International Farce

Once again, Wolves have been struck by injuries while one of our players is off on international duty. Blackburn and Fulham fans will be delighted to hear that Kevin Doyle has been ruled out for 2-3 weeks with injury, it's almost a disaster for us.

Mick had already aired his concerns about the timing of these friendlies and it's hard to disagree. What purpose do they serve? None of the games actually matter.

Weirdly, this is the third year running that we will start the season without Doyle. He missed the game v West Ham in the first year (due to injury from internationals I believe?!!) and the game against Stoke last year.

Now is the chance for someone else to step up, and grab their chances. The obvious candidate to replace Doyle is Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. He started last season in fine form, his performance against Stoke was brilliant and his partnership with Fletcher worked well. He seems most likely to be the man who comes in.

Unbelievably, the next man in line could be Stefan Maierhofer! 'The neck' was brought on with around 20-30 minutes left on Saturday, and put in a good performance. He looks desperate to impress and maybe he will return to the place where he scored his only Premier League goal?

Another alternative may be switching to 4-5-1. It has served us well in the past couple of years, and this could be a good opportunity for Nenad Milijas to stake his claim for a regular place in the team. I'm a big fan or the Serbian, it seems a great shame that such talent could be wasted on the bench. Changing formations may leave us thin on back u pin the midfield area, David Davis would be the only other centre midfielder left unless Mick thinks of Kevin Foley as a midfielder now

What do you make of Doyle's injury and who would you replace him with?

Wolves 2 Real Zaragoza 0

Wolves finish their pre-season preparations with a comfortable two nil victory over Spanish side Real Zaragoza.

Overall, it was an impressive performance with some standout players.

In general, our midfield was strong and coped well with only two centre midfielders. Henry and O'Hara both did well, putting in strong tackles and linking up well. On the wings, we started with Jarvis and Hunt who were both contenders for man of the match. Hunt was his usual self, getting into the opposition and also putting in quality crossing. Jarvis, my man of the match looks a new player. He remains a player who can take on his marker, but he also showed intelligence on the ball and neat bits of skill. Another England call up is not far away.

Our new captain gave a good account of himself, displaying all the qualities we have lacked at the back for some time. Relentless talking (screaming), comfortable on the ball and excellent in the air. He looks a bargain at £4m (if that is true). Rather strangely, we went with Stearman at right back and Zubar at centre back. It gives me the idea that Stearman will start the season as first choice right back. He did well in the game, but looked uncomfortable at times, likewise with Zubar at centre half. At left back, Stephen Ward linked up excellently with Jarvis and Hunt down the left creating openings time and time again. When George Elokobi came on for him, he did a similar job and got our opener with a scrappy effort.

Kevin Doyle and Steven Fletcher are yet to strike a real partnership, but individually we saw what good players we have up front. Fletcher was a menace in the air, while Doyle won the ball back countless times and opened up the defence with his movement.

The team we started with, except with Berra in for Zubar and Elokobi in for Ward, is the team I expect to start at Ewood Park next week. It's a solid looking team, which may put us in good stead against a physical Blackburn side. It would be great for us to finally get a result there and start the season with a bang.

My favourite player: #3 Frank Munro

Here's an article sent to me by Steve Gelder, on Frank Munro.

Not as easy as it sounds picking a favourite player as I enter my 47th year as a Wolves fan.

I was too young to appreciate the latter stages of players like Peter Broadbent or Ron Flowers but I was fortunate to witness the genius of Peter Knowles who left the game when I was 14: Knocker's antics on the pitch were pure theatre combined with flair, arrogance and a likeability factor (not dissimilar to George Best - my favourite all time player and a Wolves fan!). The 70's are where my fondest memories lie, not just because of the relative success achieved but it also accorded with a period in my life where I had the resources: time and money - to follow the Wolves all over the country. This was a fertile period to select a favourite player from (Kenny Hibbitt, Waggy, John Richards the Doog), all forward thinking players you notice. It is therefore surprising that my choice for favourite player is the mercurial Frank Munro.

Big Frank was signed as an inside forward from Aberdeen having scored a hat trick against Wolves in the final of a cup competition in America and was regarded as one of the most skillful players in that position. His move to centre back was genius, his ball control, dribbling ability and creative thinking, aligned to the natural qualities required of a 'brick wall stopper' created a player that was…….well……… like an e-type jaguar inside a Sherpa tank. People talk of Beckenbaur, or Rio Ferdinand as the ultimate footballing centre half but Frank was much better. Maybe not as lean……………………….ok…… numerous pints in the Mermaid would suggest “solid” but any player possessed with that type of audacious talent and confidence creates more time and space than most “run of the mills” This was even more impressive in a centre back position, we never knew what to expect (that included John Mcalle and Phil Parkes).

As indicated earlier, Frank was Scottish and liked a wee dram or two, he also possessed toughness as Peter Osgood found out once at Molineux. Frank had done his trademark dummy to let the ball run out for a goal kick, Ossie, so frustrated, pushed Frank into the moat that used to surround the pitch. It was about the centre circle when Frank caught up with Ossie and gave him one of those Glasgow kisses. Such was my appreciation for this entertainer I remember drawing, in black felt pen, a number 5 on the back of my Wolves shirt.

An old friend of mine: Robbie Kennedy Bennett has written a series of successful poems that reflect his Scottish ancestry and his love of the Black Country one of them relates to his visit to Broughty Ferry (birthplace of Frank Munro) and his own appreciation of this cultured wolves icon.

“Munro o’ Broughty Ferry,
He made the faithful merry,
Th’ Dons o’Pittodrie to Molineux
Francis, your service I am thanking you\"

Me too

If you would like to get involved, get in touch through the 'contact me' page.

FAO: Greg Halford

‘It’s funny, Wolves wanted to get some money in from me to go and sign Roger Johnson, which is baffling.
‘Obviously he had an outstanding season with Birmingham last year but I still don’t see him as a better player than I am."

 Shut it, you were crap you plank.

My favourite player: #2 Michael Kightly

Here is the second of the 'my favourite player' series written by Phil Chell.

First off, can I just say that I’ve always fancied myself as a modern-day Oscar Wilde, maybe even a 21^st Century Thomas De Quincey but I never thought I’d commit my cerebral ramblings to paper (or Word 97,2001,et al as it turns out to be in this modern world). Yet, here I am on a Friday night doing just so. You may be wondering what my semi-inebriated thoughts have to do with the beautiful game or, more to the point, how I got involved? Well, here goes.

I was minding my own, watching TV with the wife whilst simultaneously checking my Twitter feed. I follow the guy that started this website and he tweeted asking for Wolves fans to write a piece about their favourite player. As soon as I saw this I had to reply. Now, most of you will be thinking I am about to write about Doyle, or Jarvis, or perhaps even Craddock based on his last season’s performance? Well, in a word, no. My musings are about Mr. Michael Kightly. 

 

I am the ripe old age of 31 so I am lucky/unlucky enough to remember watching Wolves when only 2 sides of the ground were open. My first match was watching Bully stick 3 past a team beginning with ‘M’ (Macclesfield or Mansfield, I can’t remember to be honest!) and watching us go on to win 6-2. I was hooked. Instantly. One of the main reasons for this was the great man himself, Steve Bull. 

 

Back in the day he had the chance to move several times to several clubs which would have not only increased his personal wealth exponentially but also improved his chances with England. He decided to stay with us and is now a cult hero for these amongst many other reasons. In this day and age of 200k plus weekly wages, I fear we will never see this type of commitment again, which leads me on to ‘Kights’.

As you will all know we signed him for the cost of a BMW and over the course of the next few seasons he began to pay us back 10 fold. His ability in relation to his cost was amazing. He scored important goals, set more up than I can remember and also did what MM wanted; he ‘put a shift in’. For me, at that time he was the complete Wolves player. 

 

At the end of the 07/08 league when we finished 7^th and missed out on the play-offs by 1 goal, Kightly was hot property. He was at the peak of his career with Wolves and, as rumours had it, Sir Alex wanted him and was willing to give us a tidy 8million for him. He could have gone and no one would have batted an eyelid because, in this modern game, it is expected that commitment is a commodity that players no longer have. Money talks, as the saying goes. But he stayed and the following season, helped us to win the Championship.

 

I remember going to watch us play Forrest towards the end of the season with my Dad at the City Ground. I’d never actually been to an away game (shame on me) and I’ll never forget it. He scored the winner in a 1-0 scrappy game. I’ll never forget my Dad turning to me and saying ‘That’s, it, that’s the goal that’s won us the league.’ 

 

Fast forward a few years and it’s a different story. He has been plagued by injuries that have kept him frustratingly out of the side. I say frustratingly as I always thought he was a better player than Jarvis. Imagine how well we would have done with them both fit? Anyway, I digress. 

 

Wolves had another player of similar promise that was injured for a very long time. The difference was, as soon as he was fit, he ran out the door quicker than I thought was possible to Bolton. I don’t blame payers that move on for whatever reason be it money, opportunity, etc. The reason I think us ‘normal folk’ would be pretty annoyed if we were told we couldn’t even apply for a new job which paid more money if we were under contract with our current employer wouldn’t we? My point is this; players of this character are few and far between and we should hope he stays at our wonderful club.

Only time will tell if Kightly will return to former glory, move on, or, God forbid have to retire early. I sincerely hope it’s the first option.

If you would like to get involved in the series, use the 'contact me' form to get in touch!