Wolves boss writes off Europa League
Wednesday 24th August 2011, 11:30AM BST.
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy today insisted entering the Europa League would risk the club’s Premier League safety if they were to go on and win the Carling Cup.
McCarthy’s men progressed with a comfortable 4-0 win at League Two Northampton last night to move into the third round, the draw for which takes place on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday programme.
There is an awfully long way to go before winning a Wembley final, but the Wolves boss has seen Fulham’s punishing schedule and believes his squad is not geared up to compete in an additional competition because of the extra games – the Cottagers have already played seven European ties this season.
McCarthy said: “No, I don’t want to be in it. There’s not a chance – life is tough enough at the moment.
“It would be great if we won the Carling Cup, but not if we went down though. How bad is that? It happened with Birmingham.
“But I’ll worry about that if or when we ever get to it. There are a lot of games to be played before then.
“If we progress into a solid Premier League outfit whereby we had got a squad we could carry and deal with it, that would be a different ball game.
“But, at the moment, entering a competition that would impair everything else we’re trying to do by trying to be a solid Premier League team.
“I watched Fulham on Thursday before they came to us on Sunday and playing in the Europa League is a disadvantage when you have got a Premier League game a few days afterwards.
“It was an advantage to us and we made the most of it.”
To read our stories in full, log in to the premium 24 website.
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
If were not aiming for Europe we might as well shut up shop and go home because what’s the point.
Report abuse
I hope it’s the Europa Cup Mick is not happy with and not the carling Cup, a cup win would be wonderful for the fans !
Report abuse
Errr… I think we may be getting a little ahead of ourselves here. MM seems to be the only one keeping his feet on the ground. Yes we’ve had a great start, BUT ITS ONLY 3 GAMES. Lets stop talking about winning trophies and stuff right now. Just get behind the guys and see where we go from there. Trophies and Eurpoean football woudl be fantastic, but its way too early to be talking about that.
UTW….bring on the villa…..3 wins, and 3 points nearer safety, thats the first bit.
Report abuse
Why not go for the trophy, but don’t apply for a European license? I think that a major trophy would be brilliant personally.
Report abuse
Sorry but this attitude stinks. If we won a cup, got relegated and played in EUROPE! I wouldnt care we went down.
How many clubs actually get to play in Europe and win a cup with all the money the Top teams have.
If he actually is serious about not winning a cup and testing himself in Europe then he needs to leave now!!
Who says we would go down?! Just because blues did, doesnt mean we will. We could stay up and then attract a better quality of player by being in Europe than not!
Report abuse
Yawn….what a slow news day. Fantastic result last night though so well done lads.
WE ARE WOLVES!!!
Report abuse
Shut up.
The way to play the carling cup is to use the shadow squad and to use them for all the games if you win the cup with the shadow squad, you play them next year in the Europa league, it’s so unlikely it is not worth thinking about. Something out of the Villa game and wim laffin.
Anyone else think the weakest link on Sunday was Stears, funny to say it but Wardy is looking good.
Report abuse
Mick don’t worry about the Europa League. After we win the Carling Cup followed by the FA Cup and a top three finish in the Premier League we will be in the Champions League next season. The only problem is that please bring in Scott Dann plus a left-back and either another midfielder or striker in the next 8 days.
Report abuse
I understand where MM is coming from but Fulham have qualified through fair play. Firstly this is a joke way to get into Europe and it would not be ideal for Wolves. However, as we are starved of trophy success, we should certainly be trying to win the Carling Cup or FA Cup! All the players last night, had much needed gametime and it gives us chance to blood some of our quality youngsters for the future!
Report abuse
What idiot would suggest that we could make the europa league this season, come on…….please be realistic for once E & S. We have only played 3 games and we got the rest of the reason to play for first. All i can say is that we need to avoid relegation and finish mid-table. Wolves have got too many fickle fans who believe were going to finsh the high-end of mid-table just because we have won our first 2 games of the prem, JOKERS! And usuallt these are the first fans to start moaning and calling for mccarthys head when we go on a bad run…………
WOLVES AY WE
Report abuse
I have to say to an extent I agree with “MM”.
On the other hand winning a trophy boosts many things, for example we wont have the likes of “mcarthy” turning us down in favour of “WIGAN”.
It would generate more revenue and we could start building a stronger team.
The economic state of the city would improve and the awareness of the club around the world with the younger generation would increase.
Like someone as already wrote on here play the players who dont get a game in the premiership.Bring in youngsters and what a level and confidence boost it would be for them.
One only as to take a look at “MANCHESTER UNITED” players like cleverly and anderson have gained the experience at cup level and for the moment it is reaping rewards.
So may be after all I dont agree with “MM”.
Report abuse
There’s some proper knuckle draggers that post comments on here…
On behalf of those of us with at least half a brain: Please don’t “shut up shop” of “go home” Mick, clearly there is a “point”, and your excellent team continue to make it eloquently. Keep it up!
Report abuse
I think were getting ahead of ourselves to even be talking about Europe,even though we’ve got the best squad of 25 players,we’ve had for many years. Mick says about Fulham , and how it makes the players tired,playing Thursday and Sunday, surely at this early stage of the season it should only be making the squad fitter/sharper? As for Birmingham getting relegated because of winning the CC Cup, well it hasn’t affected Stoke City in any way shape or form as it? Although ‘imo’ i would sooner us look to consolidate our place in the BPL first, and look to get into Europe say in about 2-3yrs time. I will settle for us to finish around 12th this season,to me that would be huge improventment. UTW:
Report abuse
What I do agree with is developing a strong top 10 side in the premier league.
This would be the main objective especially with the stand’s being built and other complexes.
Now these are exciting times for “WOLVES” fans and long it may continue.
I have to say “MM” language is changing dramatically from last season.
“Is he starting to develop a winning mentallity”?In relation to the premiership.
With “MM” we stand united!
GO ON THE WOLVES!
Report abuse
7. Spot on.
If, big if….we were to win the carling cup, worry about it then.
And if, we had to play in the Europa league simply play the reserves or players not playing regularly in the premier league.
It is not an issue and no big deal.
Must be short of stories today!
Report abuse
There are some stupid comments here, I am right behind what Mick is saying. There are enough matches as it is, and the premier league is always takes priority. If we got into the champions league that would be different, as you can attract the best players in the world. For the other european competitions you attract nothing, and just put more pressure on you..
The league cup is worthless. Mick is doing the right thing, by using it as practice matches for players. We still have to stick to a 25 man squad, whatever competitions we are in. It is not worth us over stretching ourselves and getting relegated.. Staying up is all that matters.
Report abuse
This is a turn up for the book, I anticpated the only time I would need to renew my passport would be another World War and now Mick’s got us winning the Littlewoods cup and in the Europa League. A Chinese philosopher once said that “the journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step”, all the same this is definitely running before we can walk. I’m also not so sure it agrees with Mick’s policy of winning all games, no matter what the competition. All in all, truely bizarre.
Report abuse
1 – Get real. Nothing but sense from Mick here.
2 – If you win the Carling Cup you will have to play Europa games the following year, like Birmingham.
Maybe fans should educate themsleves before having a ‘pop’ at Mick!!
Report abuse
Europa rubbish, I fully expect champions league Mick, we are second, will be gutted if we end up 5th, barcelona vs wolves next season, champions league final, big George to score the winner with a messi type run for 50 yards, oh it is nice to dream, we are joint top after all
U t w
Report abuse
I (for once) TOTALLY AGREE WITH MM
The europa league has been de-valued in recent years, i don’t even bother watching the games anymore on the box as its poor in my opinion, bit like the carling cup really, you know prem teams are not bothered with it as nearly all field a weakened team. I cant justify spending £20/£30 on a game that i know the players on pitch are not really bothered about.
But would i got to wembley if we got there? lol probably yes!!
So im not really sure what message that sends out but i predict most supporters would feel the same. (answers on a postcard)
A quick message to say how proud i am of the club as a whole at present, even MM is begining to change my opinion of him, not just because we have won 3/3 but his attitude of wanting to keep our best assets & keeping the players grounded, the whole club is heading in the right direction & when you take a step back for a minute & look at some of the horror stories at some clubs, we should be very content and proud of the rate were improving.
UTW
Report abuse
I think a good run in the Carling Cup can do nothing but benefit our ‘back-up’ players. They need game time to keep a level of match sharpness, so they will be up to speed should our current first team suffer injury(heaven forbid). So keep it up lads, all the way to Wembley.
Report abuse
Lets go to europe on show the big boys how the little boys do it…. dingles on tour in europe !!!
Report abuse
The Carling Cup isn’t worth much! It should be a competition purely for the Football League. The Premier League clubs don’t bother with it until they reach the last 16 or even sometimes the semi-finals.
Europe is definitely a long term goal for Wolves, but lets keep progressing to a stage where we can afford to perform. The top ten sides have the strength in depth. Wolves are aiming to become a regular top 10 side! Still a long way to go imo.
Hopefully with year-on-year progress, plus the stadium expansion, Wolves might be in a position to compete on more fronts.
Right now Wolves should be looking at getting to that 40 point mark ASAP and then assess where we are for the season. If we’re looking good for survival by February time – a good FA Cup run would be great!
I agree with the Management at Wolves. One step at a time!
Report abuse
Want to have a rant about the bigger clubs ruining football!
MM was correct again about the saga concerning the supposed transfer of Doyler! he commented “where would he play”? (at pool)
and he is right, same at arsenal, he would just be another player that is great for a club like ours but a mediocre bench warmer at arsenal!
The so called BIG teams are just ruining the competition we should have in prem, anytime a club builds something worth having & start to produce good performances & results they come sniffing & nick the best players these clubs have then do nothing but let them rott in there reserves and mickey mouse cups!
What happens if Doyle & Jarvis are sold? MM is right, the heart is then ripped out of club, players then become unhappy that we are selling such players & we are seen as having a serious lack of ambition & before long they would want to jump ship also.
This is why i applaud The club for coming out & stating that our best players are here to stay! I also hate the bigger clubs for there greed as lets face it most can’t even afford to pay such wages & fees but somehow get to do so!
Anyway rant over!
Report abuse
Bit of realism needed here – we have beaten a poor team away and a tired team already playing their 10th game of the season at home, then a league 2 side.
Johnson looks a class act to me but Berra, Stearman and Ward all have a mistake in them and will be tested in the coming months – the prospect of Stearman marking Bale does not fill me with confidence!!
Lets concentrate on a season of avoiding the relegation battle – there were similar comments last year after a good start before and we were stuck on 6 points until the end of October last season!!
Report abuse
Have you lot not worked out MM after all this time? 40% of what he says is tongue in cheek the other 60% is total honesty and a lot of sense. All of you who want European football would be the first to call for his head if it went tits up lets just be happy with the way things are going at the moment and hope it will continue. I for one am totaly behind Mick. Do it your way my son no complaints at what you have done so far. But then of course it is all your fault that we have won sod all in the last 30 years LOL that is apart from the Championship. Let me think who was in charge then OH YES IT WAS MICK.
GET MY DRIFT ??????
Report abuse
Sad how some folk misinterpret what Mick actually says. He is saying a mixture of “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched” and “let’s learn to walk before we try to run”. The man doesn’t lack ambition, for goodness sake, he’s just being sensible and wants to take things a step at a time and build for the future.
Report abuse
If Mick said he wanted to go for it half you lot who are slagging him would be sayin, what you doing that for..
winning a cup would be great for the club fans, i was at the last two league cup wins great days and memorys.
But who in the right mind would want to go in to the europa league Mick is 100% right.
Report abuse
i’ll put my passport back in the drawer then!
Report abuse
wolvesayi – Not only does his attitude not stink, hes clearly being realistic, but hes also thinking whats best for the club.
If we got into the europa league this season, Mick would have 2 choices. 1, give it a real go and play our first team, which would no doubt result in fatigue and injuries and make us worst off for the premier league, or 2, rest our first team squad and play our fringe players, which would mean, whats the point in even qualifying for europe. We havent got a big enough or strong enough squad to cope with more competitions, especially competitions that could see the players jetting off around europe.
This fact has clearly gone way over your head, but Mick is clearly talking about this season, with our current set of players. Of course micks goal is to acheive as much as possible, but hes intelligent to know that extra strain on this current squad could possibly jeapodise everything hes done so far. Im sure as soon as we cemment ourselves as a mid table club, europe will be the next target, Untill then, the premier league has to be our main focus.
Report abuse
Quite simple really , keep on playing the second string in the league cup and if we did ever qualify for the europa league , again play the second string in the early games. Format of the europa league is the issue , should be a straight knock out. The purists don’t like it but its Premier League status that quite rightly takes precedent, I’m with Mick on this one.
Report abuse
All this talk about Europe etc. is stupid.First we must concentrate on the premiere and anything else that comes along should be seen as a bonus.I don`t believe McCarthy doesn`t want europe because he hasn`t got the players for it,or they would not be able to put up the fight.If this is true who`s fault is it?Is he saying he is signing or has signed the wrong players?If he has no ambition how the hell does he expect the players to react?
Report abuse
Europe was something we could only dream of on the Southbank some 24 or so years ago.
I would sooner Mick was putting his second string in Europe than against the likes of Northampton.
Mick has turned the squad into Premiership players so why not into Europa ones?
Report abuse
We all know that, at the moment, the priority for Wolves -and the fans- is Premier League survival. End of. We all know, too, that the Board have big ambitions for the club in the long term. However, that’s for the future.
Right now, I couldn’t care less about the Europa League. Establishing ourselves as a top-flight club is all that matters as the rebuilding of WWFC gathers pace. That said, we all want Wolves to win every game, and none of us would say no to another League Cup win, would we?
As others have said, the ‘shadow’ team can take care of things where the Cup is concerned. Besides, it’s way too early to be getting ahead of ourselves. As Navywolf says, there must be a shortage of stories today!
Report abuse
At least he’s writing off interest in a competition we haven’t featured in – as opposed to the ridiculous comments from Warnock this morning about the Carling Cup. For someone who spent so long in the lower divisions, he was completely disrespecful.
With our current squad size, reliance on several key players and recent above-average history of injuries, MMs comments make absolute sense. As he says, “If we progress into a solid Premier League outfit whereby we had got a squad we could carry and deal with it, that would be a different ball game.”
Report abuse
Enjoyed last night fantastic workout for fringe players, don’t listen to Mick he’s winding everyone up as usual, he wants to win every match he’s in charge with.
Report abuse
Takes we all our time to win two league matches on the trot, Mick says leave it to better teams than us.I’m backing Mick.
Report abuse
Mick says we not suitable i go with that 100%
Report abuse
crowfish – 100% agree about the bigger clubs, and i wish there was something we could do to stop it. Its not just clubs like ours, even clubs like Tottenham who were in the champions league last season cant keep hold of their best players.
Imagine, if we have a fantastic season this year, and the likes of Fletcher score 20 goals, and O’Hara, Jarvis, and Johnson get called up for England. The big clubs would come knocking and we wouldnt hold on to them.
This makes it basically impossible for a team like ours to build for the future, as 1 we will either keep our players, but forever be stuck fighting relegation, or 2, we will make steps in improving and competing at a higher level, and then have our players snatched resulting in us having to start all over again.
I think the only thing we can hope for to ever have a chance of really progressing is if Utd, Chelsea, Man city, Arsenal and Liverpool all go in to administrationa and get relegated.
Report abuse
And here comes bob wolf with his usual dampner on things. Just waiting for someone to make a mistake so he can tell us all theyre not good enough. Remember this. Everyone makes mistakes. whether it is Messi or you and I in our everyday jobs. Just cos u make a mistake doesnt make you awful. It just makes you human. Unless you make the same mistake all the time in which case you are awful. Im looking at you know Bob
Report abuse
Agree with most here that E & A are a in dreamland at the mo, but if i where to indulge them then my head agrees with MM my heart dose not. I was there when we beat Forest only eleven years old but will stay with me forever. But hey what the hell its Champions League we are going for at the mo. Time to wake up. Go on the Wolves.
Report abuse
Micks concentrating on your next match ,one point would be good 3 points would be a miracle you need to TRUST IN MICK
Report abuse
Will everyone wake up and smell the coffee, were not going to win a cup or finish anywhere near in the table we are now,
we’ve had a great start couldnt of wished for a better one but played two poor teams and northampton played well are selves, dont get carried away when we lose a couple half of ye will be jumpin on the mick out bus again.
lets just enjoy it while we can please.
Report abuse
24-Crowfish. If a so called bigger club really want Doyle or Jarvis, they will get them and there’s nothing MM or Jez can do about it-witness Nasri and Fabregas at Arsenal (not exactly a small club themselves). At the end of the day money talks and as much as I like my boss if the competition offered to double my salary and give me a company car, then i would change jobs,simple.
As regards the Europa League,we’re being a little previous here.Firstly we have to secure Premiership safety and in spite of the first two league matches,that is not a given by any stretch of the imagination.
Let’s inject a little realism here and learn to walk properly before we try to run eh?
Report abuse
spanishray – Its not a case of him signing the wrong players, its a case of him signing the correct players for the job in hand. at the moment our priority is to stay in the premier league and build from there and we have the players to do that. These players arent capable of winning the league title either, does that mean hes bought the wrong players?
Report abuse
44—- Are you arguing or agreeing with my point?
I think Fabregas & Nasri is a different case, they are top top players & would be in anyones team (fact) my point is about clubs like us trying to improve & please our fans then along come the greedy fat cats & snap up your best players & then let them rott on bench! in my opinion thats pointless as all it does is weaken the likes of us! nothing else!
I dont blame the players either, and id also leave my job to do same thing somewhere else for double the dolla but my point is they do this & its proven time n time again they can’t really afford to and are in a world of debt! again! v v very wrong!
Also no one is really thinking were going to get into europe! were just saying if it was to happen, for me it would give us a massive problem squad wise & is rather pointless because the competition is naff!
UTW
Report abuse
Just to pick up on Crowfish and Wolfhedds points, this is why Platini is trying to bring in a ‘live within your means’ rule where clubs in huge debt cannot make huge signings.
If you think about it, why should Liverpool or Man Utd who are £750m in the red, be able to spend a bank rolled £20m on Ashley Young & co plus wages, when a team like Wolves who have no debt at all, live within there means and can’t because a bank says no.
Why should Real Madrid be able to pay £90m cash for Ronaldo only for the Spanish government to right off their debt.
This would mean, clubs like Tottenham, Wolves, Bolton etc can only sell there prize assets to teams that actually have there own money. Look at what happened to Portsmouth, they couldnt honour there debt, so people didn’t get paid, but alot of fans and clubs still lost some of their best players.
If Platini were to get his way, it would definately be more of a level playing field across the leagues.
Its not fair IMO, particullary if as fans you are on the receiving end of loosing your best player just because some club can borrow more money than you.
This is a sport remember with a league system, so fair competition and a fair financial structure should be implemented in order to create a level playing field, rather than allow bad business accumen and huge false economys monopololising the league.
So, my advice would be for fans to back UEFA on this one and bring this policy back into the headlines for the good of our clubs.
Report abuse
46 Crowfish-a little case of double standards here if you don’t mind me saying so.Without Sir Jack’s benevolence and then Mr Morgan’s £30m injection, we too would be heavily in debt.This is no different to the situation at the ‘bigger’ clubs except the numbers are much larger.
UEFA’s stance on this is very admirable,but there will always be a way round it. Eg what’s to stop Abramovitch walking into the Chelsea club shop and paying £10m cash for a keyring?
Report abuse
I do not give a damn about the carling or europa, all i am lntrested in is the premeier league so the deluded or tesco fans can get a new cb or lb then of course it will be a new striker and midfielder dont they ever stop !
Report abuse
What is all the fuss about?3 wins at the start of the season,1 against a normally hazardous banana skin,how many times have our second string lost to lower league opposition, too many.just sit back & enjoy the best ride in the country, the wolves white knuckle rollercoaster.if we do win a trophy I guarantee every single one of you would be over the moon.
Report abuse
Sounds like MM is preparing us for a second round exit at the hands of Rochdale or such like with these comments!
Although I understand him, I don’t agree with him. This club’s reputation was made and enhanced on the great European nights of the 50′s and early 70s, so the manager should not disparage European Competition if ( and it’s a very big IF at the moment) it comes along.
It’s all about the money these days. It should be about winning, no matter what the competition. But Danny Blanchflower’s famous saying “it’s about the glory”, no longer seems to apply sadly.
By the way Mick. If you win the Carling Cup, you enter Europa league in 4th Qualifying round, not 1st Round like Fulham. So only two extra games in August and players not really knackered. So, how about a shot at the glory??
Report abuse
There’s some spoilt short sighted people on here. Think before you speak!! How the guy at the top said he was happy to be relegated if it meant a cup or Europe I don’t know! What possible benefit is there to replacing watching wolves v man utd or Chelsea with getting beating in Europe for a few games because we would! We would be the same as blues and loose all our decent players when relegated. Next people are talking about letting the second string side play. Yea fine for around now but not after January when we start suffering with injuries and drop of form from some players like last season due to tiredness etc. That second string will come into our first team and then were back at square one with players playing too many matches. Fulham are suffering now, and no doubt Stoke will later into the season should they continue to progress. The difference between a top team and us is that they’re players can have a bad game but still win the game.They win with skill and talent. Ours carnt!! They need to be at they’re best to get results and keep is in this league. We win with grit determination and effort, reason why our second team is important. When the 1 team gets tired, they can be replaced with fresh determination.
Report abuse
47. Sir Lupi
Well said, completely agree.
51. Thats the spirt son.
Report abuse
So how were Fulham tired? Remind me please.
Two down, thirty-six to go. Keep the focus.
Report abuse
Sir Lupi – I totally agree with what you’re saying and that is, on the face of it, what Platini is hoping will happen. Of course, the flip side of that argument is, it should level the playing field between the likes of us, Bolton & Sunderland because they won’t be able to continue stacking up the levels of debt they have over the last decade. However we will never (well, not for many generations) be able to match the same kind of match day & commercial revenues that Man Utd & Arsenal will do and so, it will actually make it easier for those clubs to dominate the domestic league. I might be wrong, but i don’t think United’s current debt will have any impact on the FFP rules because as long as they are breaking even year on year, that is all that matters.
Report abuse
48 molineux max! but its not the same is it? our club is running itself and paying players wages through income coming into the club as a whole! its not borrowed money! or morgans own cash paying these stupid sums!
Yes we thankfully had our debts written off by sir Jack so i agree to a certain degree there BUT morgans 30 million wasnt to bale us out of anything! it was infact a condition made when buying the club to invest this money in the squad.
Clubs are buying players and relying on loans to pay for them!
We are not! we are running the club as it should be run! it gets my back up that the fat cats can come in n snatch players from clubs such as us & then double there wages but pay them using borrowed money!!!
jeeeeez some people just want to argue for sake of it!
Report abuse
crowfish – I think to add to your point, Sir Jack sold the club to Morgan, whereas he had other offers on the table that he could have made a tidy sum for himself. Which also goes to show how well our club is being run, after all, how many other clubs would think about which owner would run the club best. Its all about the money for most clubs now, Sir Jack and i think Morgan know that the club needs to be run propperly.
To put it into perspective, Will abbromovich or the Glazers pay off all their clubs debt when they get bored? The answer of course is no, but thats not their fault, its the clubs fault, and the previous owners fault, for not running their clubs propperly. When the Glazers bought Manchester United, everyone at utd knew the consequences, but they didnt care as it was lining the fat cats pockets.
Report abuse
OMG GET A GRIP !!! one game in and we have won the cup !!! get real please !! yes was a good win and a good start to the season but come on talking about europe already ! PAH !!! UTW !!!
Report abuse
Wolfhedd – To be fair, the Glazers staged a very hostile take over of a plc company. I think there was about as much resistance as was possible but in the end, they were always going to get their way. The debt at United is very different to the debt at say, City, Chelsea or Bolton. United’s debt was not created by the club over spending, it was created by the Glazers wanting to effectively take control of the club for as little of their own money as possible and the secured the debt against the clubs assets. Now they are looking to float on the Singapore Stock Exchange to clear the debt, it effectively means the Glazers took control of United for nothing, and forced share holders to sell their shares, only for a few years later to sell those same shares at an increased value and make a tidy sum.
The whole thing is so very wrong on so many levels. Somebody should have been able to stop it, but it couldn’t have been the shareholders at United, it would have had to be the Premier League I guess.
Report abuse
Couple of things. Most posters seem to have forgotten that Fulham got into Europe via the Fair Play nonsense and have had to play qualifying games. I can understand MM not wanting this. If we were to win the League Cup we’d all enjoy it (for the third time)and then some hard thinking would have to be done in turning Europe down.
As for the DH who said he like to win it even if we got relegated. Just remember we have Roger Johnson as our captain because of those very circumstances.
Regarding the Platini Project. I have serious doubts it will improve things. It may well result in the rich getting richer and becoming even more untouchable. Already Manchester City have probably got round it by getting a long lost Arabian cousin who owns an airline to rent the name of the Eastland Stadium for millions (was it £40, I’ve forgotten) thereby increasing their income. They CANNOT be allowed to get away with it , but, UEFA are about as effective as David Haye. All talk.
Report abuse
Ey ooop, numpties.
I’ll tell thee what for nowt, too. I’m right chuffed, me ( well apart from being saddle sore,practising for me Bike ride).!
Took the kids for a run out against The Cobblers last neet & they put a good shift in.That left back looked right tasty, so I told Jez to put his wallet away, we don’t need a left back.By t’same token, I told him we didn’t need centre back either.Berra as upped his game since I robbed Blues of Johnson & if there’s injuries, there’s always Stears or my son Wardy.
Off for a rub down & a soak to ease me aching bones.Just one thing,how many of you are coming to see us turn the Villa over this weekend?
B’seeing thee.
Report abuse
Crikey! We beat a side who struggle to stay in the football league and suddenly we are gonna win a cup!? Gain a bit of perspective people!!
Yes we’ve started well but last season we took 5 points from 3 games, beat Southend in the cup then we didn’t take another point til mid October!!!
If that were to happen again you’d all be talking championship not Europe!
Report abuse
bob wolf, i agree with you about jhonson, but disagree about blackburn and fulham and northampton…. we lost to both last season and as for the carling cup, we could have easily have lost as we have in the past, so imagine if we were now bottom with no points and out of the cup?
wwfc hav’nt won back to back games in any league since 1998 and any in the top division since 1979, so it may be only 2 games but winning breeds confidence and what if we do beat villa then what? will you say we have only beaten 2 poor teams and a tired one and a league 2 one??
and on your point about stearman facing bale, i agree he was poor against real zaragoza and fulham, so by the time we play spurs im hoping foley will be right back assisted by hunt. utw
Report abuse
Why not win the Carling Cup and stay up? It’s not impossible.
Report abuse
Journalism eh! Look at the response this got! Wolves wont be in the Europa League next season. Lets keep our feet on the ground, get more points than last season and take it from there. Come on you Wolves!
Report abuse
On reflection, after thet win over forest we went down the next year and into oblivion. So you re right mick fӣ$% the cup.
Report abuse
Forget glory,it is all about money.We made £40.6m from TV/merit money last season.Mind the Baggies made £46.4m,and they don’t have a ground redevelopment phases 2 and 3 to pay for.The new North Bank will look impressive,though,when finished.
Report abuse
Spot on #35, spot on.
Sounds to me as though MM is laying down an important marker here: ‘further achievement would have to be followed by further investment in the squad’. It’s the way the top flight works now. You either go forward or you drop back – there’s no equilibrium point where clubs can just coast along in a mid-division safety zone.
Look at what has happened at Arsenal, the manager was too obstinate to invest in a couple of top notch players and as result he has lost his two strongest assets. Contrast that with Ferguson who is always trying to strengthen his squad.
Just be grateful we have a manager who has got the plot.
Report abuse
I can understand Mick’s sentiments, and his reference to Birmingham is a fair one, but I think he was unwise to go further than his tongue-in-cheek comments a few days ago about putting a few tackles in himself to avoid betting into the Europa League.
He might as some suggest be sending an oblique message to the two other M’s that investment in the team is required for such ventures, but I’m sure they would say Europe is a money spinner and he can get the funds to strengthen the team that way. Fulham – seven games – seven gates – better leverage with sponsors (image etc) – I’m they would be telling him that’s the way to go.
However, there’s a lot of kidology in the game, some it more serious than kid, and he might be having a dig that he hasn’t quite got the players promised after the near miss last season. Could it be in the battle for funding the building side of the business won out over the playing side and in public he toes the party line but in truth is not so happy?
Whatever, the good feeling about the club prevails and a good result on Saturday would be magic!
Report abuse
63 – Kenny Hibbit Scorcher
“wwfc hav’nt won back to back games in any league since 1998″
Do you not remember two sets of 6-game consecutive wins in our CCC winning season????
/\_/\
Report abuse
Harrow, It was after two seasons that we got relegated.In 1981 we also made the semis in the FA Cup. If you support a club for life ,big days out at Wembley provide a massive uplift compared to mundane bread and butter progress in the league.Frank Munro had many fine games for Wolves,but the one they spoke of yesterday was on 2 March 1974 ,with that cup in his hands.
Report abuse
Chris Hoggard – interesting figuresd in your post (67). Would you mind telling me where they were published as I have not seen them before. Thanks.
Report abuse
Alex, Nationwide Football annual 2011,12,page26.
Report abuse
I stand corrected. My remark was flippant, I would love another day out at Wembley. You don’t know how hard it is living one mile away from the place and having to everyone else going there year after year.
Report abuse
Wafflewolf? you mention the 50s difference to then and now is that we were an established team in the league, anybody with half a brain can see what Mick’s on about – but lets listen to the numpties, am I right in saying that you wouldn’t mind playing in europe even if we are relegated and the clubs future put at risk? moronic or what, let’s get established in this league then we can start thinking about winning cups and getting into Europe.
We are Wolves………some of you lot are on another planet!
Report abuse
11 wanderer in er- now that’s a surprise you not agreeing with MM!
Report abuse
Come on guys get a sense of humor and proportion First Team play the PL, Second team play the Carling Cup, depending on availability. Its Mick dry sense of humor again. As for ‘Foxtrot Oscar’ its phonetic for an Anglo Saxon expletive that ends in …. Off!!
Report abuse