Wolves have revealed they always wanted to sign two left-backs after completing the deadline swoops of Matt Hill from Preston and George Friend from Exeter.
Hill has signed for three-years, Friend two plus a one-year option after terms and undisclosed fees were agreed following successful medicals. Stephen Elliott has signed a three-year deal at Preston.
Hill, 27, was set to make his debut in a noon friendly at Compton against Coventry reserves.
Friend is 20, 6ft 1ins tall and helped the Grecians back to the Football League in last season’s play-off final. He has played just 37 Blue Square Premier and League games, but he has had the scouts flocking to watch him and had been linked with West Ham.
Boss Mick McCarthy revealed it was always his intention to sign two left-backs, saying: “We always wanted a left-back when George Elokobi was fit, so when he got injured, we needed two and that’s what we’ve done.”
Hill recently lost his place to Callum Davidson at left-back, but is confident new surroundings will see him return to his best form.
“I’m delighted to be here,” he said. “It’s a fresh start for myself and a new challenge at a club which wants to go places. Alan Irvine (Preston manager) gave me the option to come and speak to Wolves and I’m glad I’ve done so and I’m really happy..”
McCarthy said: “Matt is a good and solid left-back who we had watched before we signed George Elokobi.
“When George was injured we made an enquiry to see if Matt was available and got a positive response from Preston. He has played over 300 first team games and at 27 is in his prime.”
The signing of Jason Shackell earlier yesterday sees an end to Wolves’ interest in Sunderland’s Danny Higginbotham, who has rejoined Stoke.
McCarthy has been nominated for the Championship’s Manager of the Month award.
62 Comments
Not heard of George Friend but must be worth a punt. I do know the other two though and I’m happy with yesterday’s business - glad to see some dosh recouped from Elliott’s sale too - well done everyone at Molineux in sorting out our defensive back up.
Bring on the next 42 games!
A huge well done to Mick, Jez and Steve for the fantastic summer recruitment they have achieved.
These are the best group of players we have had at Wolves for some time.
SUPER MICK, WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!
I THINK IM HAPPY NOW!!!
I PREFER HAVING LOADS OF DEFENDERS THAN LAST SEASONS MILLIONS OF STRIKERS!!
I hope wolveswolves can read this. But with some luck he still be playing with his toys….
1
2
3
All together now. AAAAAHHHHH!
They say that George Friend likes to run past the winger and overlap? well all I can say to you george is you better have the pace of Usain Bolt!!! cos thats the only way you are gonna get to overlap Matt Jarvis!!!! Good 3 solid signings. My hat goes off to MM, JM and of course Taff and Bowman and the rest of the scouting system. The futures Gold…..Old Gold
Nooooo! Anything but the cursed Manager of the Month Award!
Seriously though, congratulations to the team at the Wolves for what looks like the building of a team which is showing signs of delivering upon their potential. We just need to remain confident…. remember we’re not going to win every game, especially 5-1!
Super Mick
Another day, another George
great job, seems like 3 really good buys, talk about going to the wire on deadline day. well done to all involved.
we’ve now got great strength and depth in all departments, except cover for the wings, which is the only place I would have liked to seen us look to cover.
If kightly, jarvis and jones can stay fit, I think this will be our year!
Not bad at all …. we needed to strengthen our defence and we have done.
I’ve seen Friend play at a free game i got to see at Kiddy and he looked ok to me (went up and down the line all day!!)
great work mick. If we can keep them all fit we can replace west brom next season in the prem.
Seems like MM and the team know what there doing, i just hope this is the year, i really don’t think i have anymore in me, disapointment after disapointment has taken its toll over the years. Come on boy’s do it for us fans
We are wolves
MM must have the MOM in the bag… damn it!! It should be officially named the “kiss of death”.
Great signings though… 2 with plenty of games under their belts at this level and a highly rated youngster from a similar background to Kightly.
Hats off to Mac, Mox and Morg!
weve now got george elokobi, little, micky gray, friend and hill not forgeting stephen The utility player Ward. Why sign 2 left backs when youve sent one who is decent to northampton?? personally we should have gone for gerrard from walsall a central defender. keep it going so far ao good. up the wolves
Nice one guys ! Well done to all the scouts and deskjockeys that got this all wrapped in time !!!
COME ON YOU WOLVES !!!!!!!
A promising career, never quite took off for Matt though, hope he can show his best form here, and Micks right, at 27 hes in his prime now, lets hope he can provide a decent backup till big George gets back.
good bit of work from the management… i think we have some good players for every position… just wished i had put on more than a tenner for wolves to win the league at the beginning of the season!
I know we wolves fans are a fickle bunch.. but scoring goals always keeps us happy! muppet mick may well be magic mick sooooon!
Good singnings. God knows we needed them. However, the only blip on the horizon is the MM has been nominated for Manager of the Month award. That’s usually the kiss of death!! I really hope it isn’t for our sakes. Just hope that Kites or Jarvis don’t get injured. That would be very bad news..
14. Littles a Rightback. And why sign Gerrard (whos unproven at this level, and also quite inexperienced), when we needed an experienced CH whos played at this level and above (Shackell). I think the signings have been spot on, well done the club.
Has anyone noticed the lack of Tesco’s on the site. Might it be that the Wolves of this season are looking even better than they were last season plus as I predicted the likes of Miller, Moore and Bednar will really struggle in the Premiership. They look to have shored up their defence but it is already looking ominous.
Not gloating yet but looking forward to tough away games at Charlton and Preston to assess how good we are?
Jez doing the job at last..
welcome back son to the greatest club on earth..
Kiwiwolfffffffffff
Bring on Man City…Credit crunch.What credit crunch?
these signings could be the final peice in the jigsaw,saw them play on saturday the last time i saw wolves play that well was in the playoff final,i really think we have quality all over the pitch those 2 wingers are superb they just want the ball all the time and play without fear well done surer mick
We’ve signed Thiery Henry, everyone take a closer look of Matt Hill’s picture. Henry disguised himself as a preston defender and has signed for the Wolves!
I’m well happy and over the moon, with all the signings (inc. Henry)!
Not so sure personally we needed another left back i never really saw the problem with Micky or Little. i still think we needed cover in midfield let’s hope everyone stays fit and we continue to go from strength to strength. Just remember nothing is won in August although it’s the best start for years. Good luck to all the new signings.
Muppet, I think you’ll find that Grey can no longer play at left back as he has no pace, Little is a right back and we carn’t recall a lone anyway within 28 days, and elokobi isn’t going to be around for the season. Just what is your major malfunction in life?
Friend hopefully will be another lower league steal like Jarvis and Kitely, one presumes that Hill may be a bit injury prone and thats why he (Friend) was signed, I think in the long run he may have more potential than Hill though. Great about Shackell, I believe he is a commanding player due to his size but sometimes you compromise height for pace, will have to see he perform first. However quietly optimistic now that we can stay there, our squad looks far stronger than it did a year ago.
Gaps plugged, 3 new players, are they good enough? time will tell. MM needed 10 attempt to et the right strikers, hopefully hes better at buying defenders but who else was chasing players from Norwich and Exeter?
If Wolves go up, will they be good enough? Mmmm
25. I think Mick is gona show faith in Davies at CM and also knows that Foley can more than adequately cover there (had an excellent game last season in centre mid). We’ll be ok! If not theres always Jan window to get in reinforcements!
Some Good work being carried out front of house and backstage at the Molineux exciting stuff welldone to all involed!! Come on the Wolves…
If you want the Punch & Judy show you better hurry up as the curtain is coming down already in Sandwell!!!!
I am delighted with our start to the season and with the signings that the club have made. Fingers crossed that we can achieve our ambitions this year. Last year I was urging MM’s knockers to show restraint. This year I would the optimists on the board not to get too carried away as we still have 42 games to play, but the feelings around the club are just so much more positive than last year.
I have to take my hat off the MM and Jez, i feel now we have strength all over the park and i think us the fans should show our support in numbers lets fill molineux and make it a fortress so noone wants to go there, this is our year stuff the playoff CHAMPIONIES !!!!
“SOUTHBANK”, where are you? Where are all the Boo-Boys? Bogged off down the Hawthorns, we hope!!
Well done MM, Jez & Mr Chairman for getting the players we (desperately?) needed.
This is our year - I can feel it in me water!!
UP THE WOLVES!!!!
don’t you think it’s time for a name change ‘muppetout’? lol
20 BRW.
I occasionally post on here, usually positive, unlike the majority of your fans on our site, or indeed many of them on here. I posted to say what a good signing Iwelumo was as well as Stearman, when many of your fans were critical. I’ve written today on another thread what a positive it is for your club that your goals are coming from a number of different areas. I’ll still take the p*** if I can do it in a funny way but won’t come on spouting abuse and hatred. Good luck and let’s all hope for a Prem derby next year.
No 4– Try putting a few words into good ENLISH if you can of course–Good business done looks promising and we have an interesting time to look forward to. MM has proven his ability to identfy players from lower leagues-Hope all goes well and he can take the benefit of the international break to gel our new recruits-Who on our blog have we identified as infiltratiors from Sandwell–Crazey Dave.
3 good signings - all young, hungry and a fair amount of experience in Shackell & Hill. The latter is only 27 so not too old for a 3 year contract (Strangest comment earlier). Also selling Stephen Elliott was a great piece of business.
On the plus side, this is a good bit of business. How many times have we said that in recent years. Hopefully we will have enough quality in the squad now to maintain a promotion campaign.
On another subject does anybody know how long gobbern is out for, I was impressed when he broke into the first team but he seems to of disapeared since injury
MM is building a side to compete in the prem, young talent playing at under 21 level for their country. I have predicted that we will be promoted this season (not necessarily as champions) because this is Mick’s team. There are no leftovers from old regimes, no old crocks looking for a final payday. Last season Wba were promoted with a team playing good football, the team has been trashed and rebuilt with a bunch of allsorts. MM has ignored all of his critics, resisted the temptation to bring in safe options and stuck to his vision of young, hard working players with the right attitude. This team is better than the flotsam and jetsam of the prem (Hull, Stoke, Fulham, Bolton, Albion and Sunderland) and we have almost a full season to blend. This is a team that should need little tinkering with when we are promoted. The future’s bright, the future’s Gold & Black.
Well Done 3M’s……excellent.
We have a team that are all happy & reinforcements too.
But,even better -
that lazy,idle,over-rated,arrogant,selfish Sir Freddie is proving as much a waste of space at Covo as he was with us.
Great Signings
Come on Wolves
Good grief an outbreak of unity in the camp! Even congratulations to Mr Moxey. Good - let’s keep it going! The atmosphere during the first half on Saturday was a joy to behold - and what a difference it makes to the players who play without fear. Even the much maligned S Ward and Collins looked comfortable out there. Brilliant - here’s to the 25 wins needed from the next 42 games for auto promotion. We are Wolves…
20.its Happy and Terry who have gone missing. what a suprise.
For once the Molineux hierarchy seems to have recognised the deficiencies in the squad and strengthened where we needed it most.
Not only that but they are buying saleable assets rather than spending high wages on people towards the end of their careers.
It seems the penny has finally dropped! The future is at last looking very bright indeed.
We even have strikers who will score at this and higher levels, unlike a certain stripey lot down the road.
35. the real bully was in b&q yesterday so i suspect your names a lie =p
Happy Clappy…..
Well as a happy clapper. Can people now see what me and several others were trying to say to you.
The flow of abuse as stopped. And only winning games can do that. We were doing this at the end of last season. With Jarvis and Kites playing.
These 2 are so instrumental in our growth as a team that we really do need to hope that injuries stay away form them.
If we keep these two wrapped up then the top 6 is a certainty and top 2 probable.
However there is a long way to go, and I have been a Wolves fan for far to long to know that anything can happen.
COME ON ME BABBIES>
44:; Putza Shiftin said: Sep 2nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm For once the Molineux hierarchy seems to have recognised the deficiencies in the squad and strengthened where we needed it most.
Not only that but they are buying saleable assets rather than spending high wages on people towards the end of their careers.
It seems the penny has finally dropped! The future is at last looking very bright indeed.
We even have strikers who will score at this and higher levels, unlike a certain stripey lot down the road.
my answer.
We have had this policy for 3 years. We are only now seeing the fruition. That is why patcience is so important from the fans and the board.
It is good to see that you can finally see what most of us have seen for 3 years.
4-superstardjwolves, glad to see you have changed YOUR tune. (Excuse the pun. You were very negative last season. It was you and your like that wanted rid of MM, and said he was incapable of producing exciting football.
At least you have seen the error of your ways, and come to the right side. Please remain positive if we should lose a couple of the next run of five difficult games.
35)I was not having a go at you but close season there was plenty having a pop.
As I said, you had to get a defence in and that has happened, the Spanish midfielder - obviously a class act but what will he be like in the winter, up front though? Don’t managers ever learn that one up front in the Premiership never works. Wolves only started firing when they had Cort and Camara working in tandem!
Think there’s a bit of a reality check needed. Great to see the enthusiasm on this board, the result of 3 cracking performances so far this season (and 10 points/13 goals).
I would have liked to see cover on the wing - as we know, Keogh, Ward, Elliott and Bothroyd were all picked last season to play wide when Jarvis/Kightly were absent. It didn’t work - what will Mick do if there is an injury to one of our two wide men? Does he believe he has better cover now? Or will he play just the one wide man and bolster the centre midfield further?
In terms of the defence, it’s great news that we’ve strengthened and have a bit more depth now. Let’s hope that Stearman and Shackell are the real deal - at least they’ve more pace than the Breen/Craddock partnership last year, so we don’t have to play two midfielders in front of our back four anymore.
Our downfall last season was that we couldn’t beat the other sides trying for promtion and to be honest, I’m not sure we’ve played one yet. I know you can only beat whoever we’re playing, so I’m not urinating on the bonfire. But, let’s not get too carried away.
Long may the good football continue and long may the 3 points keep coming in. And please let’s not get a long-term injury to either Jarvis and Kightly.
So The Mick has finally addressed the defensive issues. I suppose we must be grateful the injuries came when they did. Had they come later we would have been in deep deep do do. Because, make no mistake, having given Collins a 4 year contract and taken Ward off the list, the great man was not going to do anything.
Time alone will tell if Hill is an injury prone player in decline and if Friend is a friend in need or a friend indeed.
As to Shackell, where will he be in the pecking order, considering his contract is shorter than that of Collins.
Still, we must give them a chance and wait and see.
I have been advocating (for a long time) Daniel Jones gets himself a transfer. I appreciate he wants to play for us, but ;…………. when the LB spot finally becomes available and in one weekend a striker plays LB and two LB’s are signed he must , surely, realize he is wanted only for the 8 a side training sessions.
george friend can also play centre back
good work on deadline day
quite satisfied with the signings. However I do hope we bring in some loan signing to cover for Karl Henry. Who else can play at defensive midfielder? Foley…well? But still very good team Mick is creating…and we are even playing good football.
well done all at the wolves..god no moans on here today.see as ive been saying for weeks.support the team & stop moaning..you may enjoy it.i know i do,
I see Stearman has been selected for the under 21s. That’s SEB, Kightly, Stearman and Jarvis waiting in the wings. Not bad.
We are now clear second favourites behind the Blooz for auto promotion (from Billy Hill).
1. Blue Noses (3/1)
2. The mighty WWFC (6/1)
J3. Reading and QPR (7/1)
5. Sheff Utd (8/1)
J6. Bristol City and Preston (16/1)
J8. Ipswich, Cardiff (25/1)
J10. Watford, Swansea, Charlton, Palace (28/1)
14. Coventry (33/1)
J15. Forest, Norwich, Doncaster, Derby (40/1)
19. Sheff Wed (50/1)
20. Southampton (66/1)
21. Burnley (80/1)
22. Barnsley (150/1)
J23. Blackpool and Plymouth (200/1)
Our next 6 games are against sides in the top half of that list.
GREAT SIGNINGS FOR YOU LOT I MUST ADMIT. ALL THE BEST FOR THE SEASON AHEAD AND HOPE TO BE PLAYING YOU NEXT YEAR IN THE PREM.
51. After see him run out against accrington it would be unfair to put him in the team at the moment, he’s just not up to scratch at the moment. More time I feel needed learning his trade
Great business all around. as someone mentioned, Friend is also a CB and LM as well as a LB so could potentially be good cover for Jarvis too. I miss being at the games as I live in the US now but keep up to date with everything going on.
A really cunning plan! Buy every left back around and Kites will create and score even more !!!
With George Friend He also can play lm which is good to back up jarvis
oh and dont froget gray
so i think we ar covered everywhere now
CUMON WOLVES
some decent signings for you lot you must surely get promoted hopefully we will stop up and play you next year the good old black country derby back in the prem were it belongs