Wolves: The highs and lows, of the boys in Gold

Article by e-Wolves Correspondent Josh Moorby

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Well, where do we begin? It almost seems surreal that only 5 years ago, we, Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of the sleeping giants of English football were preparing to embark on waking up. Back in the top flight. United, Chelsea, Arsenal, all to be pitting theirselves against McCarthys men. Exciting.

If that's surreal then flash-back to this time last season. Crawley, Stevenage, Carlisle all waiting in the wings to host Wolves. Four managers later, a squad heavily disrupted and almost broke, players earning in excess of £20,000 a week and not even on the team sheet. So what went wrong? Where, when and how? No one can put the pin exactly on it. But I've got my own take on it, here goes,

Magic Mick?

Yes, in many many ways. But not everything. He certainly had his flaws. Signing some gems springs to mind, Jarvis bought for pennies, sold for in excess of £10 million. Fletcher, goals and a lot of money in return. Not to mention the back to back survivals, if all be it by the skin of our teeth.

Not many remember the likes of, Steven Mouyokolo, Greg Halford, Segundo Castillo, Marcus Bent (bizarrely), Stefan Maierhofer, and Jelle van Damme who was homesick and went back to Belgium after a matter of only weeks. Not only the money wasted here, the likes of Andrew Surman, disregarded at wolves, then doing a decent job week in week out at Norwich seemed to leave a bitter taste also. Between 2006-2011, Wolves had been the 10th highest spenders in England and Mick had spent an estimated £45million pounds. With Jarvis and Fletcher only the rewards as such.

So when relegation did catch up on us, the squad was simply huge. With high profile earners going on to disrupt the young promising players and the squad that was to go on to get turned over at Barnsley on a cold Tuesday night, get battered on home soil against Huddersfield, Peterborough and Ipswich to name a few. Stale and Dean weren't any help with their tactics either not working in English football or just simply not being right but I do believe this is a backlog from "Super Micks" Spending spree.

So where are we now?

Faith. Restored. All due to one man, Kenny Jackett, the newly crowned king of Molineux. Yes, some people may say, "League 1, easy" but after watching the heartbreaks roll on and the effortless pathetic football, people would see how this man has changed us. Strong as a team, rising to pressure, using players strengths to compliment each other and just looking effortless, but knowing they are able to rise when it's needed. It's a huge sigh of relief. Confidence is high, Wolverhampton has got that belated buzz back. You may say we were expected to win the league, but after the previous seasons, nothing was a certainty and the way they did it made you proud to wear the cherished Old gold and black once again.

What now?

Championship. Many see it as the hardest most competitive league in football, but after watching the way those boys fight, I'm not scared to say I'm feeling confident. Maybe not automatic promotion but with a slice of luck I definitely do believe that the play offs are well within our reach, although a solid season at mid table would see a rather reluctant smile on my face come May.

So there we have it, the rather freaky rollercoaster ride of Wolves summed up. I do believe that we are on the up again. And the promised land of Old Trafford, The Emirates, Anfield, they'll be welcoming wolves again, and Molineux will be turning on it's floodlights to welcome Manchester City, rather than Coventry City. Maybe not in the next few seasons but with the youth development coming through and keeping hold of some of our players, we will be back. Mark my words.

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