I’ve been selling one or two things on Ebay recently and two weeks ago a chap came down from Bolton with a horse box to collect a GPlan dining room suite. 70’s GPlan is all the rage at the moment. Anyway as we were loading up the horsebox we got chatting and it transpired that he was a big Bolton Wanderers fan and had been to Molineux on many occasions the last being during the time of John McGinley et al, not an era well loved by Wolves supporters since Bolton always seemed to get the better of us.

Anyway our conversation drifted onto Big Sam and his appointment as Commander in Chief of English football. He loved Sam and particularly the period when he brought in the likes of Yuri Djorkaev and Jay Jay Akotcha, adding a touch of samba style football to northern grit. He then went on to claim that Sam had lost his job at Bolton because of an alleged affair with the then Chairman’s...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 v Brentford 1

It is nearly twelve months since Brentford strolled into town and left Wolverhampton with a two love victory. Last season the epithet “Fortress Molineux” was not one to be attached to the Old Gold who seemed cowed whenever they strode onto the home turf. Two less than assured performances at home to Burton Albion (draw) and Barnsley (defeat) seemed to suggest that the problem had not been lanced. Until, that is, today, Ivan Cavaleiro’s stoppage time goal giving a two goal victory margin that at times during the second half was not always on the cards.

As for Brentford they are now managed by Dean Smith, Mark Warburton having left for the wilds of Glasgow at the end of last season. Despite the change the club still adheres to the cult like beliefs of its owner, Matthew Benham, selecting players based on a system of mathematical modelling...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Barnsley 4

I ended my last blog by saying that Manager Zenga will have to keep a clear head if he’s to work out how to make the best use of the myriad players at his disposal. He must have spent the intervening period supping too many Peroni’s because, as with his team selection on Saturday, he somewhat mysteriously chose to impose five changes.

Reverting to a more home grown feel had its merits until one realised that his side had no balance. Not one of his starting line up had a natural left foot which to my mind is a fairly basic error. Furthermore, as on Saturday, he found himself up against a side of competent players who stick to a pattern and know what they are doing. Wolves, by contrast, have a number of skilful players who don’t stick to a pattern and don’t know what they’re doing. So should we therefore be surprised that they were turned over...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Burton Albion 1

My match day routine, for I am a creature of habit, tends to follow the same pattern. Arrive at the ground with five minutes to spare. Head for the team sheet. Make a note of the opposition line up. Take seat. Acknowledge fans in close proximity. Work out what positions the opposition players occupy and make appropriate notes – a task usually taking up the first five minutes of the game.

Not to day. During the aforementioned five minutes I realised that the home side was equally unfamiliar to me. There were six new faces so I spent the next fifteen trying to work out who they were. That’s not strictly true. In the heart of the defence was the new yet familiar form of Julian Assange, back from a less than successful spell at Fulham. Of the other five I knew nothing. Manager Walter Zenga has said that his biggest problem is going to be too...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Ipswich Town 0

So, as everyone likes to preface their answers to questions these days, pick the bones out of that. When last Ipswich came to Molineux in April I described the game as being “of stultifying torpor”. Four months on and déjà vu. Mick McCarthy has fashioned a well drilled and functional side but they are hardly world beaters. And the fact that Wolves took 72 minutes to create their first chance was perhaps a better reflection of where they are as a team, rather than the performance against Reading which probably flattered them.

My observation from that game that manager Walter Zenga had shown an encouraging understanding of his squad by putting Conor Coady at right back and Dominic Iorfa at centre half, lasted all of one game. With the return of Courtney Haus to centre back Iorfa moved to right back and Coady returned to midfield. You will...

So those erstwhile experts at the FA have finally placed their lottery like thumb on the head of Big Sam Allardyce. Who’d have thought it. Sam Allardyce, England Manager. This after-all is a man who did reasonably well with Bolton, did reasonably well with Blackburn, did reasonably well with West Ham did reasonably well with Sunderland but not very well with Newcastle. It’s a managerial record that had the top teams in Europe falling over themselves for his signature. Sadly that’s a lie. Only one team sought his signature which says much about the level to which English football has sunk. And let’s face it, it can’t get much lower than Iceland.

But don’t bank on it. Progressive is not a word with which to attach to Big Sam. Even those loveable rogues Sullivan & Gold could see the limitations in his approach. Since replacing him at the end of season 2015 Slaven Bilic has taken West...

Last week the Sunday Times ran a feature on Henrik Stenson, lauding his ball striking yet questioning why someone who hit the ball so imperiously had still to cross the line and claim a first major title. He had after all found himself in contention on the final day of a major championship on a number of occasions, only to fall away, somewhat meekly. I was pondering this puzzle as he walked out to the first tee of his final round in the 145th Open played over the historic links of Royal Troon. He and playing partner Phil Mickelson were so far ahead of the chasing pack that their game was destined to take on the form of a match play encounter. But as both hit their opening drives little did we know of the drama that was about to unfold for as final day major rounds go this one may possibly be never equalled.

For Stenson things began slowly with a dropped shot at the opening hole...

Just over a week ago the little folk of England and Wales gave a proverbial two fingered salute to Jean Claude Junker and his benign EU dictatorship. Then last Monday Iceland, a football team fashioned from a population of just over 330,000 caused the upset of Euro 2016 by defeating mighty Poundland, 2-1. And last night Wales, a country who last featured at a major international tournament in 1958 outplayed and outfought Belgium - the second ranked team in the world - to cause yet further upset. All of a sudden underdoggery is de rigeur.

Not that Wales ever really looked like losing. Though they went down to a spectacular early strike, they never panicked and for the next fifteen minutes dominated possession and territory. It thus came as little surprise that they should equalise from a corner, Ashley Williams providing the well directed header. Thereafter their team of...

England 1 v Iceland 2

When was the last time an England football team lost to a side where half its population were actually in the stadium? Monday 27th June 2016. Nice. European Championships. Opponents; Iceland

It is 50 years since England won the World Cup and if tonight’s performance is indicative of our ongoing failings since 1966 then we will never feature in the final stages of a major football championship ever again. Blame and there will be plenty of it must rest with Roy Hodgson. He is the first England manager to find a side and then set out to systematically destroy it. Forgive me repeating myself but the team that defeated Germany in March played fluid incisive football, the kind of football the English supporter has been hankering after for years. Hodgson clearly recognised that and for his starting eleven v Russia he used the German template for his side. The only...

England 0 v Slovakia 0

In his previous game v Wales Manager Hodgson demonstrated a cavalier spirit by introducing Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge at half time to overcome a 1-0 deficit. If for nothing else that game and England’s performance v Wales was a wake-up call. Yet you would not know that from Hodgson’s selection for tonight’s game v Slovakia. To me what it implied was that England need only turn up and qualification was theirs. Wrong.

As I said in my account of the game v Russia, England should concentrate on getting the job done before they start to think about a world beyond the group phase. By dropping Walker, Rose, Alli and Rooney, Hodgson removed his team’s most potent attacking options and as a consequence the performance against Slovakia was awful. Yes England dominated possession but it was used to such poor effect that few if any guilt edged chances were...