I was ready to move on, I really was. But then Jacqui Oatley from BBC Sport sent me a tweet regarding an e-mail correspondence a Wolves fan had received from the Premier League when he questioned them on their decision to give the club a suspended fine last week.
I won’t give you their response verbatim, but there was one sentence in the reply that left me flabbergasted: –
“I note you refer to the Hull versus Manchester United match last season. Following rumours that they would make a large number of changes, the club were reminded of the rules but they went on to win the match, therefore differentiating from the Wolves match.”
With that reply the Premier League are basically admitting that they favour the bigger teams and that, even though what we did at Old Trafford had happened dozens of times before, because we lost they decided to make an example out of us. I don’t know how they sleep at night.
Anyway, I promise that’ll be the last time I carp on about that particular indiscretion, but it did make my blood boil that they inflict punishment like this on teams like Wolves and not a red or blue team from the North West or the capital.
On to happier news, and isn’t it just incredible that despite £9million worth of losses over the last 2 seasons, Wolves are still seen as the most financially sound football club in the country?
Unlike Portsmouth, who with debts of around £70million have now fallen into administration, leaving just two probable final relegation places for us to avoid.
But our form has been so erratic all season that I wouldn’t like to say where the points to keep us up from the 12 remaining games will come from.
We certainly could have kick-started that survival bid against a Chelsea team that looked anything like champions elect last Saturday.
The West London club obviously had another gear to into if they had been in trouble, but Wolves really did give them a game and we should have probably got something from the match.
What the game did highlight was something we are all acutely aware of and that’s our lack of pace in the middle of defence. I know that it is unlikely that Mick McCarthy will change the Christophe Berra and Jody Craddock pairing with so few games left.
But if the manager is was open to ideas, how about when David Edwards returns, swapping Zubar for Berra in central defence? That way Kevin Foley could return to where he is most effective and Zubar could offer us the pace that we so badly lack.
As a bloke called Danny reminded me before the Chelsea game, “Yow cah wear a glove on yer foot.” An alternative way of saying that Mick shouldn’t play square pegs in round holes and that Foley needs to be returned to right-back.
It’s just a thought and didn’t Adlene Guedioura have another promising game in the middle of midfield against Chelsea? Adlene and David Jones have made a big difference since coming into the side and we now seem to have a midfield with more purpose and some creative guile that was sadly lacking before.
And hats off to the South Bank on Saturday, they were in imperious form with some of the funniest and most opprobrious chanting I have heard in a long time at Molineux.
So on to Bolton – or Notlob if you see Monty Python for an explanation – at the weekend, a team who haven’t scored in five league games and are now facing the rest of the season without their best defender in Gary Cahill.
Owen Coyle swapped the good karma at Burnley where there was little pressure and expectation to manage an established Premier League team in Bolton who themselves showed losses of over £13million last season.
Perhaps Owen isn’t a Judas and simply showed some ambition by moving the 30-odd miles to the Trotters, but it’s a club I have disliked ever since we lost to them in the 1995 play-off semi-final.
Coyle played for Bolton in those two legs which were brim full with drama. Peter Shilton was in goal for the Trotters aged 45 for the first semi-final at Molineux, which Wolves won 2-1 courtesy of goals from Steve Bull and Mark Venus.
I can still see the referee bottling it in the second-leg when Bolton striker John McGinlay chinned David Kelly in the area and only received a yellow card. Of course it would be McGinlay who went on to score the two goals which sent Bolton through to a final where they beat Reading, a game in which Coyle scored.
But that was back in the days of the intimidating Burnden Park, which is now an Asda superstore. The Trotters now play at the excellent but rather sterile surroundings of the Reebok Stadium that usually has as many as five to seven thousand empty seats for every league game and I have been to funerals that have had a better atmosphere.
So with Bolton at an extremely low ebb, there will surely never be a better chance to take all three points and repay them for just a small chunk of the misery we all felt in 1995.
I can’t think that Mick will change anything from the team that put in another good display, despite the loss against Chelsea. Leading the line on his own again will be Kevin Doyle, who gave John Terry and Chelsea a torrid time last week, just like he has done to defences all season.
His good form has got some Wolves fans worried about where his future lies. If we get relegated he will of course leave, probably for close to double what the club paid for him and, like Joleon Lescott before him, I don’t think any of us would begrudge him for doing so.
But positive thinking tells us that we are not going to get relegated and as we know Doyle loves it at Wolves, I’m sure the three Ms will come up with a package to keep him in the Black Country and ward off any interest from other clubs. If only life were that simple.
Right, with just over 100 days to the World Cup, I’m going to start practicing with my left foot, just in case I get that call from Fabio Capello.
Enjoy Notlob and the rest of your weekend. Up the Wolves!
@Wolvesblogger 