Andy Keogh could well go into the new season as Wolves’ longest serving striker.
That’s a sobering thought for the 22-year-old who has only been at Molineux since January 2007.
It gives a good indication of the changing face of Mick McCarthy’s team and the manager’s relentless quest for the right formula up front, that Keogh has remained a mainstay of the Wolves attack.
The Republic of Ireland international has seen them come and go in his 18 months at the club – Craig Davies, Freddy Eastwood, now Jay Bothroyd and Stephen Elliot are heading for the exit door.
Keogh has seen them all off ,as his hard-working ethic has won over McCarthy, ahead of the more flambuoyant if erratic talents of Eastwood.
Now he faces a new challenge, in the shape of summer arrivals Sam Vokes and Chris Iwelumo.
The former Leeds and Scunthorpe man believes his partnership with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, which flourished in the second half of last season, deserves another go.
While Keogh has hit 13 goals in 50 League starts for Wolves, he and Ebanks-Blake scored 18 goals in 19 games together from January.
Keogh is convinced they have the chemistry to hit it off together again.
He said: “It shows I’ve done something right. It’s good to know I’m still wanted and it’s good to see new players come in, because one way to improve is to play with different players.
“Competition for places is good throughout the whole team. If you’re using the players to your advantage, you can only become better.
“When Sylvan and myself played together last season, we got a few goals together and set a few up as well.
“I scored a few and he got 12, so it was a good scoring rate. If we can keep that going during the season, I’ll be looking to score more and so will he.”
Despite Eastwood’s deaprture, Wolves still have six strikers on their books, although that number is likely to be whittled down to four by the time the transfer window shuts on August 31.
Keogh is unconcerned about the competition, in the belief that his natural aptitude for graft will keep him high in McCarthy’s thoughts.
He linked up with Iwelumo for the first 45 minutes of Wednesday’s friendly at Hereford. He hasn’t much chance to assess Vokes, because of the youngster’s ankle injury.
He said: “We’ve just been doing mostly fitness-based work and once the football work started, Sam knocked his ankle.
“He’s come here for a good reason, because the gaffer has seen something in him, so I’m sure we’ll all see that once he starts training with us, he’ll be a good addition.”
Wolves depart for their Scottish tour tomorrow, with friendlies against First Division Dundee and SPL duo Motherwell and Kilmarnock in the space of seven days.
McCarthy has handpicked the Scots in the belief that the physical nature and quality of the opposition will be as close to the demands of the Championship as they can get.
Keogh is in no doubt how testing the matches will be.
He said: “The SPL teams are going to be tough. They play at a good standard and it will be a good trip to get the new lads ‘gelled in’.
“These games will be a good test for us. A lot of Scottish teams are physical which is what we expect from most games this season in the Championship, bar one or two.
“It will also be hard work because we’ll be training as well on most days doing fitness running, it’s not just matches.
“We’ve got three weeks until the start of the season and every session is important. It’s going to prepare us well, as will the Blackburn game the week before the start of the season.”
Fitness, not results, is god at the moment, with all preparations geared to the big kick-off on August 9.
Keogh believes Wolves’ players are on course to peak at the right time under fitness coach Tony Daley.
He said: “For me, the main thing is that everyone keeps injury-free and works to the maximum.
“It’s all about fitness at this stage – the results don’t matter. It’s nice to win because we always want to win, but the main thing is to keep injury-free and get all the fitness we can to get our sharpness back.
“We’ve been wearing our heart monitors throughout the games so Tony Daley knows exactly how hard we’re working and what needs to be done before the start of the season, so it’s very good.
“Everyone’s similar in terms of fitness but there’s one common denominator – everyone works to the maximum.
“‘Dales’ has everyone’s heart-rates so he can tell how hard people are working. Some people are fitter than others, but ‘Dales’ can tell whether we’re working to our maximum and everyone’s in good shape.
“It’s been tough but you feel good wwhen you’ve put a good session behind you. You know that’s one more session ticked off, in your bid to get fit and sharp in readiness for the season.”
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