In the wake of that, Wolves have gone into what
amounts to a nervous breakdown. There are those who now argue that Mick
McCarthy should never have been sacked in the wake of that defeat but anybody
who was at Molineux on that day, who encountered the febrile atmosphere, the
witch hunt there was for McCarthy that day, will know only too well that the
idea that he could be leading the team in Wolverhampton a fortnight later is
the stuff of fantasy. After a result, and a performance of that nature, he had
to go.
Wolves’ problem was that they seemed to have no
succession plan in place which appears laughable now given that it was obvious
to anyone that McCarthy’s time was running out. Loyalty is a highly laudable
thing, and there was great support for McCarthy within the corridors of power
at Wolves, but in truth, his time had come months before. Having survived by
the skin of their teeth the previous season, that was the time to remove
McCarthy, a manager highly adept at getting teams promoted but largely unable
to take them onto another level beyond that. Having earned them a third
straight Premiership season, if Wolves had truly wanted to progress, the time
to move him on was the summer of 2011. They did not and from there, all bets
were off.
Just as extraordinary was the decision to build a
new stand. Presumably, Wolves felt they were now settled and established in the
top flight and in need of more seats, a conclusion that makes the decision to
persevere with McCarthy all the stranger. As past experience shows – especially
from the original redevelopment of Molineux – you cannot improve your stadium
without first improving your team. Wolves failed to heed the lessons of history
and are paying the price as a result.
All of the 2011/12 campaign was a long fight against
relegation, as it was always destined to be under McCarthy. Only too late did
they jettison him, under duress, and then they compounded the error in finding
a successor. A deal was done with Steve Bruce, only for the board to lose their
nerve once the message boards suggested the fans didn’t want him, thinking they
could get a “bigger name”. Compare and contrast, as they used to say on exam
papers, the differing fortunes of Wolves and Bruce last weekend.
They then dithered about before announcing that
their number one choice had been Terry Connor all along. Firstly, he clearly
wasn’t, which meant that from day one, he was undermined. Secondly, he was
McCarthy’s assistant. Clearly they had concluded that the McCarthy era had run
its course and, if so, clearly his staff were also a part of the problem. It
wasn’t as if McCarthy had gone on to bigger and better things and they were looking
for continuity in his wake. They were needing a fresh start, so why not have
one?
Once Connor had completed McCarthy’s work and taken
Wolves down with a whimper, the club finally decided on a change of course and
to bring that freshness, appointed Stale Solbakken. The Norwegian was charged
with bringing a more progressive style to a team schooled in the more
rudimentary approach of McCarthy and after promising early signs when a push
for the top six looked possible, things took a turn for the worse. Defeat at Luton
in the FA Cup was the last straw and in January, after just seven months at the
helm, he was removed, that experiment seemingly over.
In came Dean Saunders, rippling with Doncaster
pedigree, his way with a one liner supposedly just the charm that was needed to
lift the pessimistic gloom that hung like a pall over Molineux. That went well
didn’t it? And now, Saunders is in the dole queue with his P45 in his hand and
Wolves look to find a manager to take them out of League One. All over the
Black Country, barely suppressed laughter can be heard tumbling from blue and white
mouths.
But football lives on fine margins. That day at
Molineux, 12th February 2012. Going into the game, Albion had taken
four points from six games and had 26 points from 24 games. Wolves had just won
at QPR, had 21 points from 24 games and were out of the bottom three. Albion
murdered Wolves through the first half, but a last ditch Fletcher goal saw the
sides in at 1-1. Albion’s domination continued in the second period, but the
game remained tight. At 2-1 to the visitors, Foster produced a phenomenal save
then, from a corner, Wolves looked to have equalised, only for Mulumbu to rise
and head the ball off the line. From there, Wolves collapsed, lost 5-1 and
nervous collapse followed.
Just imagine Mulumbu was two inches shorter. The
ball goes in, it’s 2-2, Albion deflated, Wolves suddenly ascendant. They win
the game, get a rush of confidence from it and string some points together. Albion,
on the other hand, are crushed and go into decline, ending in relegation. Roy
Hodgson not only doesn’t get the England job, but he leaves at season’s end
with his contract at an end, leaving Albion to find a new boss to try and
restore them to the Premier League. Meanwhile, a feelgood factor surrounds
Molineux, season ticket sales go through the roof, the new stand is full,
McCarthy leaves, they appoint a progressive manager like Steve Clarke, and
suddenly they are pushing for Europe. Seems ludicrous now, but the skin on Mulumbu’s
head – there’s a name for a fanzine if ever there was one – might just have
been the difference between one future and another.
Back to the present, and just hold on a minute.
Decline – like success – very rarely lasts forever. Let us take a look, for
example, at the 1997/98 campaign, and focus up on the bottom tier. The five clubs
that propped up the Football League were Swansea City, Cardiff City, Hull City,
Brighton & Hove Albion and Doncaster Rovers. Manchester City and Stoke City
had just been relegated to Division Two. They’ve all had quite decent seasons
as it turns out.
And Wolves will rise again. Why? Because the club is
too big not to, because, above all, it has history. That history pulled them
out of the mire through the ‘80s and ‘90s when it was going catastrophically
wrong and it will do so again. The financiers will tell you that you can’t find
history on the balance sheet. Maybe not, but you can find it in the P&L account.
When we all come back in August, look at the number of season tickets Wolves
sell and the size of their crowd and those at Stevenage. Wolves’ numbers will be
three or four times greater than theirs and why? Because of Billy Wright, Stan
Cullis, John Richards, Derek Dougan, because they built the club, because
supporters hope their like will come again. In the end, history will create a
future for Wolves. And you can take that to the bank.
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