Once upon a time football was a simple game. Two teams of 11 players, a referee, two linesmen and a football over which possession was fought with the aim of placing it in a goal twenty four feet wide, by eight feet high. The length of time allocated to this aim varied from between 90 – 95 minutes but rarely longer.

From 1888 when the world’s first professional football league was formed to 2018 the game was adjudicated solely by a referee and two linesmen fallible human beings who, for all their faults, managed to get the vast majority of decisions pertaining to incidents on the pitch and goals scored correct. Only rarely did their failings result in a miscarriage of justice. But for the most part the players and the fans accepted this fallibility as part and parcel of the game. Even the most one eyed supporter would probably concede that over the course of a season the decisions...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 v Manchester City 2

Where were you on Friday 27th December 2019? If at the Molineux in Wolverhampton then you were one of the favoured few to witness a football match that had everything. Controversy, injustice, resilience, individual brilliance and a breathless outcome, redolent of the underdog overcoming adversity. Throw in a pantomime villain and this was the Premier League writ large. Just a shame that in allowing Amazon to air the game, finance for the league is fracturing. The end point will be pay per view, a circumstance which will favour big over small and ultimately dilute the entertainment on offer. But that’s for the future. Let’s start with the controversy.

I think it is time that VAR was consigned to the filing cabinet marked “Experiments that seemed like a good idea at the time but proved an unmitigated failure”. It was minute 22 that it all...

15th December 2019

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Tottenham Hotspur 2

Sport, in whatever guise one encounters it, can be a cruel affair. Were it not Colin Montgomery would have been a major champion, Ron Clarke would have been an Olympic champion and Holland would have won the FIFA World Cup in 1974. Fast forward to the 15th December 2019 and Wolves would have comfortably beaten Tottenham Hotspur. But as it was they didn’t, an injury time header by Jan Vertonghen sealing the game for Spurs.

From start to end of this enthralling encounter, which was partially diluted by weak refereeing, Wolves were dominant. They moved the ball about with fluidity and created chances. But on more occasions than not the rub of the green went against them such that following the start of the second half, when Adama Troare and Matt Doherty both got to the by line only to see their crosses scrambled to...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 v West Ham United 0

It is just over a year to the day since Chelsea arrived for their evening engagement at the Molineux. Back then Wolves were in a trough, enduring a run of five games in which they had failed to garner a point. More than any other game the Old Gold needed a good performance and on the night in question they did so and some. Chelsea were a champions league side containing the likes of Eden Hazard and Ngolo Kante but Wolves outplayed them in, what for me, was the season’s defining game. Concerns that confidence might evaporate leading to a relegation scrap dissipated and from that point on Wolves never looked back.

This season there has been no discernable slump and despite a slow start Wolves are now hitting their stride. They dominated this encounter from start to finish and had they taken all their chances the winning margin should have...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Sheffield United 1

Mention the name Chris Wilder and it elicits a certain vagueness of gaze on the listener. “Don’t know him”, they reply followed by “Who is he?” Even the response “He’s the current manager of Sheffield United” tends to engender a certain amount of indifference. Which is something of a shame for of the three recently promoted sides to the Premier League, Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United is fairing the best.

Not uncommonly for someone demonstrating aptitude in the managerial trade Wilder’s background is one of journeyman pro amongst the lesser lights of the football league of whom Sheffield United (twice), Rotherham United, Notts County and Halifax Town were a small sample. His 414 league games would have taught him a lot not least the need for frugality and that there are nuggets of footballing talent to be found lurking in the lower...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 v Aston Villa 1

It is just over two years since Wolves last entertained Aston Villa at the Molineux. Coach Nuno Espirito Santo was in his third month at the helm and that day the 2-0 victory over a recently relegated Villa side convinced me that here was a man who knew what he was doing. Wolves outplayed Villa playing elegant football a blueprint that was to continue for the remainder of the season and resulted, as we all now know, in the side being promoted as Champions.

Season one in the premier league saw that blueprint maintained and refined and it has been a similar refrain in season two the only difference being that at times performances have struggled to match the ability that exists in the squad. As a consequence prior to today’s game Wolves found themselves in the wrong half of the table a circumstance which only served to add to the pressure...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Southampton 1

Two months have passed since I last saw the Old Gold stroll out onto the lush green swathe of turf that occupies the Molineux. Back then they were misfiring a series of less than convincing halves being interspersed with some dispiriting defeats. Could Wolves be suffering from second album syndrome? When on Sunday 22nd September the side - already 1-0 down to a hard to beat Crystal Palace - was reduced to ten men, the grey clouds hanging over them suddenly turned black. But with barely a minute of the game remaining up popped Diogo Jota to gain an unlikely equaliser and all of a sudden those clouds were lined with silver (who writes this guff?). At which point it felt as if Wolves’ 2019/20 premier league season had finally got started.

I say “felt as if” because unless you happen to be Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and...

Czech Republic 2 v England 1

It is approaching eighteen months since England lost to Croatia in the Semi Final of the World Cup. Of that performance I wrote “When finally we were faced with a team of superior technique we looked ragged. For long periods during the second half and in the second period of extra time we were unable to retain the ball resorting to the default English tactic of hoofing it hopefully up the pitch. No amount of team spirit will overcome technical deficiency”. Despite that I praised Southgate for his quiet cerebral approach and his decision to stick with youth at the expense of the failed prima donnas. His side had also shown a level of resilience previously lacking and I felt there was much to build on.

During the ensuing twelve months, as England outplayed Spain and Croatia, to reach the semi final of the European Nations League all appeared to be going to...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Burnley 1

It takes just under half an hour for me to walk to the Molineux from my house in Newbridge and on Sunday 25th August 2019 as the clock struck 4pm I had a decision to make. For much of the afternoon I’d had one ear on Test Match Special where day four of the third Ashes test was reaching it’s all too inevitable conclusion. England were putting up a gallant fight but it would only be a matter of time before the Aussies bowled them all out to claim the game and the series.

But by ten minutes to four England had got to within 40 runs of the Australian total and with Ben Stokes still at the crease it was starting to look interesting. So I turned on the television. A couple of crashing sixes ensued, followed by a four and all of a sudden it was starting to look very interesting. So at 4pm, rather than leave for the Molineux, I stayed put the distant...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Manchester United 1

The Ashes may have three tests still to go but already we are at the tail end of week two of the new Premier League Football season. Such is football’s dominance. It was back in April when Manchester United last turned up at Molineux the game ending in a second successive win as Wolves outplayed their more wealthy rivals. In the intervening months things at WV1 have remained relatively settled in contrast to matters up north where transfer speculation over the destination of the mercurial Paul Pogba has overshadowed pre season preparation. That and the not insignificant outlay on central defender Harry McGuire.

It was the first half performances of these two contrasting personalities that caught the eye and which were instrumental in seeing United end the half with a slender lead. In contrast to the game in April and the earlier FA...