Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Wages jump on way at Wolves
Thursday 30th April 2009, 11:35AM BST.
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has revealed there may be a sudden ‘jerk and a jump’ in the wage culture at Molineux as he builds a squad fit for the Premier League.
But he insists he won’t be breaking the bank to fill the pockets of new signings and leaving the club in a financial crisis.
McCarthy is attempting to snaffle the best of the Bosman free transfer market, after targeting Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia among others.
He said: “There might be a sudden jerk and a jump, which we maybe wouldn’t have if we were just continuing at this level.
“But we’ve got to because we’ve stepped up a notch.
“I don’t know how anyone would imagine that we could go from where we are to be offering tens and tens of thousands of pounds a week. Not a chance.
“If you go in and say you’re only going to do ‘x’-amount, then straight away, you’ll get people saying, I’m not going there because I want ‘y’.
“So there’s negotiation. But there’s a different strat-osphere altogether which we’re not going to enter into.”
That strategy would rule out Newcastle winger Damien Duff, who was handed his Republic of Ireland debut by McCarthy and was linked with a move to Wolves at the weekend.
The former Chelsea man is understood to be on around £70,000 per-week.
McCarthy said: “This team has evolved – it’s not a revolutionary thing, and I think we’ve got to continue doing that. ”
Carrying no transfer fee, signings such as Champions League winner Hyypia, 35, would allow McCarthy to pay more in wages.
He accepts he won’t be able to shell out multi-million pound transfer fees and match the salaries of the top stars.
But he hopes to gradually supplement his squad with a few experienced signings that may earn more than the rest.
The manager said: “We’re all going to have to step up – me, the players, the staff, the fans, the chairman – everyone.
“We’re a Premier League club and we’ve all got to think like that and act like that.
“But there are ridiculous levels we won’t go to.”
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I just hope he is going to add more than a few bosman signing’s. I hope Mr.morgan gives him adequate funds after all Moxey promised that we would have a proper go this time.
Don’t let us down again and spalsh the cash and do whats needed to keep us there.
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Damien Duff aint half the player he once was when he was at Blackburn and certainly doesn’t warrant 70K per week. We don’t need him. What’s he done for Newcastle anyway?
I think we need players who want to play for the shirt not old chaps who have been there n done it and am happy to play out there remaining years for the money. That’s not what we want. (For the exception of Hyypia, cos’ he’s different class)
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as far as bosmans go, after seeing the list of the summers bosman players, there isn’t much going.
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Wise words!
Duff has not lite up the premiership in a newcastle shirt. His better days “chelski” are long gone!
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The ethic of young British and Irish players has worked up to now. This also ensures our salaries were not in line with other clubs in the Championship like the noses. Into the Premiership it is a different story. If we get a player like Hyypia we are going to have to quadruple our top earner but save on transfer fee. This is worth doing with the right sort of players.
The one good thing is that we have hardly used Morgan’s money and now we have the Premiership pot. Spend £20 million on transfers alone and we can compete with the bottom half of the league. We must remember that players like Foley, Kites, Jarvis and Ebanks would walk into a dozen sides in the top league!
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mm has never boasted about how much or how little we have in the coffers so until a players is in our shirt it’s speculation, agree we shoud’nt pay mega buck wages but jez did say “we will be competative on wages and spending” so I think raiding the bottom 10 in prem a some good loans from top 6 should see us alright.
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Hmmm could this be an early warning of “there’s no gravy train here” I think its a good ploy by MM as we dont want over the hill over paid users promising us the world and then doing a runner at the end of the season – I would give people like Mick Owen a go but only on pay as you play option
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Bosman Signings are the way forward, but we also need to use quite a bit of Morgan and Moxey’s transfer kitty to put a bit of Premier strength into the squad, we won’t be able to stay up with the team we have now.
Strengthen the defence!
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The person who has got to step up the most is Jez Moxey, and yet Mick hasn’t referred to him,unless he comes under the umbrella of the staff.It is time to stop polishing egos and get on with the business of adding real quality to our squad.If we mess up like we did in 2003,August will hit us like a steam train.The best hope we have is in Steve Morgan.I believe he was very instrumental in pulling off the transfer of SEB.If you check the quotes in the E and S at the time, Morgan said if the buy out clause is £1.5M that is what we should pay.Moxey at the time was trying to get the fee down and this altered other clubs,especially QPR. Without our owner’s intervention ,we could well have missed out on our best signing for many years. We need more of that Mr Morgan.
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Pay them all the same basic wage and use insentives.
Good money getting better the higher we are above the drop zone.
Make them hungry for their money.
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I am sure MM knows what he is doing. So long as whoever comes to Wolves is prepared to wear the shirt with pride and give 100% and more, on the pitch,because the lads that got us there have given their all and have been proud to wear the shirt. Once again thanks to Mick and the team I am so proud of you all.
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Duff would be a complete waste of money. He has not produced anything for many years. I am sure there a many better players who we could pay 70k a week to! I think most wolves fans are realistic so if we are paying a top salary of 10K a week at the moment we could probably go to 20 – 25k a week for some quality. Hypia would be a good start…
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no10 TOTALY AGREE
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more speculation , jhon metcalf and adam hamill from liverpool’s much acclaimed academy and aston villas versatile craig gardener have been all strongly linked to wolves this morning.
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no. 10
wouldn’t work with modern day footballers.
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ok – scratching Damien Duff off my want list. For 70k a week – furgetit.
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What encourages me, is that we have a manager thats been through all this before and a club thats been through all this before too. It would be nice to think that lessons have been learned and we can go foward and establish ourselves in the Prem.
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question – if you picked a premier league team’s players and wage structures (assumed) whose would you pick.
I have to be honest -for me it would be Villa or Everton.
They have similar policies of young and hungry to us, and have the odd experienced pro in their.
I wouldnt like to be a Newcastle or Spurs, and we know we are never going to be a Man U.
Id like to see us try and follow that model rather than do a Portsmouth and buy in Premier Oldies only.
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10 & 13
I’ve said that for a long time. Trouble is a lot of the players in the Premiership are mercenaries and know if their team gets relegated they will be the proverbial rat from a sinking ship… sound familiar form our last excursion into the top flight?
We will have to increase the wage cap – to achieve what we have done this season on £10k a week AND manage to keep the likes of SEB & Kites from the sniffing Premiership teams is nothing short of a miracle and great testament as to how the club is being run.
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In my opinion most of the money should be spent in midfield, non up front and perhaps a fast right back to compete with Fole’s. We need to have much better ball retention next year.
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Mercenaries? Don’t you mean Professionals?
Football is these guys job and just like you and me they’re going to look for the best deal they can get, wages being a huge part of that.
The Wolves management have proved over the last couple of years they’re no mugs and I trust them to get it right.
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Sign good players or be relegated it’s as simply as that. Spot the talent and go for it.
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10. It sounds great but that policy would instantly rule out established premiership players. I don’t like the sound of “won’t be able to shell out multi-million pound transfer fees”. That also rules out quality players. That wasn’t a quote though so hopfully it’s just imaginative reporting.
I think 3 class signings could be enough to stay up, as long as they are proven premiership quality. 1 CB, 1 CM, 1 CF. We shouldn’t actually be playing as many games as last year so I don’t think squad size should play a huge part given that we already have a decent nucleus of a good side.
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Great! The manager is thinking like a Prem manager should think.
But please, keep the young and hungry poicy going we don’t need the likes of DUFF!!!
Or indeed any mercenary badge kissers who play a few games for us then report in sick when the going gets tough.
You only have to look at Birmingham City to see what happens.
Stick to the policy that has worked for us so well and remember we have a youngsters who have had a quality season and will be hungry for further success next season.
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We hardly spent anything last time we went up to the premier league and we went down with 33 points and everton stayed up with 39,only a six point difference.What im trying to say is with a bit of genuine quality we can stay up without paying over the odds for players who just want big pay days
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10, 13 and 19.
I agree with the principle of incentives – for League position, goals scored, clean sheets etc. And doubtless any new ‘Premiership’ contract will have a relegation clause, so the players will be fighting to stay up to keep their wages, and the club has insurance if it comes to the worst.
However, you can’t pay all the players the same basic. There aren’t enough objective measures of how much they contribute in a game to differentiate solely by incentives. And if you offer (say) Hyypia the same as (say) Berra, you’re either paying Berra too much, or else Hyypia won’t come.
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Does anybody know any details of when the Season Tickets info are going to be announced for existing ST holder’s who didn’t renew under the Early Bird? I’ve noticed that they’ve pulled down the prices n info on the website.
Me can see a big price increase if so
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Imagine this…..
Each player gets a basic salary and bonuses are determined as follows:-
At the end of each game the players come back out on the pitch, one by one.
1000 fans in the ground have a key pad (Who Wants to be a Millionaire Style).
Fans vote on the keypads for weekly bonus levels 0 for a poor performance up to 3 for a good performance.
The votes are displayed on the big screens and the players are paid accordingly.
Wouldn’t that be fun and entertaining!
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There is no such thing as a free transfer when on a bosman the player/agent command a huge signing on fee.
Like they say there is nothing free in this world.
To be fair you are stuck between a rock and a hard place as the saying goes. Without paying the big money the better players wont sign but I firmly beleive that there should be some sort of wage structure in any football club. and as for the very best players all they are interested in is the champions league.
Regards
Baggie Boy
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mick s proved all the doubters wrong, we should trust him and support him . when we were struggling at the back , morgan made funds available for berra . so we know hes good for the money when its needed . i think we ve got 5 or so players that can play all day in the prem . i also think we ve got a couple more that can be eased in ie freind volkes . just remember when reading went up as champions and did well . they had a similar set up , and it was one of our cast offs seol that opened their account . the big 4 will beat us , but whos affraid of pompey , stoke , blackburn etc ??.. bring em on !!
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Wolfman, I said a long time ago we would not be spending mega bucks on players, but instead padding out the squad with a handful of Bosmans. This story appears to confirm that.
It is also not needed to place the club in a finacial mire in a misguided attempt to stay up at this juncture.
The reason ?
There will be a EPL Div2 in 3 seasons time, meaning 16 clubs will be invited to the party.
We are ‘nailed on’ for the invite.
We only need to make a decent, if unsuccessful, attempt at staying up, then maintain our status as a solid top 6 championship club for that invitation the be issued.
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I keyed in ‘G’ then stupidly forgot to click on my name in the dropdown.
(30) above is me, Wolfman.
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29 Just like the purchase of Luke Moore from Villa – I wonder what part of the transfer of your former “star defender” he was valued at???
As for Prem wages etc – No matter how many attempts at what should or shouldnt be done on pay scales – the better players are going to get/ take better offers – So if we are competing against the Wigans, Boltons, Stoke etc etc we have to be as competitive – nothing short of that will do
My fears are IF we try and barter we may well lose one or two significant signings that could be the difference between staying up or going back down again
IMV James Beattie could have made the difference to Baggies fight to stay in the greed league – Would he have cost as much as Luke Moore in transfer fees and wages??? Or was Luke Moore a “done deal” as part of the £9m for your former star defender?
Finally, Will Moxey be capable of a much higher level negotiations or will the better players be more prepared to listen to the other clubs? As one of the former Wolves players have said – the jury’s out and time will tell – Just hope we use the little bit of extra time that we have had wisely
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I think Jon (25) makes a fairish point about last time. We got 33 points without breaking the bank. I think what we must remember is that it was 5 years ago, and the Prem from 8-20 is much stronger than it was. It also makes you realise what an amazing job Dave Jones did with that squad. I think the current squad would be looking to finish on anything between 25-33 points again. The money we will spend is to push us to the next level 35-42 points. Amazing isn’t it? The key thing is to get off to a bit of a flyer and hopefully the fixture list will help us. I’d like to play the top 4 just after Champions League game.
For me, the brutal truth is that the current team lets in far too many soft goals. I think Craddock will be a good squad player but is he quick enough. I’m sure Mick will sort things.
Also I think we are right to play down how much we will spend. Bragging about your cash just means you pay more in fees and wages.
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Let’s remember we get here on luck. We had a good first half of the season, and a rubbish second half. In none of the previous 10 seasons of the championship would wolves have been promoted based on their form since end of November.
Secondly, this all sounds to me more like lowering fans expectations. Mike might have been there before, but he was sacked, for whatever reason, so dont pretend we have some great and magical manager, because we havent.
I agree Duff is a waste of money, but other players, well if they want 70k a week, then thats what we have to pay. If we dont, it will be relegation all over again…
Dont let the fans down this time!
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Let me start by congratulating the Wolves on not only their promotion but also as going up as Champions. I hope we’re still there to welcome you to the Premier League and continue the Black Country derbies that I remember as far back as ‘Star Soccer’ with Hugh Johns!! It’s a very fine balance of youthfull endeavour, experience, pride in your work etc etc. Let MM do his job and try and maintain a balance without breaking the bank. Awful things can happen to clubs who try to ‘buy’ success look at established sides, Southampton, Norwich, Sheffield Weds, Charlton and Forest all past Premiership sides and now struggling. In my town especially, if you’d of said to them 30 years ago you’ll win the First Division, 2 European Cups countless League Cups but one man will come and destroy you (David PLatt) and you’ll finsh up in the third division they’d of laughed…but one man can do that to a club. Be carefull what you wish for….it may come true.
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We have got Murray, Hennessey, Foley, Berra, Stearman, Elokobi, Kightly, Jones, Jarvis, Ebanks Blake who in my mind are Premiership quality. We have players who could do a job in the squad such as Iwelumo, Edwards and Keogh. All of these players are the future and we have them on long contracts. Vokesy apparently is joining sheff weds on loan. Mick is right we need experienced premier league players, not like the tescos who embarressed themselves with rubbish such as Valero and Donk. would the team below survive? yes.
Murray
Foley
HYPIA
Berra
Elokobi
Kightly
KEVIN NOLAN
DIETAR HAMMAN
Jarvis
Ebanks Blake
MARLON KING
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With the 4 signings on my above post I would like to see Roger Johnson, Chris Eagles and Joe Ledley from the championship join.
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I believe that cherry-picking players from teams left in the Championship is a good way forward.There is plenty of top-class players who would not cost the earth in either fee or wages
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jimwolf64
what are you smoking,87pts is 87pts wether you get them at the start,middle or end of the season
we would have won the league even easier last season the champs only had 81pts
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we need to strengthen the spine of the team especially in cm, as we have great wide players,bring in players like manciene,wheater, huddlestone, reo-coker, bullard and ross mcormack even if it means spending a bit of cash
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jimwolf64
i suppose its better to get 81pts like the last champs but spread it over the season then get 87pts with a game to play DOH !!!!!
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KEEP OFF THE PITCH !!!!!!!
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i would also like to say duz anyone think any of the current loan players wud do well in the prem (reid, quashie, harewood)
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Remember in 2003,relegation followed by an announcement that we had made a £2 MILLION PROFIT.WHAT LUNACY was that!!!!Let’s not go there again.YES be careful with the cash but splash it only on players that are BETTER than what we have now.Not squad players.
HYPIA yes.What about LITMANEN he ran the show for Finland the other night.
GOOD HUNTING,
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All of this speculation is at the moment a total waste of time. The Premership has not yet finished and neither has the Championship – So whether it’s Big names or Good Championship players who are available or not does not matter. Looking at some of the comments – well its like listening to schoolboys picking their team – nothing wrong with that only thats just what it is opinions. Why Damien Duff – surely he is not as good as he was – We do have a Good Player – Matt Jarvis who i would say is as good. Not one of us can say what we will be like in the Premiership at the Moment – but give the players some Credit for geeting there so far.
Trust in MM JM and Mr Morgan – we’ll make mistakes no doubt – but with a bit of Luck and Determination we will survive and then move up.
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35 jimwolf What a complete clown you are, luckily the season doesn’t run from november to may. LUCK over 46 games how can it be luck, we are the best team in the league over the whole season FACT!! Win on sunday and the 90 points would have seen us promoted most seasons if not all!!
Pay the £70,000 a week are you mental do you not remember what happened to leeds. I would rather be relegated and be sound financialy than stay up with the risk of going out of business!
I bet you were the clown who held up that banner with that stupid ‘you’ve let us down again. You make me sick ARRRRGGGHHHH
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With his history of injuries, I doubt Duff can find any club wanting to pay him 70k a week.
So he has the choice of staying at Newcastle, who might be relegated by then, or join a Premiership club for much less wages.
I do think, he still has something to add, but only if he would take a pay-cut, maybe with a little “pay-as-you play” bonus added in.
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35 jimwolf
I agree with all the other comments, the league
never lies, after 46 games, you end up with a certain amount of points (Oh look after 45 games we have 87 points and won the title. How lucky
we are.!!!!)
You Clown. Get off!!!!
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43 Bring Back 1957.
Just for a second I thought you might be serious about Litmanen. What – an injury-prone 38yr old who hasn’t played more than 13 games in a season for the last 5 years, who joined and left Fulham without playing a single game for the first team ?
Then I realised you’re just checking to see if anyone’s awake. Nice one.
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45 Have to agree – I dont believe we will need to pay £70k pw to any players – We’re not challenging to win the Champions league – just survive Season 1 in the Prem and then progress to Season 2 in the Prem etc
Man U had the formula right with a balance of experience and youth – Now they are in debt for £360m – due to drastic changes and new owners
Over 70,000 fans most home games and going from being in the “black” to £360m in debt – incredible!
If we focus on our youth system and scouting for talent via a good scouting network – we should be in good shape to be able to battle against the other 10 clubs that we will be competing against for Prem Proven Players
We’ve just gained promotion – the first steps to building our Premiership future starts with a solid foundation – not buying for buyings sake
Keep the faith – We ARE Premier league!!!
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wolvesmod said: Apr 30th, 2009 at 1:42 pm Does anybody know any details of when the Season Tickets info are going to be announced for existing ST holder’s who didn’t renew under the Early Bird? I’ve noticed that they’ve pulled down the prices n info on the website.
Hi – was in the ticket office today and the best that they could tell me was probably latest begining of June and that packs will be out soon…hope that helps?
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37. i dont want marlon king within an 50 mile radius of the molineux (ok if he plays for the opposition) i hate that guy and like phil brown said a couple of weeks ago “the guy as talent but he as been at 3 clubs this season (wigan,hull & middlesbrough) so that tells you a lot about him”
if were to go for someone up front with SEB i would go for frazer campbell!
i would stick with the youth element, i would get delph from leeds to go with henry in midfield, henry can do the donkey work and let delph do what he does!
Hennessey
Foley
Mancienne/Hyypia
Berra
Elokobi
Kightly
Henry
Delph
Jarvis
SEB
Campbell
i would be happy going into the new season with that and see how we are at january!
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There’s a lot of spin that has already got in the E&S but of course Moxey has been talking the right tunes on this wave of success however we can only wait to see the truth until the summer for me it wouldn’t surprise me that the club won’t go any higher than 25k which was the ceiling price last time we won promotion. We didn’t get enough quality for that, but of course we can still get good players for less than 70 grand and more to the point less than 25. However they may have to look at bringing in someone like a striker who can score goals at the Premier League on the biggest wage possible, i.e. James Beattie 30k plus and he has scored the goals to keep Stoke up, Jimmy Bullard 45k and he’s currently injured for Hull. A gamble yes but we don’t want to go back to the Championship do we so the club will have to bite the bullet in one area, one player who could be the difference in staying up or going down.
Like Hyypia, at 35 he would still want good money, 20k? His age for me is not so much of an issue because he’s got a great football brain giving him the ability to read the game so well to keep himself a step ahead of the play, like Gary Breen in his first year. Of course I wouldn’t want Hyypia to play with Craddock but with Stearman, that might be very good for the home games at least next season.
Again would we get a quality player like that? Can Mick attract that type of player? We will find out this summer.
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Surely MM can be trusted with money? sunderland never gave him the chance and after what he achieved with the money at our club he must be given a chance.
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Just seen the new strips.
Have to say they are quality!!!
Well done Wolves
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NO DUFF. NO NO NO HE IS A DUFFER.COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME
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Jimwolf. We’ve finished strongly – its not just down to a good start. You could also say that if we hadn’t had our bad 11 game run then we’d have got promoted even earlier.
Facts are, we have a points total which proves we are the best team in the league this season.
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56 Dont forget the goals for column – the additional firepower this season imv has given us the wins we needed – I believe that having players next season in the Prem who can score goals regularly will help us win our “mini league” in the Prem
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