Liverpool 1 v Wolves 2

Jurgen Klopp and Paul Lambert once worked together at Borussia Dortmund. Understudy Lambert acknowledges that he learned much from the more senior Klopp. How times change. Two months ago, with Liverpool riding high, Klopp was being lauded as the manager who might finally transform the Reds into the team that their supporters feel they ought to be. But a series of poor results against lowly premier league opposition has dented, both those thoughts and Klopp’s burgeoning status. And just when you need things to change along comes a team from the bottom half of the league below you, who make you look ordinary. Now it is Klopp who could possibly learn from Lambert.

Allow me, for a brief moment, to take you back to June 2016. The UK had just voted for Brexit and in the European Championships England was pitched against a team composed of sheep farmers and fishermen...

Wolves 1 v Aston Villa 0

Once upon a time Steve Bruce was a candidate for the vacant manager’s job at Molineux. In all respects he was a good candidate for though he valued organisation and grit over lollipops and flare he knew how to set up a team to get them promoted from the Championship. But from the stands of Molineux did Twitter storm Mildred rise scuppering his application. Unwanted he went to Hull and got them promoted instead. Oh well. But, after a four year stint on the banks of the Humber, Bruce and Hull parted company. Last September he became manager of Aston Villa.

Manager at Aston Villa is also a post once filled by Paul Lambert. He came to Villa Park following a successful time at Norwich City a club for whom he, like Bruce, had gained promotion from the Championship. More impressively he kept Norwich up, playing a progressive, easy on the eye style of football. It...

Wolves 1 v Queens Park Rangers 2

On the back of two promising wins against Nottingham Forest and Bristol City, optimism amongst the Molineux faithful was high as Queens Park Rangers rolled into town. Under new manager Ian Holloway the Shepherd’s Bush outfit had lost six of their last seven games a less than sparkling record which signalled a welcoming “You’re getting sacked in the morning” from the die hards in the South Bank. However it was Holloway who had the last laugh, as Wolves slumped to a dispiriting defeat.

Were one to be paid by the word, then the first half would have offered thin reward. There were two moments of note. Minute 10 when Nouha Dicko saw his shot on goal deflected over the bar by Grant Hall’s fine sliding tackle. And minute 21 when Bright Enobakhari’s side footed effort from close to the penalty spot lacked the pace to beat keeper Alex Smithies. Though...

Geoffrey Boycott is one of those individuals who tend to polarise opinion. As a player he was famously selfish and in person comes across as a bighead, character traits which are not particularly endearing. But these self same characteristics also allow him to be outspoken and as such he offers a refreshing antidote to a world of bland platitudes, the milieu in which the current snowflake generation would prefer us all to inhabit.

Anyway this morning I just happened to wake at around 5.05am and knowing that the fifth day of the final test v India was well under way I reached over to my radio and tuned in to TMS. It wasn’t long before “Geoffrey” arrived in the box taking his place alongside dear old thing Henry Blofeld. Out in the middle were Cooke and Jennings. They were batting well and as they reached the not insignificant milestone of a century opening partnership Boycott decided...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Sheffield Wednesday 2

If memory serves me right Paul Lambert’s reign at Aston Villa was characterised by an adherence to dour Scottish Presbyterianism. But though it is some time since he graced the dugout at Villa Park, the manner in which he set the Wolves up for today’s visit of Sheffield Wednesday indicated that his overriding philosophy has changed little. He sets his teams up not to lose, as opposed to going out to win. The problem is that the Wolves back four is so riven with a lack of confidence and basic nous that it has all the resilience of a chocolate fireguard. So setting the team up not too lose is a strategy whose long term prospects appear limited. Then again setting the team up to win appears equally challenging. In ninety minutes of play I noted that only once did Wolves force Wednesday keeper Kieron Westwood to make a save. And even that...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 v Derby Country 3

It seems like an age since a bloke called Kenny Jackett was standing on the Wolves touchline marshalling his troops. Jackett was never afforded the riches bestowed upon his predecessors and given that circumstance he did a more than creditable job. Yet at times during his reign Wolves looked frail at the back a situation from which, six months on, they still suffer. Inept and incompetent would be two words one could assign to the centre back pairing of Dominic Iorfa and Danny Batth whose bungling during the first half was at times comical. It didn’t help that the South Bank chose to seize upon this incompetence by taunting them, a circumstance that only served to further erode any confidence that still existed. It was thus only good fortune that limited Wolves to a 2-0 deficit at half time.

To the centre back bunglers one could add...

So after a mere 87 days in charge Walter Zenga has become the first Wolves manager on whom Fosun, the Club’s new Chinese owners, have wielded their axe. 87 days is barely time to become acquainted with the vagaries of the daily commute, let alone meld a squad of varying talents into a team capable of challenging for promotion. Yet for all the praise from his players about his training methods what matters is results and in that department the big Italian was deficient.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but one need only look at Zenga’s record for it to have raised the odd eyebrow. Wolverhampton Wanderers was the sixteenth club that he has managed in an eighteen year career. His longest spell in charge was at the internationally renowned Al-Nasr Dubai SC who ply their trade in the UAE Arabian Gulf League. In mitigation he has had some success, but at clubs where they were country’s...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Leeds United 1

Think back four weeks or so and you may recall that the world of football managed to work itself into a lather over someone called Sam Allardyce. Amongst all the hand wringing about the “epidemic” levels of corruption were calls for inquisitions, public enquiries and even government regulation to rid us of this terrible stain. Those plying their trade in the Law must have been salivating at the thought of all that potential income to produce a 500 page report which advocated very little and after a few years was forgotten. Of course four weeks on and one would think that nothing had ever happened. The calls for an inquisition have subsided and last week even big Sam’s ample bottom was being measured for one of those Recaro seats in the Sunderland dugout. The problems however remain and a fortnight ago I read an interesting letter in the...

Even before Peter Willett niggled at American sensibilities with his accurate, if somewhat ill conceived comments, this Ryder Cup was always going to be a big ask. Wounded American pride, allied to home advantage and a team brim full of powerful golfers, Europe was going to need more than their legendary team spirit to triumph. And when on Friday they lost all four opening foursomes, the task thereafter was akin to climbing Everest with their legs tied together. Yes they gave it their best shot but in the end it was America’s strength in depth that ensured they prevailed. Which, in some ways, is a good thing following eight years of European dominance.

It has been suggested that this dominance was in danger of turning the Ryder Cup into a non event. If it was, then that sentiment never reached the players whose intensity was all too apparent over the opening two days of the...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Norwich City 2

So the pantomime villain was back. I always felt that Jez Moxey got a bad rap, but as a new broom swept through, the Wolves CEO bid farewell and headed east for a new challenge with Norwich City. Yes, the £5.00 booking fee simply to renew one’s season ticket always irked, but no one could deny Moxey’s commercial and administrative acumen. He also ensured that the club lived within its means rather than spending profligately, as many would have preferred him to do. For a suitable counter argument one need only point the disgruntled in the direction of Bolton Wanderers (£75m in debt and rising), Leeds United (Peter Ridsdale anyone) and Portsmouth (Premier league to fourth division in the blink of an eye). Somewhat predictably half way through the first half his close “friends” in the South Bank gave a suitably friendly welcome. But on this first...