No Wolves bow for Woffinden

Thursday 5th June 2008, 8:00AM BST.

Wolverhampton owner Chris Van Straaten has moved to stop talk of teenage sensation Tai Woffinden stepping into the struggling side to answer their problems.

Van Straaten has had plenty of e-mails from fans with suggestions on what to do to bolster the side – but the way the team building averages have fallen, options are restricted until next month.

Yet 17-year-old club asset Woffinden is not one of those options, as he is on a season long loan to Premier League side Rye House. He could only be used as a guest replacement for injured riders.

Van Straaten said: “A lot of people e-mail and just suggest we throw Tai in because he is one of our assets, but it’s just not possible.

“That said, I would book him as a guest for away meetings during Niels Kristian Iversen’s absence under the current circumstances to give him some more Elite League experience.

“He is a full-time Rye House rider this season and it’s as simple as that. He would be the answer to all our problems if we could just bring him in now instead of one of our strugglers, but it doesn’t work like that.

“We know we have to do something. In July we have to strengthen up to become more competitive.”

Woffinden, the current British Under-21 champion, has been included in Great Britain’s preliminary 12-man squad for the forthcoming World Cup next month.

The pressure appears to be growing on manager Jim Lynch to give Woffinden some part to play in the tournament – however small.



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