Happy New Year and welcome to the Tennies, Tenners or the Tens. And whatever its called lets hope we see more than the two seasons of top flight football that Wolves managed in the Noughties.
Whilst we are on the Noughties, can I thank everybody who voted for their favourite Wolves player of the last ten years.
The results are in and the tenacious Alex Rae, who like me has no hair and probably equally doesn’t care, finished in third place with 17% of the overall vote.
Alex was by far our best player in our first stint of Premiership football, only to be swindled out of the player of the year award, which was given to the then World ego of the year, Henri Camara.
Runner up spot with 25% went to that super servant, the artist still known as Jody Craddock. In his seven years at the club, he has been in and out of the side; sometimes so far out he was wearing a different coloured shirt. But when we were starting to waver last season, he came in and helped seal up a leaky defence and was instrumental in helping us clinch the Championship title.
Now very much the senior player in the side, his leadership and goals have been crucial so far this season and he only missed out on winning this poll by a handful of votes.
With those extra few votes and 26% of the overall total, the player you chose as the Wolves player of the decade was Joleon Lescott. Along with Matt Murray and Robbie Keane, Joleon was a talented graduate from the Wolves academy and spent seven years at the club, making his debut in 2000.
I was proud to see him pull on an England shirt and it’s just a pity that Joleon wasn’t fit for the recent Man City game as I’m sure he would have received a fantastic reception from the Molineux crowd.
Anyway, a worthy winner and I’m sure we’ll see Joleon back here next season, when hopefully we will be facing Man City once again in the Premiership.
Some fantastic results at the beginning of December mean that we are bang on track to survive our first season back amongst the big boys.
I know Steve Morgan might be looking for more that just mere survival, but he needs to have a reality check.
With half of the Premiership table arguably locked in a relegation battle, investing in some proper quality in the January transfer window could make all the difference.
The media rumour mill is in full swing, linking us with a couple of dozen players of varying quality. First area that I’m sure Mick will look to address will be on the flanks. I would snap Adam Johnson up in a heartbeat. I’ve seen him a couple of times this season and he has always shone for Boro out on the left wing.
He may well cost in excess of the £3 million figure being quoted in the media, but we desperately need some reinforcements in this area and proper investment gets you proper results. It also been rumoured that we have put in a bid for Stephen Hunt with Hull trying to lighten their wage bill, and again I’d be happy to see Stephen link back up with Kevin Doyle.
Maybe Morten Gamst Pedersen might be another option from Blackburn who rumour has it are also looking to offload Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts. I don’t think Benni has the kind of work ethic that Mick will be looking for, but Jason has unfinished business at Molineux and he could be just the kind of striker who would work well with Doyle.
Eider Gunjohnson has been linked in a couple of places, but I’m not sure if he would leave Monaco for a destination ranked 5th worst city in the world by some clueless poll.
Whoever the club bring in, there is little point at this stage of the season spending a million or two on a player, I think we know what will happen if we do. Kevin Doyle’s was a fantastic signing of intent, but apart from Nenad Milijas, who is currently either scoring or setting up every Wolves goal, none of Mick’s other summer gambles have really paid dividends.
I don’t think targets such as Craig Gardner or Jamie O’Hara will end up at the Mol, but I’ve a sneaky feeling that Kevin Kilbane will be pulling on a Wolves shirt very soon.
A winger, a striker and a decent utility type player would be good business in my opinion in the dreaded desperation window. And of course everybody will tell you that they have just seen Lionel Messi buying a scratchcard in Asda, that’s what makes this time of year so special!
Going in the opposite direction is Neill Collins who was never a favourite of mine, but you can’t deny his commitment to the cause. I think Neill may have tackled me for some of the mud I chucked his way in this column over the last couple of years, but he would have only missed anyway, just kidding Neill, honest.
Apart from the weather and Wolverhampton being in the news for being rubbish, there have been three games since my last blog, a fortnight ago. A dull cup win and a couple of defeats in the league have left us precariously looking down at the teams all fighting for those valuable points.
Weather permitting, if Sunday’s game against the Hammers goes ahead, every lazy journalist in the land will be tagging it as a six pointer.
And Wigan the week after will be dubbed the same. The reality is that West Ham are really not very good this season. There only away win this season was when they caught us cold at the beginning of the campaign, but I think they are there for the taking this time around.
It’s a shame really that we are playing them in January as I think come February they will have lost some or all of the spine of the team with Robert Green, Matt Upson, Scott Parker and Carlton Cole all linked with moves away from a club that are rumoured to be £48 million in debt.
Not all of the ‘spine’ are fit for this match and I think we can at least grab a point in the Sunday lunchtime kick-off.
Finally, as most of you have, I’ve got so many fantastic memories of the last ten years of watching Wolves. The Millennium stadium, Doncaster last season, the Premiership fight back against Leicester, Newcastle in the FA cup, the list goes on and on.
I was also thinking of my favourite goals away from Molineux during the last decade.
Again I could list so many, but I’ve whittled it down to my favourite three. In third place is that magnificent goal for Sylvan Ebanks Blake against Charlton, a mesmerizing flick and turn past the defender then a searing, angled shot.
In second place I would put Mark Kennedy’s glorious 35 yard volley at Stockport in the 2001-2002 season.
And In first place, for a number of reasons, it’s Alex Rae’s sublime thunderbolt of a goal away at Bolton in our first season in the Premiership.
I was sitting in the corporate section with my brother amongst the Bolton fans, when Rae unleashed that shot, and I nearly got lynched when I leapt out of chair like a deranged salmon. Not only was it our first away goal for a good while, but I’d also won £250 on Alex to score first.
After the game I met Sir Jack for the first and only time in my life and he said that he was amazed that I’d survived that celebration.
Enjoy your weekend and the game if it beats the weather.
@Wolvesblogger 