New Beginnings

Wow... haven't been on this blog in ages (clearly). How times have changed huh?!

Firstly, Mick McCarthy was sacked on the morning of the 13th Feburary 2012, less than 24 hours after the worst day in my life of supporting Wolves - a 5-1 HOME defeat to West Bromwich Albion.  Once sacked, Steve and Jez made an absolute dog's breakfast of trying to appoint a new manager, having Alan Curbishley (who I so desperately wanted at Wolves) in the bag twice, and then going after Gus Poyet, Brian McDermott and one or two others, before finally settling on Steve Bruce. Contracts were drawn up, and Bruce was all set to be unveiled on the morning of Thursday 23rd February. However the backlash to this rumour on social media sites from Wolves fans was harsh. Many (including myself) were furious at the idea of Steve Bruce as Wolves manager. So around 10/11pm, Morgan reportedly contacted Bruce's representatives and pulled out. So then we were left with Terry Connor in charge for the final 13 games of our Premier League season. Suffice to say, apart from a 2-2 draw in his first game at Newcastle, Connor failed miserably, suffering two 5-0 defeats (away to Fulham and at home to Manchester United). We were relegated by the soon-to-be (and worthy) Champions Manchester City on the 19th April in the pouring rain at Molineux. It was painful, but soon the question arose - just who would be the man to guide Wolves back to the big time? Some were suggesting Connor would get it, given his favour with Jez Moxey. Other names were thrown in - Paolo Di Canio maybe. Gianfranco Zola was another one. But, totally out of the blue, Wolves announced that Norwegian Stale Solbakken was about to become the club's first foreign manager in its 123-year history.
 
So, that somewhat brings us up to the present day. As for why I'm re-starting this blog, I simply wanted to capture the first season under Solbakken's reign, and my first real season in the Championship. I mean, I was old enough to remember plenty of our previous years in this division, but this is the first year I'm doing almost every away game. So I feel I'm in a greater position to comment on the season and write about matches.

Sadly, I have started this rather late - as it is now the end of October. But we've had a decent start under Solbakken. After 1 win in his first 4 League games, Solbakken's side clearly needed time to gel. But since then... boy have they gelled! After the early-September International break, Wolves won their next 4 League games on the bounce, keeping 3 clean sheets along the way. A blip at home to Crystal Palace signalled the end of that wonderful run (Wolves could've gone top with a win), but the side bounced straight back to beat Blackburn away 1-0. Not bad for a side that had 11 first-team-quality players missing for various reasons. After yet another International Break (they come round ridiculously quickly and it ruins our momentum) results haven't been great. A 2-1 defeat away to Huddersfield Town was followed up by a 2-2 draw at home to Bolton, with ex-midfielder (and forever cheat) Mark Davies popped up with a 90th-minute leveller.

So, what next for Wolves? Well it's a home game against Charlton Athletic on Saturday. Always been a fan of Charlton myself, really like the club. And I'm a huge fan of Chris Powell, both when he was a player and now as a manager. He really impressed me with the way his Charlton side romped to the League 1 title last season, especially for such an inexperienced manager (reminds me of me on every Football Manager season. Guess that's a good sign for the future hmm?) It will be a tough game on Saturday. Charlton are a little iffy on the road, with only 2 wins away so far this season.They have picked up decent points away at Leeds and Birmingham City, but it's a game that - with no disrespect to Charlton - we should be winning. We have a good record against Charlton. We haven't lost to them in our last 4 meetings, stretching back to 2003/04. I'm anticipating a good test, but one that will ultimately see us come out on top.

Prediction: Wolves 2-1 Charlton

So, I'll be back after the match this weekend to sum the game up. This is certainly gonna become a regular blog, I'm determined haha.

#fwaw