In my opinion this goal in May 2011 by Stephen Hunt which saved Wolves from relegation from the Premiership is indirectly responsible for the state of the club we find today. After two successive demotions we find ourselves in the third tier of English football for the first time since 1990.
Now i'm not saying Stephen Hunt is responsible for our plight obviously but what happened after this goal,or more accurately,what did'nt happen,is...
This was the chance to restructure the club but nothing changed.Effectively we had been given a last minute reprieve and we blew it,although that was'nt apparent at the time among the self congratulatory celebrations of avoiding relegation.
That season we had been buoyed by fantastic wins against many of the top six sides in the division,it was these that kept us up as our results against those other teams battling to stay in the premiership were appalling.The wonderful results we had garnered against Man Utd,Man City,Chelsea,Spurs,Everton & Liverpool had given us the falsest of false dawns and probably given many in the club--and the fans---the impression that we were better than we were.
The reality is that those wins & draws against the top teams only happen occasionally,it just so happens we got them all in the same season...
To compound this self regarding folly that percolated through the club it was believed that the season after would be easier due to our players having more experience and potential lambs to the slaughter Norwich & Swansea surely taking the bottom two places leaving only one space to avoid...
It's rumoured that the then manager Mick McCarthy tried to strengthen the squad considerably in the close season---He's a football man and they all want to improve,knowing that if you stand still you get caught pretty damn quick---but owner Steve Morgan not being a natural football man refused him funds thinking we were good enough.Bad decision coupled with arrogance...
The only major signing we made was to buy Roger Johnson from Birmingham.We we all happy with this i have no doubt.But then McCarthy made him captain instantly causing splits within a tight knit dressing room.Bad decision...
That season started well,two wins and a draw from the first three games,even going top for a short time.Another false dawn.It's safe to say that since that 0-0 draw at Villa Park in early September 2011, which saw us top the premiership briefly,it's been downhill all the way...
The next bad decision coupled with arrogance was from the owner Morgan when he went storming into the dressing room to confront the players after yet another abject display against Liverpool thereby undermining the managers authority.Not long later McCarthy was gone...
The sacking happened after Wolves had lost to our fierce rivals West Brom 5-1.This was a time for clear heads and well thought out decisions.What we got was knee jerk reactions and muddled thinking from those that run the club...What happened next turned into farce solely of the Board's making...
Potential managers were interviewed.Contradictory press releases were flying out of Molineux almost daily about the suitability,or not,of each candidate.Finally we were assured we would have a manager in charge with experience of turning moribund clubs around,this was no job for a novice.What did we get? Terry Conner.Bad decision,arrogance and a great deal of stupidity...
It's not normally the done thing to feel sorry for footballing folk but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel for Conner.He'd been a loyal Wolves coach for over a decade but had never managed a team,least of all a team marooned at the bottom of the pile with no confidence and a dressing room rift as big as the Mariana Trench.By all accounts Conner is a good man,so answered the call to manage Wolves after Morgan had failed to find a replacement.
It's hard not to feel that Morgan was prepared to take the hit of relegation thinking he would get in the manager he wanted in the Summer then maybe spend no more than two years in the Championship before a triumphant return to the Premiership.Whether true or not we'll never know but he hung Conner out to dry.Conner was Morgan's Patsy...Bad decision and arrogance.
In the Summer we drafted in Stale Solbakken with a promise of not only a fresh approach but a complete overhaul of the club's ethos from top to bottom.Things did'nt start too badly but the football we were watching was labourious at best.Unfortunately Solbakken was still working with most of the squad that had been there for a number of years who were unable or unwilling to change their style.Things started going downhill fast...
The trouble is though that Morgan had vowed to give Solbakken time.What Morgan should have done is ignored the fans clamouring for Solbakken's head and backed his manager.Once he'd got all of his own players in he may well have been the right man.We'll never know as Morgan panicked in the face of fan pressure and gave in.Bad decision...
Next on the Molineux managerial carousel is current boss Dean Saunders.The feeling is that Morgan is now so desperate he's using the club as some sort of Liverpool jobs- for- the- boys.Saunders came into the job in January with a lot of promises of not only staying up but gaining promotion next season---From the Championship i may add,not div 1---Sadly talk is all he seems to have.As yet he's been more than tactically inept.Sometimes employing three different formations during a game,none of them working.I have no confidence in him whatsoever.Bad decision? Probably...
So what's needed? Well a wholesale change in the squad for one...There are now too many players at the club who're neither good enough or care enough for our club,these have to be got rid of straight away.I don't care if we make a big loss on them i just want them gone asap.A week before our final game when we were 2nd from bottom and needing a miracle to stay up some players were still saying we were "Too good to go down" Arrogance and stupidity of a monumental scale...
If Morgan is determined to stay he needs to get proper advisors around him,footballing people who know the game and the club,people who will guide him in the right direction,somebody like Jody Craddock or Mel Eves.Or both.He needs to drop the arrogance that has helped to get my club relegated yet again...
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