mr. Moxey, a few more quid in the coffers.
My feeling is that the reason Adelene is off is that he failed to deliver on the raw potential he has. On the occasions that I’d seen, whilst his energy and impetus (which granted, we often lacked) were awesome, he could also be pretty frustrating. I hope that he fulfils it at Forest because he really was exciting to watch, but if SS is looking for a more deft approach, he’s perhaps best looking elsewhere. Good luck Adelene!