Blog: Steve McClaren could be Wolves' man
Three weeks since we last played so that's three weeks of an improved mood for this Wolves fan, writes blogger Tim Spiers.
Saturday afternoons have all of a sudden become rather jolly affairs. Free time? Check. Disposable income? Check.
No longer dreading the weekend more than a turkey dreads Christmas? Check.
For the next three months – until it becomes socially acceptable to forego prospective weekend plans with friends and family in favour of a trip to Crawley – it might even be quite an exciting time to be a Wolves fan.
Well, certainly intriguing anyway. We have no idea who our manager – or rather head coach – will be next season and no idea who'll be lining up on the pitch.
What the vacancies offer is a chance to do exactly what we need – start again with a clean slate.
Plenty of names have been bandied around since Dean Saunders walked the plank but it's pleasing to see owner Steve Morgan and chief executive Jez Moxey taking their time with an appointment.
Their deliberations will be revolving around whether to plump for youthful exuberance or sturdy experience, a man renowned for playing expansive and pretty football or less attractive but still effective football.
The bookies think it's a four-horse race with Steve McClaren, Kenny Jackett, Steve Davis and Owen Coyle the current favourites, although Tony Pulis may now be added to that list.
Plenty of variety in there and for a League One club - feels very strange saying that - it's a decent standard list.
Jackett's achievements at Swansea and Millwall are quietly impressive and he would be a safe pair of hands, but isn't a choice to get too excited about.
Davis is the fresh young(ish) face in the mix who if certain people are to be believed has his Crewe team playing football more attractive than Mila Kunis in a bath of melted chocolate.
I have heard Crewe compared to a Premier League side with their fast one-touch style of play. But on the downside he's been a manager for just 15 months and, Wolves fan or no Wolves fan, that's a big risk.
There's a huge job to be done at Molineux this summer and our last two managers both underestimated the scale of the task, ultimately leading to their downfall.
For me, we need an experienced head and someone who has the appetite to take this club all the way to the Premier League, something which could take five years, at least.
Coyle and McClaren both fit that bill and both have apparently expressed an interest in the job.
The former enjoyed great success at Burnley and although he floundered at Bolton he would be a good candidate.
The more I think about McClaren, though, the more I believe he ticks the most boxes.
It's desperately easy to deride him for the brolly and for making Austin Powers's Goldmember sound like an English country gent.
But his record at Middlesbrough – finishing seventh in the Premier League, winning the League Cup, reaching the final of the UEFA Cup – was outstanding and was enough to nab him the most coveted job in the land.
Yes, he came up short for England but there's no shame in that and he restored his reputation in Holland with Twente.
He won them their first ever league title – a remarkable achievement against the giants of Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.
Spells at Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest have tainted him slightly, but there were extenuating boardroom circumstances in both and those failures are the reason he's within a club of our level's reach.
His work at Boro in particular, bringing through youth team players and looking to the long term, appeals to us and of course he learned from the very best in Sir Alex Ferguson.
Talking of Fergie, whoever the new gaffer is Steve Morgan can certainly take a leaf out of Manchester United's book when planning for our future.
Having proclaimed us as a steady club which doesn't hire and fire just over a year ago, we are now looking for our fifth manager in 15 months.
That is nothing short of a disgrace and something which brings shame on our club. He is treating it like a plaything, changing tack at the drop of a hat and having no clear philosophy or long term plan in mind.
When times went bad for Fergie – albeit in a very different time – he was given time to turn things around despite high expectations.
Morgan isn't used to not getting his own way, but he must stop treating everything as a business and trying something different every time things go wrong.
It's clear that our bullish chairman is here to stay and, for better or worse, the future of our club is in his hands.
