New striker Sam Vokes has already rubbed shoulders with Ruud van Nistelrooy this summer – now he’s targeting a first team place at Wolves.
The 18-year-old faced Real Madrid striker Van Nistelrooy when Wales met Holland as the Dutch warmed up for Euro 2008 with a 2-0 win.
The meeting whetted the former Bournemouth attacker’s appetite for forcing his way through a jam packed forward line with his new club.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Andy Keogh, as well as transfer-listed trio Freddy Eastwood, Jay Bothroyd and Stephen Elliott are all still at Molineux.
Vokes said: “To be on the same pitch as Ruud Van Nistelrooy just shows what a massive summer it’s been for me and how it’s all happened really quickly.”
“Now it’s a case of making sure I knuckle down here, keep my feet on the floor and hopefully get a chance.
“There are some really good strikers here but competition is good. Everyone knows how hard they’ve got to work to get in the team, which can only be good.
“It was a great confidence booster to hear the manager saying it was up to me to win a place.
“It’s good to know when you join a new club that even though I’m young, if I work hard and do well I’ve got a chance.
“Wolves are a big club and it’s a good step up for me and that’s something to thrive on.
“The chance to play in front of 24,000 as the average was last season is an opportunity to relish.
“Going into the Championship is a big step-up for me and a great challenge.”
41 Comments
What a great attitude this kid shows.
I hope he earns his chance and makes the most of it. He looks good from what I’ve been able to find so let’s hope he makes the step up and becomes a Wolves legend.
Majority of McCarthy’s signing since he has took over as manager:
Sam Vokes from relegated Bournemouth
David Jones from relegated Derby
Richard Stearman from relegated Leicester
George Elokobi from relegated Colchester
Kevin Foley from relegated Luton
David Edwards from relegated Luton
Freddy Eastwood from relegated Southend
Matt jarvis from relegated Gillingham
Andy Keogh from relegated Scunthorpe
Gary Breen from relegated Sunderland
Neill Collins from relegated Sunderland
When are we going to sign players with a winning mentality? We need Premier League reserve players, purchased or on loan.
NEVER MIND VAN NISTLROY MATE..NOW YOUR COMPETING AGAINST THE BIG BOYS FOR A PLACE..STEPHEN WARD..STEPHEN ELLIOTT, AND THE MIGHTY KEOGH FRANKOWSKI.
GONNA BE TOUGH BOY BUT PUT A SHIFT IN AND WHO KNOWS!!
Can’t wait to see him in action, he looks like a quality player.
Good Luck Kid
Thats an excellent email number 2 and worthy of a spot in the paper me thinks.
You’ll get your chance, but i hope you are able to put in a shift as talent alone doesn’t wash with MM
3. Your the most negative person on these pages, whats your problem?
8# NO I’M THE MOST REALISTIC PERSON ON THESE PAGES.
YOU ON THE OTHER HAND ARE ONE OF THE MOST BORING HAPPY CLAPPING NUMPTIES ON THESE PAGES.
BUT NOWHERE NEAR AS BAD AS NEWBRIDGE AND NIGE WOLF..OR DUMB AND DUMBER AS THEIR BETTER KNOWN.
24,000 fans ….lol.
Still waiting for the fat controller to tell us how many people are stupid enough to be backing Mick again this season.
2 - your an idiot! And Im not going to waste my time explaining why!
8. Its gotta be a baggies fan, does it every day
Why are people still being negative, 2 and 3, I’m sure once he’s had some abuse off you lot he’ll be a better player. Why can’t you just support the club, it’s a new season get behind the lads now.
3-whats wrong with taking the best bits from a poor team? Why sooo negative-give the guys a chance-when we won the play offs were their not players in that squad that had suffered relegation? bet you weren’t moaning then.
2 - I see your point Ragster, although you’re being very pedantic on Keogh who can hardly be blamed for Scunny going down a season and half after he left! (Particularly having won the league at the end of his final season there).
Does this also mean we’ll sign Kevin Phillips in 12 months time after the sparrows sorry thrushes have come straight back down?????
Ragster - Scunthorpe got promoted the year we signed Keogh, Colchester got relegated AFTER Elokobi went, Luton got relegated AFTER Foley and Edwards left, David Jones and Gary Breen have been promoted with derby and sunderland and Stearman and Vokes are highley rated kids who need support, not the constant, negative rubbish that people like you spout.
2 - these teams werent all relegated while these players were still there you muppet!!!! thats like saying robbie keane hasnt got a willing mentality because wolves got relegated from the prem 5 years after he left get a grip son and stop being so negative!!!!! only 2 players out of that list who havent done anything for us eastwood and collins!!!! so stop moaning and shut it or support them lot down the road!!!!
All these negative and back biting comments are made by Sandwell town Muppets in wolf’s clothing,surely not by genuine black and gold blood, grow up and get behind your team, please dont knock your own lads before we have even kicked a ball.
Still got the feeling we missed out by not trying to get Ched Evans from Man City, even on loan… I saw him and Vokes play for Wales against Iceland a few weeks back and frankly Vokes looked a bit of a donkey compared to Evans…still there’s time… look what happened with Peter Withe!!!!
2 & 3 I’m not an MM fan, i’ll give him support untill he fails but there is a lot of truth in what you right. Also Young and hungry diciples need to get a realism check. Quality and passion is what i would look for irrespective of age. Hope Sam does well but nothing looks any different from last year un proven signings. We signed SEB who was recognised as one of the best in the division and he delivered. We gamble a lot on these players, look at the size of the squad, we didn’t need another 6 players we just needed a quality midfielder origionally to play along side George now we need 2. You must have been to the games where we strugled to have a shot. Plymouth last game lot’s of huff and puff but the goalie never made a save in the game. We had 1 shot on target. MIDFIELDER please.
2 where do you expect them to come from Barcelona? Real Madrid? Man Utd? Juventus?
Seriously, where do you think Championship challengers Wolves should be getting thier players from?
Here’s your options:
1) The jewels from other relegated sides (a la Foley, Edwards, Keogh etc)
2) The journeymen from relegated premiership teams that aren’t up to it anymore
3) Premiership loan players that potentially won’t stay a full season and if we got up could well be taken back.
Think about the situation we are in, apply a little thought to it and then attempt to have another go at a considered response.
10 - im backing WOLVES next year like I do every year. Does that make me stupid??? NO IT MEANS IM LOYAL!
SO ACCORDING TO A FEW ARM HOLES ON HERE, IF YOU DON’T HAPPY CLAP..THEN YOU MUST BE A TESCO IN DISGUISE.
LMAO IT GETS BETTER ON HERE EVERYDAY.
First of all I agree a lot with what 21 said.
My main point is I dont know why we are obsessed with signing strikers, we seem to have dozens of them. Surely our problem last season was the lack of a creative midfielder to feed our army of interchangeable strikers
I hope Jones is the creative midfielder we lack but I havent seen him play so I reserve judgement
Im no fan of Micks but so far this summer the signings at least appear to have had a bit of thought put into them
21 You miss the point all these wages all these contracts for 2 and 3 years. We could have bought 3 quality players and paid the wages from the championship if needed. Also Stoke had 4 players who had played in the premiership in there squad and Hull had 2 and Albion most. It’s not about quantity it’s about quality. these players might well be a success and i hope they are but it seems like we are spending a lot of money where we dont need too. The clubs comming down will all be there or there abouts and you know what you get. Not convinced about the buying policey but i know you can’t knock Steve Morgan he really is putting his money where his mouth is.
I hear Sparky’s free, at a price just missed out on Kenny Miller!!!!! No get in the real world 2 MM has lowered the age of the squad, ok he may not be everyone’s favourite but no one can moan about his signings.
Bournemouth were relegated due to a points deduction last season. I think they won 6 out of their last 8 games.
number 4 looks at one side
he looks at some of the players that we have bought have a negative mentality, but look at these examples.
jemal johnson premier side blackburn
jay bothroyd premier side charlton
sylvan ebanks blake mid table plymouth.
darren potter champion league winners liverpool
darren gibson manchester united
charlie mulgrew celtic
stephen ward champions league qualifiers bohemians
karl henry newly promoted stoke
the point im making is tht it doesnt matter were the players come from i belive as soon as they walk through the molineux gates, thier mentality is premier league football
Sam Vokes from relegated Bournemouth
David Jones from relegated Derby
Richard Stearman from relegated Leicester
George Elokobi from relegated Colchester - success
Kevin Foley from relegated Luton - success
David Edwards from relegated Luton - success
Freddy Eastwood from relegated Southend - toerag
Matt jarvis from relegated Gillingham - success
Andy Keogh from relegated Scunthorpe- success
Gary Breen from relegated Sunderland - relatively succesful
Neill Collins from relegated Sunderland - once seen as the best centreback we had.
Mick’s made some shocking signings eh? Why was Ebanks Blake and Kightly mising off the list? Oh, yes, because it didnt support your argument.
On teh whole Micks buys have been solid and he hasnt bankrupted us.
Premiership reserves? who from? bottom 6 sides? Quality post.
21.Randoom
Who cares if the loan premiership players go back after their loans, at least (as in Hull’s case with Frazer) the do their jobs and get teams promoted. Stoke had a few premier loan players as well.
All i’m saying is that we should look at quality, not necessarily quantity. The Arsenal reserve teams always give the lower league teams a good thumping in cup competitions, premier reserve players have that winning mentality.
I just think the players we are currently signing aren’t good enough, not for promotion anyway. As proved in the past, it was only when we signed quality players like Ince and Irwin, to compliment the other signings, is that we got promoted.
I am sure Jez Moxey looks like the Fat Controller.
As for the signings….can they cut the mustard?
The team seem to promise a lot every season and then fail. I don’t see spending millions to be the answer. Rather a consistent, quality winning team.
29. quality post mate trouble is with ragster and fans like him they love to be negative and when things are going well you rarely hear from them kind of fans wolverhampton wanderers could do with out!!!! im not biggest of MM fans but while he is managing my team he has got my support and watever players pull on that gold shirt!!!
“We need Premier League reserve players, purchased or on loan.”
Like Gibson and Potter then? Muppet.
Its strange cos he does remind me of a young Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Interestingly now MacLean has handed in a transfer request. We need to hold firm and offer £2 million tops plus sell-on clause. No one, even QPR, will come in at £3 million, as he is unproven at this level!
Ragster,
Here’s the challenge with Prem reservists and why I think it is dangeous to have more than one or two:
1) You pretty much have to guarantee them 1st team football otherwise the Prem teams won’t let you have them. Do you want a Prem team dictating the team we put out?
2) What happens if we have 4 or 5 of them that help us go up and then they go back? 50% of our Championship promotion side gone? Realistic chances of staying up = zero, realistic chances of you then slating the manager for taking us down = plenty
I appreciate that we need quality rather than quantity, but eggs and baskets and all that. What happens if we spend bigger on a few players and then they don’t work out, who do we turn to then?
Get behind the manager, the signings, sing your hearts out for the lads and let’s take this league and have a squad capable of competing for Prem survival!!!!!
3 & 8:
I shake my head in disbelief and shame!
Surely Keogh is on the transfer list? What use is this puffed up powder-bowl to us?
Totally agree with 38 get rid of Keogh now- get a million and buy Dagnall from Rochdale or Bishop from Bury
Sam Vokes from relegated Bournemouth - one of the brightest prospects around at the minute
David Jones from relegated Derby - missed a big chunk of last season and highly regarded.
Richard Stearman from relegated Leicester - England u21 defender and set for a bright future
George Elokobi from relegated Colchester - crap
Kevin Foley from relegated Luton - looks good to me.
David Edwards from relegated Luton - not yet made my mind up, buthasn’t really had a chance yet.
Freddy Eastwood from relegated Southend - crap
Matt jarvis from relegated Gillingham- great signing who adds balance to the team
Andy Keogh from relegated Scunthorpe - nothing wrong with keogh… international striker
Gary Breen from relegated Sunderland - “war horse”.. done a good job.
Neill Collins from relegated Sunderland - absolutely the biggest pile of shite i’ve ever seen…
you can’t win them all, i think on the balance of things that mick has done pretty well. If you look at the value of the squad he had and the value now I doubt you could argue.
Ragster you are a disgrace, you need to get your facts right first. As already pointed out, most of the players you’ve mentioned weren’t even at their respective clubs when they went down. I bet you are one of those moaners who ruin it for everybody else on matchday barking out insults and crap everytime a misplaced pass or effort goes wide. You along with the other cancerous morons are the reason why certain young players never fulfill their promise with the negative jibes and slagging off during games. Its as though certain players are condemmed men before they’ve even kicked a ball in anger.