Express & Star

Blog: Wolves placed in a safe pair of hands

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Maybe it's the cynic in me or maybe I'm already getting old in the tooth, writes Wolves blogger Tim Spiers.

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But was it not exceedingly tricky to get the slightest bit animated about Kenny Jackett being unveiled as our new head coach yesterday?

After all it was only half a year ago that Dean Saunders arrived in a blaze of promising rhetoric, most of which turned out to be empty.

Sat in that press conference in January, I recall feeling cautiously optimistic at such a determined and relatively young manager being so keen to make his mark on our club.

So buoyant was he at getting stuck in and turning round the fortunes of our bedraggled band of no-hopers, Saunders twice mentioned the possibility that with a good run of results we could still make the play-offs last season.

He talked about being imaginative with money - as it turned out he had to imagine that any existed - and delivered the killer line, 'the longer we are in this league the more difficult it gets.'

See I'm not even touching that line now. Too much class. Anyway, it's easy and cheap to give so much insight in hindsight.

But, after five managers in 15 months, I'm sure the Wolves hierarchy will understand if we don't all start dancing around in our pants celebrating the arrival of Kenny Jackett.

And they knew it too – a low-key unveiling at Compton, rather than Molineux, with our chairman too busy to turn up.

He was making money in London apparently or, as someone delightfully put on Twitter, busking again.

But Compton was definitely the right approach because we have got absolutely nothing to make a song and dance about at the moment.

We have, hopefully, hit rock bottom and become a national laughing stock in the process.

The appointment of Jackett is slightly underwhelming to say the least although certainly not to your average pun-a-rific journalist, what with coat and potato-based fun to be had.

But you can see why Wolves have done it, after aiming so high and falling so far in the past two years.

From talking of gunning for the top half of the Premier League and what not, they have taken stock and played a sturdy backward defensive rather than swipe at a risky hook.

If they were looking to plot a course back to the Premier League, perhaps in two or three seasons' time, they would have probably gone for Owen Coyle.

If they were looking at a five-year plan to slowly get the club back on its feet, bringing through youth team stars of the future and developing an attractive style of play, they would have probably gone for Steve McClaren.

But what they're looking at right now, in this very moment, is stabilising this club, which has been in an alarming state of free-fall for two years.

Perhaps they are thinking that if they're not careful there's a chance we haven't hit rock bottom yet, that another relegation isn't out of the question So they have gone for a safe pair of hands.

Jackett knows League One, he's comes across as a sensible, pragmatic manager who will get the players to work hard.

He's got a good reputation in the lower leagues and will look to halt our decline, first and foremost.

Long term, he's got no record of taking a team into the Premier League or even at spending much time in the top half of the Championship which, in theory, is a concern.

But look at where we are – we are a League One side and perhaps we should all just bite the bullet and lower our expectations, certainly in the short term.

So Mr Jackett, welcome to Molineux (or Compton), best of luck (you will bloomin' need it mate) and give it your all (we are protesting by the Billy Wright statue in December if you don't).

As our erudite, cultivated, sophisticated, elegant and not-at-all tacky chief executive said yesterday, you are our Special One.

After all, with five managers in 15 months and a cash-rich club full of international players now plying its trade in League One, who wouldn't trust Steve Morgan and Jez Moxey to make the right appointment?

Here comes that cynic again…