Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Captain Ward raring to go
Monday 30th June 2008, 11:00AM BST.
Striker Stephen Ward has checked back in at Wolves raring to go after captaining his country in Asia.
Ward skippered the Republic of Ireland under-23s in an intercontinental tournament in Malaysia, after recovering from a minor knee operation at the end of last season.
The 22-year-old made it through the group stages to reach a semi-final with Australia but had to come off early on because of a bout of food poisoning.
He was replaced by Wolves reserves captain Mark Salmon in the 3-1 defeat.
He said: “I came on for a couple of games for Wolves at the end of the season and went away and played again with Ireland under-23s after that.
“Any chance to represent your country is great and I was captain as well which was a real honour.
“When the opportunity came about I spoke with the gaffer and we just felt it would be good to get a few games in.
“There were three group fixtures in six days and it was agreed I would play the two, just to be on the safe side with the knee, but I actually felt really good.
“It’s a shame I was one of those who suffered a bout of food poisoning which finished me off in the semi-final.
“Now I’m glad to be back from injury and fully fit and ready to give it my best shot during pre-season.”
Now Ward is ‘itching’ to get going, as he and his team-mates reported back for the start of pre-season today.
He said: “You always need a bit of time off and you enjoy a bit of a rest but a week or two before coming back you do start itching to get in again.”
“You get to the stage when you are ready to really get back to work and the boys are all raring to go.
“Dales (fitness coach Tony Daley) gives us a really good workout programme to do over the summer and the lads all stick to that.”
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i my god! i had forgotten about him!
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How long before the Stephen Ward knockers start commenting?
Glad the lad is back, I think he’s better suited to strikers role than winger tho, but he’s decent cover if Jarvis is injured, hopefully he’ll be pushing keogh and seb for a place up front, competition for places can only be a good thing
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I think this lad is hard done by on these pages, seems to have got a bit of a ‘Savo’ tag that is used by them from down the road aswell as our fans to beat him with. He made a good contribution in his first season and then was asked to play left midfield , whilst injured for the start of last season. Is he as good as Jarvis, Jones in that position? Maybe not. But you cannot fault his efforts whilst playing their. Whilst i admit he never set the world alight on the left, and never really looked like beating a man too often, he did us a staedy job whilst others were injured and maybe it was to his detriment that Kites wasnt playing and so it made his job as a provider more important. Lets see how he goes injury free and maybe in his preferred position this year. Truth is i dont think he will get too many opportunities to impress and may not be anything other than a squad member. Big season for him, others in the squad and Wolves in general. Good luck to him and us all!!
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This is brilliant, Stephen Ward is back!! YES, GET IN ;)
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seing the words ward and captain in the title nearly gave me a heart attack, i thought for one horrible second mick had flipped out properly this time and given his golden boy the arm ban .
my god what a scare
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Phew!! for a moment there i thought Mick had announced ward was the new captain!!!lol
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dont see how he will get in the side
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mmmmmm, with the possibility of more strikers coming in i think the bench is the best you can hope for lad, sorry.
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Ward as captain, what a joke!! he is the worst player at wolves by far……
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Come on Ward. Get back to your decent form and you will be great again.
Last season was hard for you playing on the wing, but I think you will possibliy become our surprise stirker this year.
Who knows, I am giving you a cahnce Steve.
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I always worry about the words “Tony Daley” and “fitness coach”!
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get rid of him,come on peps if u think he is good then u need help we have a ten times better player that isnt wanted by wolves and that is eastwood,he is useless and we want go no were if he is in team
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lets hope he improves to bring the MM prophecy to fruition.
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RARING TO GO!!!! GOOD.. THE QUICKER HE GOES THE BETTER..LMAO
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he played on the wing when he was fully fit…. so i don’t think we can really judge him for last season…
but i have to agree with some of the comments here, with seb, keogh & vokes plus maybe other? will he even make the bench?
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Re 12 (Raffo) – on day release again then my friend?
Time to wipe the slate clean with S Ward I feel – he will never be first-choice striker for us but he may be useful as a sub from time to time. As others have pointed out, he had a good first few months with us and was then unfortunate last season.. it’s a new season, which should mean a new start for all (apart from darling Freddy, who is holding out for some extra £s which he really truly deserves, in his own mind anyway). Anyway, get off Ward’s back and give him a chance.
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11 Rob
y?do u worry, the guys career was ruined by injury but he has got over it and made a new start.
i cant think of any 1 better equiped to help players through injury especially the mental side of it, if u wanna make moronic coments try the albion page or get a life
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Leave the bloke alone you lot – he’s a half decent squad player …. ok, we wont play loads this year but will give us cover up front (and wide left [yes, i agree ...]) and isnt the sort of lad to moan out loud to the press (a la Eastwood) and i bet he’s not on a shed load of cash!
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Give the lad a chance.
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Works his socks off, plays when injured, not the most talented granted but I would rather have players like him in the gold shirt than some of the money grabbing wasters we have had in the past.
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Ward will score more than Freddy that is for sure. Waht was it , oh yes 4 goals. hardley world class. Kyle scored more goals per game than him.
Get behind the players we have not the ones leaving.
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For the next couple of months all we are going to see is a line of the players telling us how ready they are for the season ahead.
Exactly the same things they said last season and look what happened then.
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Stephen Ward is amazinggggggggggggg =D
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words i never thought i would hear.
stephen ward
captain
striker
had a duff season last year, partly due to being played out of position and had a niggling injury. couldn’t fault his hard work and endeavour but quality was just not good enough and was up to the job given him by mick
nearly fainted when i heard he got a new contract last season on what grounds.
whats the best he can hope for the bench or playing on the wing again.
glad he’s fit and would love him to prove me wrong though!!!
come on the wolves
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17. stewart – it was a joke son.
Nice to see that there are still Wolves fans wanting to slag each other off……. :-(
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The lad was a proven goal scorer in Ireland we bought him and then played him out of position for most of his 1st team games. So as a proven goal scorer in the lower leagues maybe we should put him on the transfer list and ask 5M with an add on clause similar to Peterboro or just forget about McLean and give Steven Ward a chance to prove himself in his proven position. Am i a genius or is this just common sence – up the wolves
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