Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Wolves handed £25k Old Trafford fine
Thursday 18th February 2010, 11:32AM GMT.
Wolves have been given a suspended £25,000 fine over the club’s infamous team selection for December’s Premier League clash at Manchester United.
The Premier League board decided that manager Mick McCarthy’s decision to make nine outfield changes for the game represented a breach of rules protecting the “good faith” of the competition.
Although Molineux officials remain privately angry at the ruling, Wolves have decided not to appeal against the ruling in the hope of ending one of the most contentious issues which has enveloped the club in modern times.
Hundreds of Wolves fans who made the trip to watch the game, which Wolves eventually lost 3-0, were furious that McCarthy sent what they saw as a team of reserve strength into battle.
Three days earlier, Wolves had won 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspurs with a different team and angry supporters accused the Wolves manager of throwing in the towel without a fight.
The selection also drew criticism from some of Manchester United’s Premier League title rivals, led by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, but McCarthy remained unrepentant and insisted he was acting in the best interests of the club.
Today’s statement from the Premier League Board decided that McCarthy’s selection “was not full strength and therefore in breach of Rule E.20. The Board also deemed that the Club had failed to fulfil its obligations to the League and other Clubs in the utmost good faith and was therefore in breach of Rule B.13.”
Wolves argued that Premier League history was littered with similar cases of clubs fielding weakened teams but the Board ruled that Wolves’ case “could be differentiated from the other matches cited and that disciplinary action was warranted.”
McCarthy said: “I accept the Premier League’s decision. It was never my intention to break any of the Premier League’s rules, only to pick a team that was in the best position to get a result. I’m pleased the matter is now closed.”
Wolves Chief Executive Jez Moxey added: “We are obviously disappointed but we respect the Premier League’s ruling. Today’s announcement means we can draw a line under the issue and concentrate fully on the remaining Premier League games.”
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The perfect reason why i’m fed up of this over-rated league.
It is run by old todgers who have never played the game.
Was Man Utd fined for playing the kids away to Hull last time out? What about Liverpool reserves away to Fulham?
What a farce.
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Absoluteley correct
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Another one was Portsmouth the day after at Chelsea. They rested 7 players.
Pompey would never be fined as they could not pay it. Let’s see what happens with them wanting to sell players after the transfer window is closed.
The Premier League, the FA and Football League are run by dithering old farts!
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Wolvesmod
Totally agree mate – we took 6 points from 3 games including Spurs and ManU away – that’s a pretty good return in my book – well done Mick and, as well all know, suspended fines mean nothing as we won’t be doing it again. Will be interesting to see what happens next time Arsenal or ManU have a meaningless game just before a Champions League game though won’t it? We know, of course, that the Premier League suits won’t dare have a go at them so it’ll be one rule for them and another rule for us again – of course!
UTW!
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Joke decision really. Suspended fine isn’t even a punishment, not that I agree that what happened should be punished but if you are going to make an example why not actually issue a fine where cash moves hands.
Echo the points re: Utd, Liverpool etc…
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Funny how Man Utd made 11 changes last season V Hull and NOTHING happened. Liverpool V Fulham 2 years ago NOTHING happened. Arsenal in champions league made ten changes this season NOTHING HAPPENED. Absolute joke. Mc Carthys decision was fully justified we won away at spurs then we rested players v Man Utd then we beat Burnley and Bolton, job done.
WE ARE WOLVES.
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This is disgracefull, Mick made a great decision that game, As the plan pulled off to perfection beeting burnley the following week 2-0. But these higher premier league teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and now all of a sudden Sky love Manchester City, which they would not be if it was not for the rich Saudi Arabian investors paying their wages. Sky in reacent in reacent years have favoured these clubs causing the gap in the premier league to widen even further and creatiing a mini super leauge which artificial fans Claim they support the club but would probably not even know their teams stadium name, and most certainly never go to the games. The reason for my rage upon the premier leaugue is becuase of the time last season when Manchester united played Hull, ferguson knowing full well of the upcoming prioritiesed Fixture in the F.A cup. which meant ferguson reserved key players for the main fixture that was only a week away. This meant that fergurson put out a much weaker side including reserve team players, wich gave Hull the unfair advantage wich won them the game causing new castle united to be relegated. So wolves are not the first team to do this kind of tactic, so why is it a smaller team has been made to feel the crunch more than the faceless multi million corperation that is Manchester united.
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Think you should get your facts correct before going off in a rage.
1) This fine has nothing to do with Sky
2) Check the Man United score against Hull!
3) Great decision???? I dont think so, justified in the end I think!
4) Wolves to has its own “glory hunters” only saw a few full houses last season!!! Now every week. Lets not get into half full ground in cup games too!
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also it was champions league final not fa cup final!
Bored on half term are we?
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Your facts are a little wayward, but your point is perfectly correct my son.
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Once again, one rule for the big clubs, another rule for teams like Wolves!!!
Whilst I wasn’t impressed with the team line up and felt sorry for those who travelled to Old Trafford, this is no different to what other teams have done at times. Like referees, the Premier League are showing no consistency!
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Why do they always pick on the little clubs,its not fair.
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Good Old Never. Played right into the hands of the TESCO’s with a comment like that. That is of course unless you are one of them, which I suspect is the case.
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This is the game when i said im not renewing my season ticket.
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‘little club’? Wolves? Are you having a laugh?
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Once again one rule for the so called top clubs & one rule for the so called lesser clubs. Its about time someone had the bottle to stand up to the “top clubs”
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i think that it was wrong to change the team. this shows that we do not belong in the prem as we do not have the quality needed :(
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I would not say we do not belong in the leagiue it is more that case that we do not have the depth of squad. Doyle for example do you think he would be able to play to the standard he does over 3 fixtures in a week. I think not especially as we are playing him upfront on his own. You can bet he would give it his best shot and burn himself out giving us a rough ride come the end of the season. This again brings us back to the debate of the 6 million or so Mick spent on players (no names mentioned) that he choose not to play therefore you have to presume he does not believe they can crack it in the premiership. Would the money be better spent on one player outright? we will never know.
I joke we have been fined though however small the fine is.
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I agree that the team (barring injuries) SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CHANGED. I still beleive we could have taken at least a point from Old Trafford that night with a full team out.
However, I am not sure that even Mick knows which is his best eleven yet over half way through the season!
Funny though, how Blues can play as many games (some closer together than ours) with the same starting eleven, average age much older than ours and a 36 year old at right back, just come out of retirement, yet with our “young and hungry” policy we cannot play two Prem matches in four days with any of our “first choice” outfield players because
“they are tired”?
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Good faith of the competition.
Hmmmm so what happens to the fines which should be dished out to Man U, over the years for fielding “weakened sides” in the carling cup. What a joke!
Could have been worse though, could have been docked points!
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You have to remember that a cup game only affects your team and that “giving in” in a league match does and can have an affect on other teams, particularly ours, I think that most of the “first team” would have liked to have played on the league’s biggset stage and could have got at least a draw!
I hope we do not need that point come mid May!!!
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This stinks !
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one rule for them, one for us !!!!
premier league full of cheats, premier league full of cheats !!!!!
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I agree with the fine. I think Wolves case can be differentiated from Man Utd, L’pool, Arsenal et al.
To field such a weakened team so early on in the season, was a farce. It’s not even as if each player rested had played every game that season anyway.
Mick claims he picked a team to get a result. The only result was going to be a defeat with that team. Half the team was made up of full backs. Will we ever see Friend or Hill again?
There also wouldn’t be a single player who wanted to be dropped after Spurs and denied the opportunity to play at Old Trafford.
Would we have won with a first team? We’ll never know, but a draw would certainly have been possible. There’s no way we can say he was right, because we would have lost, how do we know? We shouldn’t have to rest ten players to beat Burnley at home anyway!
I went to that game and the majority of supporters who were there with me agreed it was a joke. Most of the fans that stayed at home can somehow see the logic, what a suprise.
I just think that to make ten wholesale changes was too extreme and meant that there was never going to be a possibility we would win that game.
That team he sent out against Man Utd will never play together again. That says it all.
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John. I entirely agree. Common sense rules OK.
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John De Wolf, you explain why you disagree with 10 changes on the basis it was early in the season. Does this mean you are happy for Man U, Liverpool and Arsenal to make whole sale changes just before a Champions League Quarter or Semi Final, later on in the season just because it suits them. What if they played a weakened team, drew or lost the match with the net effect resulting in us goig down! I really think its one rule for one and not for the others. I too think 10 changes was a bit extreme, but then MM probably made the right decision for us in the long term.
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The difference is if they play a weakened team, they’ll still probably win and, yes, if it’s to rest players for a Champions League final (as a result of them having already won the league) then I do think they can justifiably make changes.
Having met their objectives, they can rest their team. We hadn’t met our objective, yet we still rested ten players!
We can’t control what other teams do, if we go down as a result of Man Utd fielding a weakened team on the last day, then it’s out of our hands.
However, the fact we’ve effectively played 37 games instead of 38 games this season, means we may go down as a result of our own decision to field a weakened wolves team!
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This is what YOU think, but do the PL rules allow for such an interpretation?
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We got off light,Matt Holder,,I wonder what you will think iff we go down by one point having chickened out against Man U when we were on a roll,and they were there for the taking,,and iff we needed to rest ten players before playing Burnly at home,we might as well pack in now.
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We should change our name to W’ton Arsenal? the PL are sending out a message- if we don’t agree with your selections we will fine you or in other words Managers are not in charge of team selections.
The PL should get their own house in order re; Pompy – before telling other how to run theirs.
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One rule for the top 4, another for the rest of us. The sooner they go and play in a European league the better, but what can we expect when the League officials are in the pocket of the likes of Ferguson and Wenger?
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Sorry to reiterate what everyone else has said, but this really does confirm that this league is manufactured and managed purely to service the needs of the top 4 teams.
You couldn’t count the number of times Man Utd, and particularly Arsenal have fielded a team of teenagers against teams lower in the premier league or lower league teams yet when they do it you read headlines like “Arsene’s youngsters show promise in convincing win over Barnet, etc”
That the league have the audacity to deliver this verdict just shows how far removed and how little they actually give a toss about any team beyond those in the Champions League.
Do I agree with changing 10 players? Not necessarily, however, the manager had a clear objective and one which he delivered and ultimately may play a pivotal role in our fight for survival.
This just further highlights the total arrogance of the top 4 and the reign of fear and control they have over the league where they can say what they like.
Also some of the media commentators who bitched and moaned about the team changes – just get back to sucking up to Rooney and Fabregas and leave the football to those who sit week in week out and watch their club try and exist and survive against clubs bankrolled by corrupt business men and saudi billionaires.
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Once again with the preimer league one rule for the likes of Man Utd, Arsneal, Liverpool who put out under strenth teams out any thing done against them NO. But when MC put out players with First team quality, then are fined. One rule for the favoured few and the others have to pay the price.
Its about time the likes of Sir Alec, and the winging Wenger were find as well.
Good lkuck against Chelsea.
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Best if we shut up about the fine, otherwise the Premier League will make sure we are never given a penalty again – come to think of it, perhaps they already have!
Mick did us proud with his decision, though I do feel for the travelling fans. If, in the end, we stay up with all the long term benefits that will bring the club, this piece of team selection may well be seen as crucial.
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How did Mick do us proud? Rolling over at Man Utd! Is that what we should dream about as Wolves fans?
When Man Utd, L’pool and Arsenal rested their players, most of the team had played games in the premier league on a number of occasions and they also played in their correct positions!
Also, those teams had met their objectives by the last game of the season, our objective to secure premier league status is still to be met and we have already thrown away three points.
At the start of the season would we have taken the chance to play 37 games instead of 38? No. Then why are we all so happy we threw away the chance to gain three points!
Let’s hope at the end of the season this doesn’t cost us, even goal difference may play a part.
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Will they go soft on Pompey in order to “protect” the “good faith” of the Premier League?
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double standards premier league. Simple as that!
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If he had picked a team like that to play against Hull or Wigan nothing would have happened, its only the fact it was against a BIG club it was publicised so much and something done about it.
Premiership a load of …. Premiership a load of ….
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I am not at all surprised by this decision by the PL, firstly because Wolves do not have any ‘clout’ and secondly because McCarthy did rest 10 players!
IF only 6 or 7 players had been rested, quite possibly McCarthy/Wolves would have escaped censure but as most argued at the time, 10 players being rested pushed it to the limit.
Many clubs have ‘bent’ the rules over the years and not been penalised but a benchmark has now been made and ALL clubs ‘should’ have to comply – we shall see!
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Well the pl people do not want in the prem they are trying to rock the boat Man U can away with it, The prem is one big joke!
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as far as i’m concerned, whats the point in having a SQUAD if you can’t utilise it… thats what it’s there for. the team ran their backsides off against tottenham and then to play man utd 3 days later probably would have made them worse againt Burnley!! And how can the PL chiefs tell Wolves what is and isn’t a full strength squad??? it’s completely ridiculous and the PL need to publish this fine to every club, and i mean every club not every club apart from the top 4, that if you don’t side your strongest team then you WILL be fined! but like i say, who decides what is and isnt a strong team?? i think the rule itself needs more depth and explaining because whats the benchmark going to be for team changes… 6 players, 7 players because the top 4 do this all the time!
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Remember, Mick wants to do it his way……..
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It doesn’t matter whether we got fined or not. Muppet Mick should have fielded a top side against Man utd….they weren’t on top form and we could have managed a point….which may be the difference between survival and relegation.
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Absolutely correct. if were gonna try and stay in the prem we gotta take our chance not matter who its against. we got games at home against chelsea and manc untied, we could get at least a point of each team. we did against liverpool! i hope MM goes for it this weekend!
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As I travelled to the game, I have mixed emotions – it does appear we’ve been targetted by the Premier League and feel that it’s one rule for one and one for another (again).
BUT, Wolves as a club have Premier League contractual obligations to fulfil and we’ve broken them, which means they’ve also broken their contractual obligations to the fans who went – I’ll have my £41 back please Mr Moxey.
In fact, given the media reaction to all this at the time, if Moxey had eaten his morals and given us all a refund, we might not have got to this point with the Premier League.
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I am fuming at this decision.
It really tipifies what the prmeier league is all about. Lets protect the top 4 champions league spots for the usual suspects.
The one person I really hate more than anybody through this is Wenger. His statement that Mick was in someway a cheat and made the league uneven was comlete utter tosh. The hypocrisy totally tipifies everything that is wrong with the big nosed, Lanky prat.
Joke, absolute joke.
SUPER MICK all the way.
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We shouldn’t be surprised should we ?
John De Wolf – All of the players on the night are registered premier league players at Wolves. All had played for Wolves in the premier league this season – with the exception of George Friend.
Regardless of your opinion of that being the right thing to do or not, how can you seriously punish an employer, for employing the staff that it pays, to work for it ?
The bumbling, aged FA is pandering to the likes of Wenger. Im amazed he even saw it, he wouldn’t have if it was his side.
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I agree with that to a certain extent. I also think we were right to be fined though based on rule E.20 and B.13, as it was glaringly obvious the team fielded against Man Utd was a weakened team.
There’s no point pretending. Mick’s just being stubborn when he says the team was good enough and capable of winning. Do me a favour, all the fans that went to the the game knew it was a joke.
The hypocrisy however, is that we get fined and the top four don’t. This has set a precedent that should be challenged the next time a team field a weakened team.
But there are differentiating circumstances between what we did and how and when the bigger clubs rested their players.
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If the Premier League are going to fine Wolves for utilising their squad (which is simply all MM has done) then they should make a new rule to reduce the number of squad players allowed per club, to prevent a similar occurance.
Until then they cannot justify this fine as the rules are not clear enough to determine what a manager can or cant do?? Its ludicrous.
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Yes, there is a rule, but has it ever been used before? NO!!
Why? Because how do you define “weakened team”. Man Utd has done it, so has Arsenal, etc.
If the Premier League now going to use this rule, then make it specific. Is it broken, when you make 10 changes? Is it broken, when you field a team of youngsters? Is it brokem when you leave out your top scorer, your captain, or????
We’ve been targeted as one of the new boys, simple as that.
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Would there have been all this fuss if we had won the game? Technically, we fielded a weakened team, so still broke the rules? Lets see if any action is taken against any other ‘big’ team who break the rules later in the season.
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Good point.
Would we still of been fined if we’d won!?
What determines a weakened team?
How many players can you rest?
Why have other clubs not been fined before us?
This rule is about as water-tight as a sieve.
You should not be able to warrant a fine unless it is absolutely clear what Wolves have or havent done wrong!
Madness.
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What’s good for the goose clearly isn’t good for the gander…well if you consider the gander to be the larger teams.
It just seems that smaller, weaker clubs in this league are handicapped by the governing bodies and refereeing officials before they even get a touch of the ball…disgraceful in all honesty!!!
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Wolves Ay I, regardless of the score between Man u and Hull, thats not the point……….. It cannot be 1 rule for 1 and another for another. There has to be a set rule for all.
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Load of BS who makes these rules up because it seems to me if we’d have won then nothing would of got said,the prem is corrupt its 1 set of rules for the top teams and for the rest of us they make them up as they go along.I’m gonna be interested to see what happens if a Man u or Chelsea do it this season.
WANDERERS TILL I DIE!!!!
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Copenhagen Wolf – agree totally.
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Hypocrites, you all wanted Micks head after he fielded that team against Man Utd.
I hope Micks decision doesnt come back to haunt us, every points vital now until the end of the season.
Feed the Hoff!
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Think most of us disageed with his decision. However most people also agree that he as the manager should chose any team he wants.
Nothing hypocritical about that.
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FEED THE HOFF AND HE WILL SCORE!
tbf i think he should give hoff a chance.
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the HOFF played awful for the reserve game against villa the other nite. and when i say awful matey i mean AWFUL!
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Well, I agree with the premier league. It was absolutely disgraceful and frankly, as a Wolves fan, was completely humilating.
McCarthy should be ashamed, but I hope he’s learnt his lesson.
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Will be very interesting to see what happens to our oppositon for our next 2 home games and what sides they put out against us. We play Chelsea on Sturday and they have a massive Champions league game away at Inter Milan on Wednesday night. We play Man Utd on Saturday 6th March then they play AC Milan in the second league of their champions league match on Wednesday 10th March. Full stength teams against us? – NOT A CHANCE!!!
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Yes I agree that this is farce but you know what the worse thing about this is.
Those players that played that night with the exception of one had played premiership football and some of them are on the bench every week. Those players must feel insulted.
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WAIT! this fine will only be activated if mick does it again. Therefore we dont have to pay it… unless mick does the same again.
On another note i feel the the Premier leage board is a discrase to even atempt to try and make us pay that. There just scared of the big guns!
……………………………………….
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double standards!
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The fine vindicates those of us who knew we chickened out of that game and are still sore that we did, regardless of the Burnley game. As others have said, a Man U or Arsenal second team still has the combined talent to match most other first teams in the PL. We don’t. That’s probably the logic behind the FA’s judgement. If we end up going down by 3 points or less (and please God, we don’t), the Man U debacle will be the game we all remember.
One life, one club. Come on you Wolves.
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As a few who have already commented above, the Premier League have set a precedent. It will be interesting to see if any other club will be fined in the future.
Also, the fine is suspended and only payable if Wolves do the same in the future. But what is the time limit, and what if only 4 or 5 players are rested?
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Should the rest be brave enough to try they will get it in the neck…. But No Top 4 Team will be fined. Ever.
FA is an absolute joke.
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Fortunately, I think Mick now realises the wisdom of trying to keep a settled team…he even acknowledged the part it has played in Blues’ success this season. I’ve said before, a mark of fitness is the speed of your recovery and Wolves, rightly, have put a heavy emphasis on fitness.
The fact that the fine is suspended is only extra incentive for Mick to stick with what must be one of the most tried and tested principles in the game.
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Managers should be able to pick whoever they want from a first team squad regardless,what about a situation like away at Bham when he could have been jusified in changing 9 players for the next match its just too riduculous to contemplate.
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Right so Wolves lost 3-nil.
So will Wigan,Hull and Portsmouth get fined for losing 5-0, 4-0, 5-0 respectively???
If they were all so called reserves then they didnt do too bad!!!! The team was full of new signings for the premier league a player of the year. Friend nearly scored for us on that day.
I say fine Wigan, Hull and Portsmouth for failing to field a strong enough team!!!!
Pathetic Premier League…..cant wait till the next team does it!! Lets see what you do then!
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I wonder what Morgan will say to MM about the situation yes in football terms the 25k fine is peanuts, but what if the PL had taken 2-3 pts of us that would have left us 2nd from bottom.And has we all know points are like Goldust in this league and everyone gained is well earned, so why did MM risk losing them by leaving 10 players out. Cant our players play more than one game a week. Birmingham have played the same team every game except the last two, and look how many pts they’ve got onboard,yet we was the team who Won the Championship League. Dont players strive to get promotion to play against teams like Man Utd / Chelsea etc so they must have been gutted to see players like Hill/Friend/Hoff/Surman etc taking their places after putting in great performances against Spurs. What will SM.JM.MM and us Wolves supporters say if Villa play 8-9-10 Squad players against Burnley and LOSE as they’ve got a FAC replay v Cry Pal then a Carling Cup Final v Man Utd within a week or so ?
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There goes our next transfer budget !
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Hmmm….Before the Burnley game there were so many negative comments on here about McCarthys team selection at Man U it was untrue. Things like Wasted money on a wasted trip etc etc. Now everyone is up in arms because we got a tap on the wrist from the premier league, okay I agree it seems unfair especially as other teams seem to have got away with it. But non of these other teams playing weakened sides created such a stir as the Wolves team against Man U. The fact that it was pretty blatant has prompted the premier league to finally take action, any team (say the premier league)from now on deliberately fielding a weakened team will get a far harsher punishment.
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