Over the last twenty years it has become de rigueur for British clubs to employ footballers from all over the World with varying decrees of success...Before that our arrogance allayed with myopic insularity fostered the belief that British players were the best and therefore we had no need to look abroad for talent.
The change was'nt due to a mind opening realisation that we were wrong all along but one of economics.Clubs discovered that players of equal,or better standard were about three times cheaper abroad ---As is the case today---and as a bonus were also better prepared for a life in the game by not eating rubbish as well as not boozing like a sailor on shore leave...Basically they were usually better Professionals than their homegrown counterparts...
At Wolves we have had our fair share of foreign imports and it's safe to say many have been an abject failure...I don't think they have been particularly bad players but have been bought in by a bevvy of different managers who did'nt know how to blend them into the team once they had arrived.
The usual scenario would consist of a big fanfare for an exciting talent coming to the club.The fans would normally become thrilled at the prospect whilst asking how the hell their name is pronounced before giving up and settling for calling them "The---------* fella"...*Insert Nationality here.
Usually we have'nt seen them in the team for months after joining.The only glimpse being them warming up from the subs bench only to be sat down after twenty minutes exercise.The usual reason given by the manager was that they were having trouble settling in...In reality i think it was more of a case of the manager having trouble knowing what to do with them...
Then they would invariably disappear from the club never to be seen again...I have lost count of how many of our foreign players have made less than ten appearances for Wolves before succumbing to the Bermuda Triangle that is Wolverhampton...
I even learned how to pronounce some of their names...
Over all the years i can only think of two players from outside of these Isles who've been successful at the club.French Centre back Ludovic Pollet and American Keeper Marcus Hahnemann---From exotic Le Harve & Seattle respectively---There might be more.I stand to be corrected.
There have been a few i had high hopes for who never made it for whatever reason...Nenad Milijas and Fernando Gomez are two that stand out.Classy midfielders who it's my belief have not fitted in because once here the coaching team have'nt know how to utilise their talent properly...
Under previous boss Mick McCarthy the vast majority of the squad were British & Irish.I think MM felt more comfortable working with a more "Local" bunch of players to be honest.Nothing wrong with that per se.MM had his critics but nobody can argue that on his leaving the club was in a better position than when he joined.
But now we have Stale Solbakken in charge,our first manager not from these shores.With it not only has he been given the task of creating a new playing style throughout Molineux but he's also been given Carte Blanc to bring in his own players.This naturally means we're now more than likely to be getting in players from the Continent who he knows well...
So far we have invested in five non British/Irish players;Tongo Doumbia,Slawomir Peszko,Bjorn Sigurdsson,Razak Boukari & Georg Margreitter...With many more to add i presume...
Only time will tell whether these imports are successful or not.The big wish is that our abject record of assimilating foreign players into the club is a thing of the past.At least we now have a manager who understands what's needed to get the best out of them...Hopefully.
So to our new players:
Bienvenue
Willkommen
Velkominn
Mile Widziany
Welcome.
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