Don't know if anyone's interested but thought I'd post it up given we're post season. Sent this in for the 2015/16 'When Saturday Comes' writing competition but wasn't successful. Appreciate it won't be everyone's cup of tea and sorry to drag the dregs of last season's debacle up again, but any critique welcome.
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A mid-table nightmare
2015/16. A stagnant season largely to forget for Wolverhampton Wanderers. A club latterly synonymous with back to back relegations and sacking managers at the wrong time, Wolves had clawed their way back to respectability with the solid appointment of Kenny Jackett and an emphatic League One title win, coupled with narrowly missing out on the play offs the season after.
Unfortunately, the good-will and optimism that had built up during the first two years of Jackett’s reign quickly evaporated by the end of September. Inevitably, even Bolton managed to get off the ground against a side lacking in confidence; a feat they bookended on their path towards eventual relegation later in the season.
For once in many seasons, Wolves were scoring several goals per game, but were uncharacteristically shipping them for fun at the other end. Perhaps the writing should have been on the wall early-doors, squandering a 2-0 lead at home to QPR to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. A plucky 1-1 away draw against the nine men of newly-promoted Preston followed the next month, rescued in the dying embers of added on time.
Despite the emergence of bright young talent, several of whom are currently playing internationally at U21 level, the team lacked both experience and a proper leader, most notably in defence where several academy graduates proudly filled the teamsheet. Carl Ikeme, for years playing the role of understudy had finally made the number one shirt his own, only to see a keeper shipped in from Arsenal on-loan usurp him from the team. What followed was a rotational disaster and inability to keep both clean sheets and a consistent line up, both key to a successful Championship campaign.
Players who had served the team well for the team’s rise under Jackett suddenly went missing. Want-away midfield maestro Kevin McDonald made overtures for a move but was persuaded to stay, Richard Stearman, a local lad, team captain and reigning player of the season was sold for dubious ‘footballing reasons’ and each week fans found a new scapegoat for the latest abject performance.
Around Christmas time, a run of four league wins in a row, punctuated by the inevitable FA Cup third round defeat brought some much needed festive cheer, and even the remote possibility of sneaking back into the play offs on the back of a decent run. However, results tailed off again, and by February the realisation that the club was a by-word for mid-table mediocrity killed off any lingering optimism.
Injuries took their toll, and the three heroes of last season’s ‘Magic’ chant that bellowed around Molineux last season didn’t play their part for various reasons. Sako left on a free to Palace with the fan’s blessing and an overwhelming feeling of what might have been. Dicko played little part after a season-ending injury in late August, while Benik Afobe’s unceremonious departure to Bournemouth in January sums up the club’s current lack of engagement with the fans, with an unseemly spat of words over the real reason for his departure.
For the players that did arrive, Adam Le Fondre flattered to deceive, whereas his Cardiff compatriot Joe Mason was signed for a comparatively large £3m transfer fee and spent most of his time on the bench. Jordan Graham returned from a loan spell and went straight into the first team for twelve games, before a cruel ACL injury ruled him out for nine months. His replacement, Michal Zyro finally brought some cheer to the team, with three goals in his first two games, before being ruled out for over a year from a challenge at MK Dons. Kenny Jackett recently admitted that the team weren’t prepared for this season’s Championship campaign, with an over-reliance on youngsters, but this serves as scant consolation for those fans that have endured a torrid season of mediocrity.
On a personal note, I am exiled up in Newcastle, where the figurative goldfish bowl of North-East football means most away days are a 300+ mile round trip. My visits to the iPro, Hillsborough and Riverside brought about a cumulative loss of 10-4, and yet more misery to the ever-dwindling number of away fans. For a club that has always travelled well away, we finished the season with the 10th highest average away attendance, a 27% decline over last season and the joint-second highest decline in the Championship. West Midlands football lacks the perceived expectancy of fans in other parts of the country, and gallows humour is never in short supply. However, there are only so many 0-0 home draws the fans can take before you start to lose them; Wolves managing seven in total and five in a row until the final game of the season.
The recent episode with Money Shop has shown another disconnect between those who run the club and the local community. Steve Morgan has put the club up for sale but with no saviours on the horizon, there is a terrible echo of the 1980s Bhatti era with one unnecessarily grandiose stand towering over Molineux with a distinct lack of investment on the playing staff in comparison. The comparatively well-paid CEO, Jez Moxey is again cast as the villain of the story, and yet is about to enter his 17th year at the club.
When I was younger, the Guardian’s pre-season guide usually summed up Wolves as ‘Likely to spend the most in the Championship; will finish seventh’. Even that would have felt like an achievement given the lack of entertainment on offer this season, and with Newcastle and Villa dropping into the league for next season, hopes of a quick return to the Premier League seem more distant than ever.
Strangely, for a team lacking in any great level of excitement or chance of promotion, Wolves were live on TV 14 times in the 2015/16 season. This is unlikely to be repeated with the Magpies and Villans taking their place in a star-studded second tier of teams who were once famous in the days before colour TV. Sadly, with parachute payments ending and no oligarch in sight, it seems Wolves are unlikely to manage anything other than build towards another 19-year exile from the top flight.
---
A mid-table nightmare
2015/16. A stagnant season largely to forget for Wolverhampton Wanderers. A club latterly synonymous with back to back relegations and sacking managers at the wrong time, Wolves had clawed their way back to respectability with the solid appointment of Kenny Jackett and an emphatic League One title win, coupled with narrowly missing out on the play offs the season after.
Unfortunately, the good-will and optimism that had built up during the first two years of Jackett’s reign quickly evaporated by the end of September. Inevitably, even Bolton managed to get off the ground against a side lacking in confidence; a feat they bookended on their path towards eventual relegation later in the season.
For once in many seasons, Wolves were scoring several goals per game, but were uncharacteristically shipping them for fun at the other end. Perhaps the writing should have been on the wall early-doors, squandering a 2-0 lead at home to QPR to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. A plucky 1-1 away draw against the nine men of newly-promoted Preston followed the next month, rescued in the dying embers of added on time.
Despite the emergence of bright young talent, several of whom are currently playing internationally at U21 level, the team lacked both experience and a proper leader, most notably in defence where several academy graduates proudly filled the teamsheet. Carl Ikeme, for years playing the role of understudy had finally made the number one shirt his own, only to see a keeper shipped in from Arsenal on-loan usurp him from the team. What followed was a rotational disaster and inability to keep both clean sheets and a consistent line up, both key to a successful Championship campaign.
Players who had served the team well for the team’s rise under Jackett suddenly went missing. Want-away midfield maestro Kevin McDonald made overtures for a move but was persuaded to stay, Richard Stearman, a local lad, team captain and reigning player of the season was sold for dubious ‘footballing reasons’ and each week fans found a new scapegoat for the latest abject performance.
Around Christmas time, a run of four league wins in a row, punctuated by the inevitable FA Cup third round defeat brought some much needed festive cheer, and even the remote possibility of sneaking back into the play offs on the back of a decent run. However, results tailed off again, and by February the realisation that the club was a by-word for mid-table mediocrity killed off any lingering optimism.
Injuries took their toll, and the three heroes of last season’s ‘Magic’ chant that bellowed around Molineux last season didn’t play their part for various reasons. Sako left on a free to Palace with the fan’s blessing and an overwhelming feeling of what might have been. Dicko played little part after a season-ending injury in late August, while Benik Afobe’s unceremonious departure to Bournemouth in January sums up the club’s current lack of engagement with the fans, with an unseemly spat of words over the real reason for his departure.
For the players that did arrive, Adam Le Fondre flattered to deceive, whereas his Cardiff compatriot Joe Mason was signed for a comparatively large £3m transfer fee and spent most of his time on the bench. Jordan Graham returned from a loan spell and went straight into the first team for twelve games, before a cruel ACL injury ruled him out for nine months. His replacement, Michal Zyro finally brought some cheer to the team, with three goals in his first two games, before being ruled out for over a year from a challenge at MK Dons. Kenny Jackett recently admitted that the team weren’t prepared for this season’s Championship campaign, with an over-reliance on youngsters, but this serves as scant consolation for those fans that have endured a torrid season of mediocrity.
On a personal note, I am exiled up in Newcastle, where the figurative goldfish bowl of North-East football means most away days are a 300+ mile round trip. My visits to the iPro, Hillsborough and Riverside brought about a cumulative loss of 10-4, and yet more misery to the ever-dwindling number of away fans. For a club that has always travelled well away, we finished the season with the 10th highest average away attendance, a 27% decline over last season and the joint-second highest decline in the Championship. West Midlands football lacks the perceived expectancy of fans in other parts of the country, and gallows humour is never in short supply. However, there are only so many 0-0 home draws the fans can take before you start to lose them; Wolves managing seven in total and five in a row until the final game of the season.
The recent episode with Money Shop has shown another disconnect between those who run the club and the local community. Steve Morgan has put the club up for sale but with no saviours on the horizon, there is a terrible echo of the 1980s Bhatti era with one unnecessarily grandiose stand towering over Molineux with a distinct lack of investment on the playing staff in comparison. The comparatively well-paid CEO, Jez Moxey is again cast as the villain of the story, and yet is about to enter his 17th year at the club.
When I was younger, the Guardian’s pre-season guide usually summed up Wolves as ‘Likely to spend the most in the Championship; will finish seventh’. Even that would have felt like an achievement given the lack of entertainment on offer this season, and with Newcastle and Villa dropping into the league for next season, hopes of a quick return to the Premier League seem more distant than ever.
Strangely, for a team lacking in any great level of excitement or chance of promotion, Wolves were live on TV 14 times in the 2015/16 season. This is unlikely to be repeated with the Magpies and Villans taking their place in a star-studded second tier of teams who were once famous in the days before colour TV. Sadly, with parachute payments ending and no oligarch in sight, it seems Wolves are unlikely to manage anything other than build towards another 19-year exile from the top flight.
