Wolves stalwart Jody Craddock today insisted Mick McCarthy is the only man to lead the club to the Premier League amid growing criticism for the manager.
Now the club’s longest-serving outfield player, Craddock has had the one-year option invoked by Wolves to secure his immediate future.
Craddock remains the only experienced central defender in McCarthy’s immediate plans after seeing defensive colleagues Gary Breen and Darren Ward released and put up for sale.
And the 32-year-old believes fans should back McCarthy, not be calling for his head.
“The gaffer is one of the best managers I have had the privilege of working with,” said Craddock.
“I know some fans are calling for his head, but I can’t see who could possibly replace him because he does his job so well.
“I don’t know what some fans expect. Hopefully he will get us promoted next season.
“I think he’s doing a fantastic job. If we’d have won one more game we would have been in the play-offs and I’m convinced we would have won them. So yes, it’s frustrating, but I think we’ll be better for it.
“I got promoted at Sunderland, so I know what it’s about. It would be great to do it at Wolves and be part of things.”
McCarthy’s decision to extend Craddock’s stay into a sixth season was an about-turn as he seemed to be heading out of Molineux earlier in the season.
Craddock was about to be offered a deal by Premier League-bound Stoke but he says he has no regrets about staying in the Championship.
“I’m really happy to be staying at Wolves,” he said. “At the start of the season, I was on my way and Stoke were about to offer me a contract. So it’s fantastic to be staying here. I love the club and I always wanted to stay here.”
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70 Comments
crikey! is this the PR at wolves now to try and get support for MM? get all the players to do a piece in the paper claiming he is the man to take us up! maybe he is ,maybe he isnt but players trying to tell us this isnt going to convince us, its the results on the pitch that will convince us!! do they think we are all that naive??? many fans have probably made their minds up about MM and it wont matter what he does, but at the end of the day, he’s staying so lets accept it and hope he does the business!
Spot on. MM has done so much for this club after the dark days of Hoddle. We’re on the up, and the future is looking bright.
Jody - you cant really say anything else can you ? I just hope you are right !!
Well said Jody
one jody craddock!
i would say the same if i got 1 more year on the payroll for working part time all these wolves players backing muppet mick i hope when hes sacked next october or november next year they will hand there wages back
“I don’t know what some fans expect”…..
After spending nearly £8million this year, err top 6 at least Jody. I’m not knocking you but i’m starting to get fed up with a different player having a pop at the fans on a daily basis!
I am getting a bit fed up about hearing that “mick is the man”. He clearly isn’t the man, failing to get us to even the play offs in one of the worst championship seasons ever. Too many favourites, playing them out of position and not playing certain players so as not to be proven wrong. This is not a way to run a club. A manager should “manage” potential problem players and play them on the undoubted potential.
i saw some terrible football at wolves last season. passing like crabs, no bite in midfield, nobody taking the opposition on & getting that cross in across goal. i actualy left the ground depressed. throw in the last minute goals against that cost us so much…. how does this reflect on a manager to get the crowds back & take us up????
Yesterday fantastic football - today a manager doing a fantastic job. Who writes this fantastic stuff, or should that be fantasy stuff !
Thank God for Jody! Someone who actually knows MM rather than a moaner who doesn’t.
Animal, so its OK for you lot to pop at MM every time you fancy it, but the staff and players aren’t allowed an opinion.
Remember… we came down with Leicester and Leeds… Wanna swop??
Jody I am glad you have a new contract because you have proved a lot of people wrong in the last two years (and deserve it) but don’t criticise the fans for having expectations to get promoted! MM said ” we are aiming for the top two” prior to the season starting and the club said ” the minimum is play - offs”. Enough said!!!!!!
stoney wolf - its the same old story from the players who are being regularly played on the “favouritism” factor. Apart from Rob Edwards who is injury prone and thus has to leave the club. These players will back him won’t they.
I’m afraid to say its been poor 1 dimensional football under mick, that is fact.
How Can Jody back Mick as , who sent him on loan to Stoke at the beginning of the season as his career at Wolves looked over!
11
Great point, leeds and leicester, not many clubs get back to the prem, if you look at the amount that have gone down, some get relegated again from championship
Dear Jody
As you don’t know what fans expect, I’ll enlighten you:
1) A team which plays bright, attacking football
2)A manager who secretly can think what he likes but who publicly supports the long-suffering fans.
3) A team which challenges for the top 2 when the manager himself says it’s a reaonable target
4) A Chief Executive and manager who are prepared to admit they made mistakes.
5) A manager who is not a laughing stock with most football fans because he is arrogant and most of what he says isn’t worth hearing.
6)A team that at least once in a season gains plaudits not just from the fans but from experts who see our football and compare it favourably with the football played elsewhere in the Championship.
In answer to your question, “Who else?”:
Paul Ince, Roberto Martinez, Richard Money, Phil Brown, Tony Mowbray, Darren Ferguson, Keith Downing, Chris Evans, Simon Grayson, Alan Irvine etc
I don’t understand this paranoia about finding anybody else and sticking with Mick by default. With the support, the facilities and the stable financial position at the club, it can’t be impossible to find one of the progressive, young managers to take us on!
“i’m starting to get fed up with a different player having a pop at the fans on a daily basis”…
Part of the problem really - some fans think they ought to be immune from criticism yet just because they have paid for a ticket they feel that they are justified in dishing out vocal criticism themselves. Some people simply do not realise that this attitude and negativity is counter-productive.. then they wonder why players or managers occasionally cite (the vast minority of) supporters as being detrimental to what they are trying to achieve. I was always brought up to believe that if you have to criticise (where necessary) then at least do it constructively, but never consider yourself above criticism (where warranted) either…
I think the whole ‘I’m going to have a pop at them, but how dare they have a pop at me’ attitude is absolutely pathetic and I know I’m not alone in wishing the moaners would either shut up or ship out.
Well said Jody! i am sick and tired of so called Wolves fans criticising Mick all the time, true fans stick behind the team and the manager whatever. We haven’t exactly had a disasterous season anyway so what’s all the fuss about! We are all in this together and if you don’t like it, you know what you can do!!!!
really pleased you’re staying Jody!
To be frank who cares where Leeds and Leicester are. It’s about where Wolves are! 1 season in the premiereship in 22 or 23 three years is a shocking return for a team with our tradition, support, finances, and players! Something needs to change and I hope that MM can turn things round soon otherwise we start all over once again.
Tin hat time at the mol. You’re either with Mick or you’re out (Breen, Freddy etc). Let’s hope this digging in mentality transfers onto the pitch eh! In the meantime, can everyone linked to the Wolves payroll kindly go on holiday or at least refuse to speak to the press. I thank you.
Wolves81 said “I’m starting to get fed up with a different player having a pop at the fans on a daily basis”.
Haven’t you lot got the message yet. The club needs support from its fans, not the boring, repetitive criticism I see on this site. Get behind the players, get behind the manager and then you’ll see a difference.
Over the last 10 years the club has had only one constant. The club has had good managers but we kept changing them because of the negative attitude of the crowd. The club has had good players but many were unable to stand the negativity at Molineux and so their game deteriorated so they left. The one constant has been the hectoring, spiteful, mean, nasty continually spiteful reaction of the crowd to anything which doesn’t go 100% the right way. Do you get the point - you are the ones who have stopped the Wolves from getting back to the Premiership many years ago and you are the ones stopping the club now.
I believe that 50% of the correspondents on this site are just schoolboys who don’t know better but I think there is a small proportion out there that represents the cowards who boo the players from the stands. They should know better.
Whatever happens, I will always be a wolves supporter and I will always support the team, the manager and the club’s senior management. I do not believe I know better about football than the professionals so I will leave it to them to run the club.
Up the Wolves !!!
Do you think every player at Manchester United has to write an article in the paper saying what a good manager Ferguson is?
No, is the answer!
If McCarthy was a good manager I don’t think they would have to be doing it at Wolves either! Player after player saying how good he is is beginning to look ridiculous. If I was McCarthy I would be embarrassed about the amount ‘propping up’ I needed!
The club are taking a massive risk keeping hold of him now. If we loose any of our big names over the summer and we get off to a bad start next season then the position of the club after Hoddle will be nothing in comparison to what we will face!
Also McCarthy will be finished as a manager. If he were to go now then he would easily find a position at the likes of Barnsley or Walsall, which is where he should be.
Sooner or later he will fail, and it would be better to go now. I am sick of all the ‘Big Time’ talk coming from Molineux I want to see ‘Big Time’ football on the pitch and I don’t want to see anymore ‘kiss and tell’ stories coming from within the club.
Those running Wolves are a bunch of amateurs both on and off the pitch, until we are rid of them nothing will move forward.
McCarthy, Moxey, the board the rest of the coaching staff and any fans that support this second rate regime - OUT NOW!
Professionals and winners in please!
Nail on the head, Nige Wolf.
This all reminds me of politics. Politicians know if they pound the same message at the population often enough and for long enough, eventually, the masses will believe any lie.
As the criticism has intensified, so have these messages of support from the players. It does appear they are coming from the PR department.
Which player’s name will be put to the next one ? And the next, and the next.
11. And we went up with Pompey - I think we’d all swap with them!
I’ve been one of MM’s biggest critics this year - I think he’s got a lot of things wrong, but in the main they have been man-management errors and player selection errors. I have no problem with his tactics & formations - we were longing for a 4-4-2 with quick wingers when Hoddle was in charge, so we shouldn’t moan now we’ve got it. Trouble is - injuries forced him to play without Kightly & Jarvis for much of the season (I go back to Steve Ward on the left and all sorts of others on the right). If we can start next season with these two flying on the wing and a fit Lewis Gobern to back ‘em up, we’ll start to enjoy it again. BUT - MM is going nowhere, so we all need to start next season on a positive note and back him & the team - otherwise we won’t have played our part - if we do this and we still struggle after 2 months, well then he only has himself to blame if the crowd turns. I for one think he can get back the feel-good factor of his first season, bring on next season!!
How much did MM pay u to write this jody, and i had just come round to thinking u are a good player.
MM out and take Kyle with u!!!
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I must admit I disagree with a lot of what’s been said over the last week or so - knocking the manager and players etc.
However, let’s go back to the season before this one. Many people expected to be fighting against relegation, yet with a young team we reached the play offs - over achievement !! This season, we hit the buffers a little, and naturally this has fuelled great disappointment which has been vented particularly over the latter part of the season. Had we finished mid table last season I think most Wolves fans would have been happy with that and therefore just missing out on the playoffs this season would have been a vast improvement. As it’s always been with the Wolves - and I’ve supported them now for over 40 years - we always want to run before we can walk and I say again I think that the over achievement of last year has led us us to think that we are better than we actually are.
This side (with the addition of maybe 3 or 4 others) will take us to the Premier next year - I have to believe that because i’m Wolves through and through.
I know I’ve aired some grievances about manager and players myself this season, but as some people have already pointed out this was always a 3 year task. Let’s just see what happens at the end of next season, then make judgement.
CUCKOO CUCKOO Another plonker backing super mad Mcarthy
I am so glad that we did not renew our season tickets.
I’ve never heard so much bull in 37 years of going to Molineux.
MM has ago at the fans
Keogh has ago at the fans
Moxey blames the molineux factor
Excuse after excuse from a bunch of worthless second division no marks who couldnt score goals if the game was 90 days long.
“9 striklers a year” mcarthy struggled for goals
“happy with my squad” mcarthy released 10 players from his “happy squad” - 9 that he personally bought in!
This looks liks an orchestrated PR exercise to me.
Perhaps Moxey told every player to go public and back Mick (and his fantastic footballing side) Mcarthy
Delusional the lot
Get out now while you can or face another boring season with the lunatics gang in charge
Incidentally, all of this chat about the Molineux factor in recent days isn’t really backed up by the stats. This season, we finished 8th in terms of home form (a point behind 6th and 7th placed Cardiff and Barnsley). On away form alone, we were 6th - only a point ahead of Charlton in 7th.
In terms of the home performance, we got more points than both Watford and Palace and were only better than Hull and Bristol City on away performances from the top 6.
As I said, it doesn’t stack up. What does was our woeful record against the top sides (1 win and 39 points from 48 dropped against the other sides that finished in the top 9).
Which comes down to the manager (tactics/motivation/team selection etc) and not the “molineux factor” (i.e. fans and expectations).
18 quote[quote ewmo],We haven’t exactly had a disasterous season anyway so what’s all the fuss about!
what you on about 18 its been dismal now for donkey’s years, wise up, the truth is its getting too bad now and is never ending, we deserve much better we are ‘THE WOLVES’ in case you forgot.
I am about ready to boycott this club ….. and it hurts me to say it.
I am more prepared to pay for a season ticket down Willenhall Town than at Molyneux with this constant scripted put down of the fans by now players (have Moxey and McCarthy run out of scripts).
In the past wolves have been forced to employ a manager that is available with little choice available.
Please re-unite this club now Mr Morgan !! or trade in the club - i’ve got £20
Big Sam is available - get him now !!!!!!!!
Please Mr Morgan get some control of the continued drivel coming out the Mol! Wolves PR is dire!
We all know we where average at best last season, we all know MM future is in question. I personnally would accept MM for another season with no moaning. But if a better manager was available, I would be tempted. Paul Ince?
MM has only one thing to answer, IMO. Why oh why didn’t he get better quality in for the defence? McNamara not well enough replaced, Little sent away, as was Craddock too!
Ward, Breen, Collins, Edwards not good enough.
Defence was clearly the weakness last season, it got worse this!
Freddie was a mistake, just hope we get good money for him.
GET QUALITY IN MICK, your last chnace?
well said abdon wolf. Who’s turn will it be tomorrow maybe stephen ward or perhaps Neil Collins. be more intersting to hear from Denes Rosa or the likes of Gleeson or mark little
21) If you read my post i’m not criticising, I’m citing a criticism from a player.
I’m not one of the knocker’s but cant the club just make 1 statement of intent instead of keogh/craddock/mcarthy etc come out and have a pop in the press.
This isnt the way to make friends and influence people!
PS Season Ticket holder since 93/94 season
Also McGhee/Colin Lee good managers!!???
Their we still be only one Dave Jones!!
Us supporters pay our money so we are intitled to our say, if its for or against MM. Personally im against MM, i honestly think that a fresh approach would work wonders with additions to the squad as it is, (not adding anymore of MM`s ex sunderland irish and removing collins). Ive had enough of MM`s lack of man management, his arrogant stubborn attitude and having to knock us fans. You have seen this season he wont change, he wont admit his wrong and next season will be the same. MM OUT.
Nothing will change next year because Thick Mick won’t change. We are a week into the close and we have already lost a week of preperation for next season. The sooner this loser and all his party whips leave the better.
Staying down the Thick Mick way. Negative football and players who can put in a shift…oh yes
You’ve all heard of the difficult second album? Well MM has had the difficult second season…the band members are gathering around and defending the manager, but they produced the second bad album…the fans, are upset and angry> Summer we’ll need to replace the bass player and lets hope we can produce the massive hit single we all hope for before the end of the year.
If only the fans agreed Jody. Those Mick referred to as ‘Chest-banging Nuggets’, despite knowing MM is staying, will continue to moan. They know there opinion will not change anything! Same people Keogh mentioned yesterday. He was right and so is Jody. One more year!
Cashman, if I’m a plonker for looking at things in perspective then so be it. I don’t think I mentioned MM by name in my post and I’ve made my fair share of criticism about him. I tried to concentrate on what the team had done this year in comparison to that fantastic end to last season and then tried to look at it logically and no matter which way you look at it we overachieved last season which led to higher than warranted expectations this year and hence all this spleen venting - which everyone is entitled to do but please let’s not resort to calling people plonkers just because they don’t agree with you.
As for all this about players having a go at fans, I think a lot of it comes down to how the E&S interpret what’s been said. Personally I think that all that the players are saying is that yes it does ‘hurt’ when the boo boys get going that they are trying their best but as you all know it sometimes doesn’t happen. As somebody rightly pointed out earlier, we came down with Leeds and Leicester may I suggest that those that aren’t happy at the mo to go and buy either a white shirt or a blue shirt and go and support those two extremely successful clubs.
Blimey
Wolvesonandon
The Leeds Leicester point isn’t to say that Wolves have over performed… just to point out the other option! This isn’t easy.
Various
And as for crowds, my maths ain’t great but they look up on last year to me….
cashman
Bunch of fans and journos call for MM out. Players get asked what they think… they respond… yup orchestrated, but by those who stared the stupid row and keep it going day on day.
Stoney Wolf…..absolutely mate. The Leeds/ Leicester point that I borrowed from you was to say that these two were good enough to go up to the premier with us and came down at the same time and have now gone backwards. We have at least been treading water. The glass is half full, not half empty !!
If he such a great manager, I wonder why he: Left a freefalling Millwall, missed to qualifications with Ireland, failed to handle Roy Keane, got relegated with Sunderland, missed out on promotion with Wolves twice?
And of course I failed to mention all his other “achivements” including his selection policy.
For all those fans that swallow the Moxey PR hook, line and sinker then think they can turn on other fans and tell them to stay away because they are the true fans I have this to say…
You are in the minority, you are wrong, you have nothing to say other than cliche ridden regurgitated McCarthy/Moxey quotes. You are football illiterates harming the cube with your ‘looser’ mentality!
I have read your nonsense all season and followed your laughable excuses as the club lurches from one inept performance to the next. And on top of it all you have the collective audacity to pontificate to fellow fans telling them how they should behave and that they should silence themselves unless they follow the M&M spin!
Pathetic!
I’m getting really bored with all of this now. The season is over now and I’m resigned to another season with muppet at the helm. What should be happening at this point is a ‘cooling off’ period. Players, manager, fans et al go on holiday and get ready for the next season, listen to the gossip about the new signings waiting in anticipation etc. Somebody at the club needs a good slap though because all of these interviews are just fanning the flames of discontent…I’m sure somebody wants a riot to erupt at the first game of next season! Morgan needs to get all of his staff by the throat and tell them to keep it shut and we as fans need to draw a line in the sand and let sleeping dogs lie until next season
16, absolutely agree couldnt of put things better
PLEASE CAN WE HAVE ONE DAY OFF REST FROM HEARING
1. WE LOVE MICK
2. MICK WILL TAKE US UP
3. THERE JUST A YOUNG SIDE
4. WE’LL WALK THE LEAGUE NEXT SEASON
talk is cheap
FLINTONWOLF- Craddock is the plonker that I am talking about. Not you.
This is pathetic, they are all saying MM is great because of the fact that if he goes and another manager comes in, then the likelihood is that most of these “footballers” will be looking for another team. Craddock is in the comfort zone. Getting paid handsomely so why else would he say MM is the best coach he could have played for!
WOLVES PR machine is in over drive to support a under pressure manager!
STONEYWOLF
This season is over and number of early bird season ticket sales are down because of the crap football this year and the extortianate prices- £950 for me and my lad to watch baffling team selections players out of position, £1.5mil striker left out cos MM is sulking, Mcindoe sold cos mcarthy is too stubborn to change his principles, rosa knocking goals in for fun in the reerves and not getting in the 16, Jay cant be bothered waltzing round day dreaming about his bentley continental, collins giving away more penalties than Elliot & Ward & Botheroyd score in goals, 9 strikers bought in 18 months - but no more goals to show for it, mick saying he is happy with his squad but then letting 10 of them go at the end of the same season, MM ranting and raving at the players the fans sky sports dissing reporters ignoring fans at the last match instead iof applauding along with the team at the final whistle Pig headed thik Yorkiwe bar Mcarthy only knows one thing work hard and ruin lots then you get a membership to the Mad Mick Club
You may well have enough energy left for another season of mad-mick-ology I wish you and the team well but I am tired of the crap.
Mick is not the man for Wolves, nor any club with Premiership aspirations.
He is at best a league 1 or 2 manager, as he is able to squeeze the best out of new / unproven talent. Given a budget and some seasoned footballers and he falls apart and so does the team.
He is however here for the time being and I for am all done screaming for his head.
He has done a good thing by shipping out the bulk of his signings from last season, and if, like he promises, we do not lose Kights, Seb or Wayne we owe it to WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS to get back behind the team.
Mick knows he is not guaranteed a full season in 08/09, and you can bet he will be “looking at the table” with a lot more frequency and trepidation as Morgan and Moxey will be faxing it thru to his office after every game.
COME ON YOU WOLVES FANS LETS PULL TOGETHER
COME YOU WOLVES !
If you pound the same lie at the public often enough and for long enough, eventually the thick masses will come round and believe it.
Which players’ name will next be credited to this outrageous and concerted PR exercise ?
How many managers do you think have signed two new players for over £2million quid (Freddy/Ward) and then made them available for transfer after one season??
Yes Mick is wonderful Jody, a great judge of player, gone by xmas me thinks!!
What a brilliant piece of accountancy! Moxey must be saving tens of thousands on a Public Relations Officer. Moxey saves money, players keep their jobs. Wow!
Call me cynical but the support for MM is cringeworthy,makes me want to puke to be honest.
Anyone got any transfer news?
Interesting that the majority of posters who constantly moan and complain are also the same folk whose messages are usually littered with spelling mistakes and other grammatical inaccuracies.
Just saying, like.
Yet another PR blunder, only hours after the last PR blunder.
“I don’t know what some fans expect”.
I have no further comment.
58 Greg Cooper
Given up trying to argue any form of footballing points I see!
What kind of pea-brained point are you trying to make?
I fail to see why caring and being passionate about your football team should be ridiculed by someone like you, as moaning and complaining!
Just saying, like!
Cradock should thank his lucky stars he is still hear, he should have gone with breen ward and collins
61
You don’t get to many games do you.
There’s only one Jokey Craddock…..
As for MM’s tactics-playing 2 wingers, doesn’t preclude deploying overlapping full backs.
They can’t afford to sack him, a 12 month role over contract to be settled, 5 players who are dead money and continue to be paid, no play off money, what a mess. Thats why they are keeping him, Moxey is the great businessman, well I wouldn’t like him running my business, he has got himself in a mess and is doing anything to get out of it. Ive had a great idea Jez, why not blame the fans !
:O a player saying micks the manto take us up?!?!? i wouldn’t mind him staying if he realised his mistakes and attempted to change em but he’s soo fickle he will do the EXACT same next year!!! MM OUT!
Jody it’s nice to see you stick up for MM, and if you say he is one of the best managers you have worked with, I believe you.
Every wolves fan has their own idea who could replace MM, and that is what makes football in general so interesting, because everything is based on opinions.
I personally think that MM has not got the ability to deliver what he promises, yes MM believes in himself and so he should, I respect that.
Because of that I will stand by his decision until such time that to me they are no longer working, this is not a short term vision but a long term vision.
In my mind what MM delivered this season was poor, but if he promises things will be different next season I will give him the benefit of the doubt and my full support, for this I expect results and not just promises.
We have heard the talk time and time again, it’s about time MM walked the walk.
Well done michael mcindoe by the way. He’s proved mccarthy wrong. Everything mcindoe said this season ha been so true. Hope your happy muppet mick.
i cant believe all you wolves fans who boo mm under hoodle we couldnt score and we drew to many games,but mick has done a excellent job and we have a young team but some of you need shooting what do we except to just turn up and win every game !!!we are not in debt, we are not going to the wall and we are never relegated .we need to be patient and if you sad ones dont the bugger off we dont need you we have a good young side and yes we havent made the pl;ayoffs so another season in the champ will do us no harm ..why not ask liecester what relg is like when you change the managers quickly you get relegated . mm is totally honest and what do you want a yes man to the fans,sorry if that is the case then support chelsea mm is okay but some of you are so sad!!!you spoil it jex is good and mm is and morgan is to .sir jack did what you wanted and we did nothing !!!!so up to you so called wolves fans that boo players ot your fault not the players well not all i agree that our defence wasnt good until crad came back i agree but what do you want in terms of a wolves defender a world class one that stops every thing well this is the champ.as for goalys we have the 2 best in the champ for sure defence not the greast est but very low conceded . asw for midfield we need some one to unlock the door i agree but if dont like it support so other club
I don’t boo wolves or the manager-ok.I happen to think F.eastwood IS A GOOD PLAYER but wolves want him out.Mind you i thought Mcindoe was a good footballer also-shows you what i know-obvious the manager thinks otherwise and gets well paid for the priviledge.
Jody Craddock, the poor man’s Frank Munro