I’ve decided to write about something different for today’s blog, writes Wolves blogger Nathan Lloyd.
If I was to post up yet another blog about the failings of Mick’s management at Wolves, it would be as depressing to write as it would probably be to read.
Therefore, I thought I would share with you my diary of our one and only year in the Premiership so far.
The first half is below and the second half will be posted in my blog next Friday.
Normal service will be resumed for Tuesday’s blog.
The Prawn Sandwich Brigade – The diary of Wolves Premiership season Part One
The date is 23rd May 2003, it’s my 30th Birthday, and it’s three days before that historic day at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
I’d spent a fantastic weekend up in the Lake District with my missus and then I traveled across to Cardiff with my brother to watch our heroes in old gold ‘n’ black finally make it to the promise land.
At last, a season playing against England’s elite, my god this was going to be exhilarating.
That summer I went away on holiday to Kefalonia, excitingly expectant of news of our first Premiership signing.
Rumours were rife of potential big names being lured to the club, with even Dennis Bergkamp being touted for one last hurrah.
And what do we get instead? Oleg Luzhny. The celebrations were over and reality started to sink in.
If Luzhny represented the sum of the club’s ambitions, then why bother trying to get promotion in the first place?
The club saw further adventurous signings throughout the season of; Isaac Okroronkwo, Jody Craddock, Silas, Henri Camara, Joey Gudjonsson, Vio Ganea, Carl Cort and Steffen Iversen.
Jody is the one surviving member from that season. But who else would we want from that lot at the club now anyway?
Judas Camara or maybe the ever-trying and fans’ favourite, Ganea? Out of all of them, Okroronkwo was probably the only player we let go a bit too early.
I was in quite a lucky position the year we went up the Premiership.
I was in a marketing job at the time at Banks’s Brewery (Wolves & Dudley, Marstons, etc etc).
I looked after brands such as Stella, Guinness, Britvic, Coca-Cola and Carlsberg. They all had corporate facilities at many of the Premiership clubs, and by god was I going to use them!
All my contacts at these brands were made well aware (by me) that I was a staunch Wolves fan and that should they feel the inclination to entertainment me at a Premiership fixture, then they were more than welcome to do so.
The one proviso was that I also got to take along my brother, Ryan, who was a season ticket holder with me in the John Ireland Stand (as it was then).
My plan that season was to tap-up as many of these contacts for corporate tickets as I could and I would try to get along to the other Premiership away games as an ordinary paying punter.
That season I managed to blag my way into corporate hospitality at Man Utd, Bolton, Villa, Leeds, Liverpool, Chelsea and Birmingham.
I’ll admit that my ambition to “pay” for some of the other away games never came to fruition and I always regret not traveling to Man City to see us draw 3-3 or our 1-1 at Newcastle.
Thank god I never missed us actually winning an away game.
And just so you don’t think I don’t pay my way, for the 2001 – 2002 season I traveled to (and paid for) every away game in the Championship.
Anyway, I wanted to share with you the highs and lows of the Premiership corporate hospitality experience.
Starting with the game at Old Trafford; Diageo (Guinness, Bells, Smirnoff etc) had kindly invited myself and my brother (they had no choice) along for our third game of the season against Man Utd.
It was ironic that my first taste of match day hospitality was where Roy Keane infamously stated that some of the corporate crowd were more interested in eating prawn sandwiches than watching the actual football.
It did feel a little weird, eating a three course meal before kick-off, reading the complimentary program and placing my complimentary bet.
The experience was fantastic right up to kick-off and then it all went a little bit pants.
At Old Trafford, sitting in a box, really meant just that. You sat behind a perspex window and watched the game unfold.
The crowd noise was piped in through a speaker that wouldn’t have sounded out-of-place on the cheapest of clock radios.
It was like watching the game at home, but with a static TV camera and an awful view.
I mingled with some of the other corporate guests in the box before the game, most of whom were completely clueless about football and were obviously only there for the free nosh.
They all seemed a little surprised at my obvious passion for Wolves and I must admit it was at this point I wanted to be out there on the terraces, singing about when we used to raise a glass or two with the fans, instead of talking shop with a load of suits.
As for the game itself, talk before was of Wolves getting a double digit thrashing.
Fergie it seemed had taken Wolves a bit lightly. Thinking this would be an easy victory he rested Giggs and Scholes and played the now forgotten men of Kleberson and Djemba-Djemba in midfield instead.
An early goal from O’Shea was enough for Manure to win the game, but Camara should have had a hatful and apart from Silas, the whole Wolves team had every reason to be proud that night.
The Wolves faithful out sung the Man Utd fans for the whole of the game and although I was warm and well fed, I really regret not being out there to back the team with them.
After our comprehensive thumping at home by Chelski, with Crespo coming on and scoring a brace in what seemed about five seconds, I travelled to the Reebok Stadium for my first ever visit to see us play Bolton.
Out of my seven corporate trips that season, this goes down as my favourite.
Pre-match I enjoyed a cracking meal and entertainment by Dave Spikey of Phoenix Nights fame.
I chatted to Dave and saw him play at the Glee Club in Brum a few weeks later.
I then placed a £20 bet on Alex Rae to score the first goal at 25-1 and settled down in the corporate section, which thankfully this time was actually outside.
Whenever I’m sitting with away fans, I always tell my brother to follow my lead and sit on his hands and to try not to react when Wolves score, or come close to scoring.
As soon as a game kicks off this sensibility is thrown right out of the window and I just can’t help myself.
When Alex Rae let fly to score a 30 yard thunderbolt, which not only earned me £500 from my bet, but also meant that we had ended our eight hour premiership goal drought, I shot up out of my seat like a jack in the box and went absolutely mental.
Quickly realizing that I was about to be lynched, I sheepishly sat back down whilst still pounding my fist with delight.
Five minutes from time and there were two thoughts running through my mind.
The first was how fantastic it would be for Wolves to earn their first away victory of the season and our first at Bolton since 1994.
The second rather selfish thought was that I nearly placed my £20 bet on a combination of Alex Rae scoring first and for Wolves to win 1-0, which was 150-1 and would have netted my £3,000.
And so when Lee Naylor helped Bolton to take a quick throw in, from which Kevin Davies subsequently scored, I felt a strange mix of disappointment and relief.
After the game had finished, I turned and realised that Sir Jack had been sitting three rows behind me in the Directors’ Box.
I couldn’t miss the opportunity and ambled across for a chat. I thanked him for all he had done for the club and we shared a laugh about me jumping up like a lunatic when Wolves scored.
Apart from not being able to sit with my own fans, it was a superb day and Bolton do the corporate thing extremely well.
After watching an Arsenal team with the likes of Vieira, Clichy, Hoyte, Wiltord, Aliadiere, Bentley, Kanu and a 16 year old Fabregas destroy us 5-1 in the Carling Cup at Highbury, it was off to Villa for some more of the same corporate blandness.
A nice meal and a load of suits in the corporate box who more interested in talking about their brand positioning, than whether Crouch deserved a start for Villa, or if Miller should have played instead of Sturridge.
Kennedy scored Wolves’ 4,000th post-war league goal in a cracking game which saw Villa win 3-2.
Luzhny, one the worst Wolves players in living memory, started four Wolves games that season including this one and was by far the worst player on the pitch.
In the second half of my diary next Friday, I’ll talk about the time I met Steven Gerrard and how I nearly got lynched at Elland Road.
Good luck to the boys on Saturday.
Wolves fans have your say below
54 Comments
Your right, that was a refreshing change from the usual “sack Mick” blog.
Enjoyed reading about your travels and it brought back some great memories.
Newcastle away we were superb, and our if we could have started with the form we showed in the 2nd half of the season we could well have stayed up.
Great blog - brings back some good memories, despite it only being one season in the premiership! And who could forget the 1-0 win against Man U that season?
“Thinking of the things we used to do….those were the days my friend!”
What a great read! Can’t wait for the 2nd part!
It just shows that perhaps the glamour of the corporate side of watching football isn’t all its cracked up to be eh?
Well done Nath!
Is the full version being printed in the paper? I’d like to send my Dad a copy in Jersey.
Ta.
great blog bro, I like the fact they had ‘no choice’ to invite me also
Looking forward to the rest of it next week
if only those days could return….one day!
good blog nathan, make a nice change like you said from the usual this season!
hopefully win on saturday and points wise we are not that far off still…
Hi Nath, loved the blog.
I remember your come back against Leicester that season, highlights in a disappointing season, but hey we have been there!!!
So glad you havent written another sack Mick blog, i look forward to reading next weeks!!
See you in a few weeks time!!!
Nout to do with above, but noticed the gate at the Crem against palace the other night - a mighty, er 20,000. Yes, we never stop hearing how wonderful the tescos are & how they score for free & will get the double etc etc. with the same team & results, I swear you wouldn’t beg a seat at the mol & early bird would have been closed weeks ago. baggies are what they are footballing plankton. i hear for some games they allow kids (under 40’s) & OAP’s (over 40’s) in for a quid to boost their dismal gates….
This was more embaressing than our current season apart from beating United at home.
The question will still and always remain… Where was the cash Sir Jack promised?
If we went up with this squad we’d be worse than Derby.
Do you really want to go up with this lot
Just smiling about your blog reminds me of one particular Saturday many many moons ago.
It was Saturday morning.I had done a 12 hour night shift (7 till 7)& around 09.00 I went to see my estranged wife & my daughter,Clare, who had only come out of Russells Hall Hospital (Bad Asthma attack)that morning.
Wolves were playing Grimsby away in the F.A. Cup & Clare asked “Dad, can we go to the game?” To which I replied No. “Oh but Dad, I’ve only just come out of Hospital & if you loved me, you’d take me”. “But I haven’t got any tickets,sweetheart” I replied.”But Dad….
She wasn’t going to let it drop & regardless of how many hours I had just put in, I rang Grimsby FC & explained my plight.
“Sure Mr Webb, you can have the required tickets”.So off we set, hitting Grimsby around 2 & a half hours later.
It was a 1-1 draw, but the thing that sticks out in my mind more than anything was the Wolves fans singing to a quiet Grimsby contingent, “You only sing when your fishing…”
Those indeed were the days.
Good blog Nathan - again it throws up the issue of promotion to the Premier League being like a poisoned chalice. We all crave success for our club, we all want a return to the ‘good old days’ - but let’s face it, the Premiership lacks passion, partly due to it’s obligation to satisfy corporate demands. Bearing this in mind, is promotion always such a good thing? I doubt that even the most optimistic of Wolves supporter could argue that the current team would probably fare about as badly as Derby have done this season were we to go up, and we would be losing the competitive element that we (occasionally) demonstrate in Division 1. It would be great to mix it with the big boys again, and to know that we have returned to where we feel we belong, but the top flight is such a different animal to what it was when we were consistently challenging for the league title (or even struggling against relegation in the early eighties). If we were to gain promotion at the end of such a disappointing season then I would wholeheartedly celebrate, just as all my fellow Wolves supporters would.. however, I couldn’t help but feel the celebrations would be tempered by a nagging concern that we would be better off staying in the Championship and building up a team worthy of challenging for the title (under a new manager, naturally!). Food for thought…
Something completely different,but would like to hear comments…It was reported on Radio WM (Tony Butler)last night that Mr Morgan went to Milan rather than Deepdale on Tuesday,”to watch his beloved Liverpool”.If this is true,this is a major slap in the face to all Wolves fans.
Comments …
Mk Bro
Alright mate. Looking back it was quite cheeky to say that they HAD to let my brother go or my toys were being chucked out of the pram. You are not letting my brother join me? Right, thats it, Stella is de-listed from all our pubs. Serves you right!
They were the days eh?
Kent Wolf
You only sing when your fishing…. that made me chuckle, I remember that.
omment 9. OI, WHO YOU CALLING AN OAP AT 40, IVE JUST TURNED 40!!! WHY HAVE A GO AT SANDWELL TOWN? I GENUINELY HOPE THEY WIN THE FA CUP AND BING A BIT OF PRIDE BACK TO THIS ONCE GREAT FOOTBALLING REGION, AS IM SURE DO ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT REALLY DO CARE ABOUT THE FOOTBALL SIDE OF THINGS
Good blogg Nathan - have you read Adrain Chiles book “You don’t know what you’re doing” about following the Albion in the prem for a season ??
Forget its about Albion, its a great funny and passionate story of football fans devotion to their club - try it, I guarantee you will like it… we even get relegated at the end (happy ending for you).
A very refreshing blog Nathan. I too was at Old Trafford courtesy of hospitality that day and everything you say echoes my experience there. The “piped in” crowd noise was truly awful.
The odds were wierd for that game as everybody expected United to get into double figures - I think United to win 1-0 was 14-1 but for them to win 8-0 was something like 6-1. Very bizarre!!
Some good memories of that season and of course some bad ones. The positives for me were around the games against Man Utd and Liverpool home and away, Leicester at home of course. I actually thought our best performance of the season was in the first half of the game at Molineux against Arsenal. Although they ended up outplaying us second half, in the first we matched them in all respects and Vio Ganea was superb.
Downsides for me were the first match of the season when we got thrashed at Bleckburn and those two early home games against Chelsea and Charlton when you just knew that we weren’t going to be good enough to stay up. Still we improved a lot from January onwards and it is the biggest disappointment of the last 20 years of supporting Wolves to me that after many years of trying to get promoted and then re-established in the top flight that we didn’t invest enough in the team in the summer. We are still suffering from that mistake and I still wonder what part Moxey played in those decisions and whether he is still holding us back now.
Favourite ground : Old Trafford (or the Old Wembley, love it or hate it, it was always special to go there)
Worst Ground: Sorry, but it has to be Port Vale on a cold December Saturday afternoon
Best behaved Fans: Without a doubt, it as to be Gillingham. Not just because I live in Kent, but because I found the atmosphere warm & family oriented. Burnley in the Sherpa Van came a very close second
Worst Fans: Sorry Mr Morgan, it as to be Liverpool. I took my younger brother there once for a “Birthday treat”. We were attacked by about 10 Scousers. A close second come Notts Forest. I always wondered why the song “We hate Nottingham Forest” came about….until they threw me off the bridge into the Trent.
Great blog. Dave Jones really did have his hands tied that season.
I think the new make up of the Board with successful local businessmen and a new Chairman with financial
cloat means that it would be different next time round. We aren’t ready to go up this year; but with
a bit of luck on the injury front and some more intelligent team selection we could get it right next
year.
Great read, made a plesant change from story about Mick and our woeful season. Our 1-0 victory against the mighty red devils will certainly be a game i will never forget. The images of Fergie on the big screen, his face getting reder and redder, thought this head was gonna explode!
Kent - they ALWAYS threw people in the trent - it happened to 2 of my old mates - happy days…
Great blog Nathan. Just one question. Did you (or were you tempted to) engage Sir Jack in the subject of the pre-season spending? I know it’s his money and he did put a lot of it our way and we were (and are) thankful but just a few more quality signings…
I still think that there is a story waiting to be told about why, having spent vast sums of money to get us into the Premiership, Sir Jack then did not dig in deep to buy the talent we needed to stay there. It was obvious after the first game that we were not going to stay the course. However, we were not disgraced in the same way as Mick’s mighty Sunderland where when they failed to turn up at most of the games.
The part that Moxey played in that year is remarkabley undocumented and unknown, and what was the cause of the “Golden Tit” comment from Sir Jack?
Perhaps the truth of that period will come out one day, but I suspect that secrecy clauses in contracts might keep it quiet for years yet.
25. Its in the blood
There was a lot of shenanigans going on around that time!
The loss of Lescott & Murray was a major blow and those two players alone could have saved us the drop, there is probably a story there!!
One or two other players would have made a huge difference. I think Jack Heyward’s health was not good and he may have worried at the time that he might not make it.
Heyward fell out with Jones, and Jones found the old man impossible to work with, I know he (Heywood) brought much to the club but he also bungled much too, along with his sons!
The ‘Golden Tit’ comments are from an earlier period and were aimed mostly at Mark McGee. Over the years we have wasted money, but then so have many other clubs. The crime about Wolves is that they spent millions to stay in the championship but when they got to the Premiership they disappeared up their own backsides!
Comment 26 abdonwolf:
Couldn’t have agreed with you more.
It feels a little “Groundhog Day” ish that Jez is still pulling the strings & Steve Morgan & not SJH is doing the nodding!
great blog- I don’t think so Nathan. Just a big “look at me” post
12. Greg Cooper
We don’t want to be in the premiership, lets stay in the championship where its more exciting. We can’t bring back the good old days, we should stay where we are and build a team that can win the league!
But, hang on, then we’d be in the premiership!
WHAT A NUGGET!
26.abdonwolf
I agree with your summary, it was like clutching defeat from the jaws of victory!
Dave Jones is still showing his class with Cardiff, and we are the worse of for it!
Where was Moxey, while all this was going on? Earning massive bonuses would be my first guess! He should have mediated and made it work, just another example of his serial-failings.
OUT OF LIGHT COMETH DARKNESS!
Nathan
When you thanked Sir Jack for what he had done for the club, did you also point out that he had condemned us to certain relegation by spending a pathetic amount on new players? That season he didn’t even have to dig into his own pocket - there was £20M to £30M TV money to come. They never did tell us where that went.
Mr Cynic:
Probably helped pay Jez Moxey his extortionate bonuses.
The 2 players Wolves failed to provide adequate cover for were Lescott & Murray.
To be fair to MM just for this once, the squad he inherited was p*** poor!
Cracking blog Nathan, I just like to say that I am sure you will remember that game against leicester. 3-0 at half time, I seem to rememeber watching the game from the temporary wind swept seating with friends from leicester, my mate from nott’m who’s a wolves fan who incidentally threatened to leave at half time, and moi. It was the comeback of all come backs!
Great days.
And to be consistent with all of my other posts….
MM OUT!!!!
Great blog my name sake!!!
I remember the bolton game like it was yesterday. That is one of the best goals i have seen while I have actually been at a match. Wasn’t it voted number 3 in the goal of the season? I remember walking out of the reebok me and my mate was cursing Davies calling him all the names under the sun and saying how rubbish he was when a bolton fan came over and said he had scored more goals single handedly then our entire team at that point of the season, he’s still a p&ff though was the response!
Remember the Man U game at molinuex, that’s one to tell the Grand Kids, you can say “i was there”, “we watched the game on seats in them days, none of those fancy hover seats you have now, when supporters were supporters!!!”
And the leicester game , ha ha, the turning point was when Hassan Kashlule came on at half time, what an inspiration.
What a lot of silly-billies you all are.
WWFC is a very successful business, bringing in its owners a very good income, including Sir Jack as well in the last few years of his ownership.
It operates in the Championship, because at that level of football it is possible to make good profits on investment, without taking large risks. Remember that every time a Premiership club spend £20M+ for a player they are taking a mammoth risk.
The Wolves policy of only buying non-Premiership players at basement price continues to prove profitable.
Of course, the policy only works as long as large crowds can be persuaded to part with their cash and come and support the team, and to buy the clubs expensive merchandise.
Wolves are able to succeed with these two contradictory policies only because the club once had a long and glorious footballing tradition, and the marketing strategy is based on exploiting that fact, and appealing to the loyalty of the fan base.
Of course, every few years the fan base objects to the lack of playing success, which is where the strategy of sacking team managers and coaches allows the underlying business plan to succeed. The manager is normally given a very large payout, the club can afford it, and other managers can’t wait to get on the gravy-train themselves. So, the strategy becomes self-perpetuating.
To think that the club commercial management will abandon this outstandingly successful business plan, and voluntarily risk the whole financial security of the club by attempting to compete at Premiership level is naive.
So, to anyone who has got this far I would say, just get used to the Championship, because that’s all you’re going to get in the foreseeable future. The business plan continues to work, why should the owner and the board want to change it?
I’m glad the majority of you enjoyed reading the first part of the blog. I intentionally avoided subjects such as club politics or lack of transfer funds. I’ve concentrated on the corporate side of watching the game and how it isn’t always everything its cracked up to be.
36. Accountant Wolf
1. Perhaps because it’s a new owner that not even you know much about!
2. There is even more money to be made in the premiership, if you know what you are doing!
3. That is why we need to sack Moxey, McCarthy etc…
What a silly billy you are for not understanding that, thats why accountants can only take the ship so far, they lack the creative thought to really achieve!
36. Interesting theory from a bean counter, although maybe better kept for your lardy dah mates and leave the football reminiscences to the football fans
I also have football reminiscences, I remember the clubs 1968 balance sheet. That was an absolute corker! It made 1967 one look sick as a parrot, as I believe the players and managers sometimes say.
40. Accountant Wolf
Careful, showing humour is not an asset when it comes to delivering the end of year assessment!
Are you Jez Moxeys PA?
28. Malicioussteve said: Mar 14th, 2008 at 11:22 great blog- I don’t think so Nathan. Just a big “look at me” post.
Very malicious Steve! I write 2 blogs a week, so I don’t think I really need to draw attention to myself!
I think you missed the whole point of the blog. I was hardly showing off, its more the fact that up and until kick off its an extremely enjoyable experience and then its frustrating when you can’t be amongst your own fans.
I know you don’t like people correcting your spellings, Nathan, but . . . program? traveled? Vierra? Stephen Gerrard? (it’s Steven)
43. Bilstonian
People who like pointing out incorrect spellings are usually the social cripples who sit in the corner and never manage to contribute anything meaningful to the world.
Can you tell me what the reason was of pointing that out to Nathan? Does it give you a kick knowing that you are good at spelling, or are you on a mission to improve the human race?
We are here to talk about Wolves and football, if you want to talk about spelling then go and join a spelling forum, I’m sure it will be riveting!
I bet you will go through this now for spelling, punctuation and grammar?
YOU NUGETT or is that NUGGET…I always get so mixed up, but I’m sure you get the point!
Thanks Bilstonian… thats a wonderful contribution. Well Done!
Nathan, I enjoyed your blog. But there were serious omissions. Where was the accountancy viewpoint?
Where were the figures of the investment costs in the teams Wolves were playing compared with the money that Dave Jones was given to spend on that campaign?
Where were the comparisons of the ticket charges at all of those successful clubs compared with the Wolves charging policy?
Where were the figures showing what it costs to provide that corporate hospitality?
Can you comment on the profits to be made by moving on dozens of loyal Wolves season-ticket holders so that more corporate boxes can be created, and thus increasing the companies (a club is not a legal entity) profits?
So many accountancy opportunities have been missed in this blog, that I think you should seriously consider getting somebody from the Chartered Society of Accountants to review your blogs in advance of publication.
36. top post, its good to see others looking at the bigger picture.
MORGAN OUT !
You lucky person Nathan - I’ve only had one experience of Corporate Hospitality courtesy of Good Year - but we beat the boggies 3-1. Great day.
And a much better and interesting blog than previous weeks.
You are sensitive, Abdonwolf, I did not even point out that you had three attempts to spell Sir Jack’s surname and failed each time. As for social cripples, far from sitting in a corner contributing nothing meaningful, I think you’ll find that they usually spend their time blogging. Which brings me to Nathan. Why are you taking a trip down memory lane when our season is reaching its crunch?
Accountant wolf you make some very good points but theres 10 times the money to be made in the premiership than the championship! it’s a steady business i must admit in the championship but why as morgan said he whants to make us more global he whants us to be with the elite of football.he’s a footballing man the only way he can make us more global is premiership football the world stage.Anyway Nathans blog was really refreshing and i look forward to reading the 2nd part.
49. Bilstonian
Heywood, Haywood, Haywould!
Good for you, go straight to the top of the class!
Bilstonian
Oh dear. I explained my reasons for a slight change of tact with Friday’s blog. Shouldn’t that be it’s crunch not its?
No, I’m falling into your sad little world….
Nathan i take it you didnt to Leeds away in corporate i did and when we jumped up about 20 very large Yorshiremen came bounding up the stairs towards us, with only a young whipper snapper of a steward to stop the them. We legged it veru quickly back inside and only ventured above the viewing area only now and agai. Apparently speaking to our hosts that evening it wasnt an uncommon occurance.
BillyQuietwolf
I did do the Elland Road experience…. I mention it in my 2nd part on Friday. The corporate section is set up so you are literally a row behind the Leeds fans and so yes, I almost got lynched as well!