Ståle Solbakken- New Wolves Manager

Hands up if you hadn’t heard of him? Yes, me too!

Officially appointed this morning, He will be the first foreign manager at Wolves, in the club’s 135 year history. He will join on a three year deal. Times are changing at Wolves.

Solbakken’s appointment was and is a surprise to many fans, including myself! But I cannot help but feel optimistic, Solbakken’s philosophy of playing attacking football and developing players, will hopefully bring a positive mentality to the club, and help us to achieve promotion straight back to the Premier League.

What’s Solbakken’s managerial experience like? And what of his playing career?

Team	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %
HamKam	82	37	21	24	45.1
Copenhagen	252	153	47	52	60.7
FC Koln. (Cologne)	35	8	6	21	22.9

Achievements: Promoted to Tippeligaen with HamKam. 5 Danish Superliga Titles; Danish Cup. Champions’ League Knockout stages

Solbakken was a midfielder in his playing days and played 298 games in his career and scored 87 goals. He played for HamKam and Lillestrom in Norway, then played for Wimbledon in the days of ‘The Crazy Gang’ but was transferred after a season after being banned from playing again by then manager Joe Kinnear. He then played for Aalborg BK and Copenhagen before his career came to a premature end.

Solbakken suffered a heart attack that ended his playing career but within a year of the heart attack he was back coaching at HamKam, the club he started his career at.

He has a good managerial record, except for his time in Germany with FC Koln, where he was sacked in April 2012. But every manager has a job that doesn’t suit them. One example of this would be Roy Hodgson. Hodgson went to Liverpool after taking Fulham to a European final in the Europa League. Hodgson’s reign at Liverpool didn’t work. But he has rebuilt his reputation at West Brom and is now the manager of England.

What of Terry Conner? It appears that he will be staying on at Wolves in a coaching role. Will he be the new man’s assistant? At this time it is ensure what role he will fulfill in the new management set up.

So we have a new manager, and from the majority of people that I have spoken to, people are excited about a new man coming into the club! What are your thoughts?

Here are some of the thoughts that are in my head at the moment…..

Could this be the job where Solbakken rebuilds his reputation after failing at FC Koln? And in turn stamp his mark on the Wolves job?

Who will come in at Wolves and who will leave the club? Will the new man manage to convince players such as Fletcher, Jarvis, and Doyle to stay at Molineux?

With the new appointment coming just a few days before the end of the season, Is this Morgan and Moxey making up for the time he wasted in February, chasing managers that didn’t want to come to Wolves?

One thing is for sure, these are exciting times for Wolves and the fans. Give the new man a chance, and lets see what he can do, when given a decent chance! Don’t start all the negative talk just because you haven’t heard of him?! Just give him a chance!

Any thoughts on the questions above or want to join the debate on Ståle Solbakken?

Tweet me at: @andy_wolves91

Life as I know it…..

The last week; has been the hardest week of my life so far.

As some may know; my mum was diagnosed with a brain tumour that required surgery. Now 5 days after surgery she is well; and returned home today.

But with everything that has happened; it has made me look on life differently.

The fact that my mum was diagnosed with a brain tumour shook me to the very core; unfortunately this is not the first time that this has happened.

My Mum was diagnosed with the first brain tumour when I was 3, and it took three different operations over 2 years, to get it out. Eventually, Mum was given the all clear, but there was consequence due to that first tumour; she was left blind on the right hand side of her right eye.

(Put your hand sideways on to the side of your eye, (Making one side of a tunnel))

That is all my mum can see; meaning she was left unable to drive. She therefore had to hand over her driving licence to the Police; and she refused. They had to physically pin her to the bed in the hospital to take it off her.  

This taught me one thing in my life, Try not to give up on the things you want or want to keep.

For this to happen to us again; you can probably imagine what I thought, why is this happening to us again? Life is not fair……etc.

I still think back to three weeks ago, when I found out that it was back and a similar size to the previous one 17 years ago ( the tumour was roughly the size of a fully grown orange).  I was shocked, upset and distraught, to find that something that almost left me without my Mum, was back to try and take her from me again.  I’m not ashamed to say that I broke down and cried.

But that is the past, my mum is now home and recovering from her surgery and there does not appear to be any side effects; to her speech, or her vision or her mental ability.

 But she is facing one real issue with her life, there is over a 50% chance, another brain tumour may grow in the next 15 years of her life, and to me that hurts, more than anything. 

 

There is no real point to this blog, just wanted to get my thoughts down…..If you have read it…..Thank You.

 

Twitter: andy_wolves91

Those 44 Days at Leeds….

After Watching ‘The Damned United’ several times, something that caught my eye was how the players, including greats of their times, such as Bremner and Giles; never really liked Brian Clough, after he replaced Don Revie in 1974. (Revie left to become England Manager)

Of course the mere 44 days that Clough was in-charge of Leeds United, were disastrous for him personally, with the players not playing for the manager, and all talk of the former gaffer banned. Why am I mentioning this?

Well, after Five and a half years at Wolves, Mick McCarthy was sacked by the Wolves Owner or Chief Executive (Believe what you will). As the news settled on Monday evening, I thought that this was the right decision, and despite the nervous times that we are currently feeling at the moment, mainly due to us losing 5-1 to that lot from Sandwell (Sorry for reminding you) but also due to the fact that we have no one steering our club forward.

McCarthy brought through players from non-league and lower league football to players that are now playing regularly Premier League football. Players such as Stephen Ward and Michael Kightly, came from Bohemians and Grays Athletic respectively and were players that almost no-one knew! Now, they are both key players in Wolves’ squad for the last 13 games of the season.

With reports of tears being shed on Monday afternoon, when McCarthy said his final goodbyes. With so many players’ careers influenced by Mick, the one thing that has crossed my mind is could players who clearly loved playing under McCarthy, really adjust so quickly to playing for a different manager, and would they want to? Or should they just shut up and get on with it?

(Will let you think about this and comment/tweet me about if you wish)

There are obvious differences between the tenures of both Revie and McCarthy.

Revie managed in a completely different era, was at his club 13 years won 3 league titles ( 1 in division two, 2 in first division) 1 FA Cup, 1 Football League Cup, 1 Charity Shield, and took them to a European cup final and 2 Inter-Cities fairs cups (UEFA Cup). Revie is/will be one of the most successful managers to grace Elland Road.

McCarthy took us from mediocrity in the Championship, to winning the league and then surviving two seasons in the world’s best league. On paper Revie is a better manager, there is no doubt about that in that!

But both he and McCarthy were likeable characters, liked by the media, fellow peers and players. As already mentioned, There are players at Wolves that owe Mick a lot, and will be very saddened by his exit. But will they get fully behind the new man, when he comes to the hot seat?

Could we see another reign like Clough’s at Leeds in football again at any club?

Hope I gave you something to think about!

Andy

Twitter: andy_wolves91

Money…Money….Money…..Football.

First blog in quite some time from me…..So Apologies for that!

 

As some of you will know I am writing a dissertation on Football Finances, looking at the gap between the Professional League system and the Non-League system.  At the moment, I have started to compile my research and look at the findings I have made from this work.

After talking to various football clubs, one thing become very apparent. Their unwillingness to be named in my report, this could potentially be a major problem.

Despite this I have found some very intriguing issues have come to the forefront of this research paper, while talking with football clubs and fans.

 

Firstly, there are clubs that are still in business that have been or are technically insolvent. One of the big 4 in fact shouldn’t be in Business and that’s Manchester United. United’s debt figure is now a staggering £540 million. (Guardian, 2011)

If this was a different industry than Sport, Manchester United would have been declared insolvent, and Old Trafford would stand empty.  

Of course we have the UEFA financial fair play regulations, with clubs failing to comply possibly losing prize money from competitions and even being denied entry to European club competitions.

(If you want to read more on the regulations, see the link at the end of this blog)

 

Secondly, the transfer market and the value of players is way out of proportion. Porto striker Hulk, is valued at £83m by his Portuguese club, that’s a huge amount of money for just one person. Football clubs in England are valued at not even a quarter of that in some cases, Has the transfer market gone bonkers, or is this now the modern football way?

 

Thirdly, Is non-league football becoming a forgotten land?  A lot of us, myself included are more likely to watch Premier League football, due to the exposure it has. Over the course of a weekend we can watch probably 3 games in the Premier League alone. But what about local sides, I cannot remember the last time I watched or saw a non-league game advertised on television.  As well as this the non-league doesn’t get the people to watch them like the league sides do, and money is obviously tighter due to this. 

 

So when you’re reading this, think about your local side and please check your local paper or their website to see who they are playing this weekend.

Perhaps even go and see them if you are free for a few hours tomorrow afternoon. To these clubs everything matters, and they will be pleased to see you.

 

Moving on from this, I briefly want to talk about Darlington FC. After being saved after the deadline for new investors had passed, a fans support group managed to gain a sufficient amount of money, to keep the club alive and running for the next three games, (now two games left).  After listening to BBC Radio Tees, on the day that the club could have disappeared from the league table, one thing is for sure.

Darlington Football Club needs to get out of the Keepmoat Stadium as soon as is possible. Since moving their in 2003, they have entered administration three times, in 2003, 2009 and 2011. The stadium is sucking the money and the life out of the club, but one thing is for sure they need to get out while they still can.

 

  I am still collecting data for my research paper, I would really appreciate it if you could do one or both below:

Poll: http://app.fluidsurveys.com/polls/andy-m/foreign-ownership-good-or-bad-2/

Questionnaire:   http://app.fluidsurveys.com/surveys/andy-m/football-finances/

That’s all for now…….if you wanna talk about any issues i have raised, or find it interesting please comment below or tweet me andy_wolves91.   

 

 

Links 

The Guardian, Manchester United’s parent company announces  record 109m loss http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/22/manchester-united-record-loss-debt

 

Wikipedia, UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Financial_Fair_Play_Regulations

 

Things happen for the wrong reasons 2….

My last blog was very difficult to write to say the least.

But, My Granddad and Charlotte were the only two people in my life who I could really talk to, and it remains that way.  Yes, I have friends, best friends, that I can talk to about almost everything, but not quite everything. I am not prepared to go into detail about the things I don’t want to tell people, thats personal and that where it will always stay.

So the ‘curve ball’? Whats that?

My dissertation is currently my curve ball.  I am finding it hard. The dissertation in itself is one major hurdle that I have to overcome. To those of you that have done it, Well Done! To those that haven’t…….Just wait and see.

Nottingham Trent, have decided that my dissertation subject is good and after talking through things with my Supervisor, I began to realize that this was not impossible.

So, today I spoke to my supervisor, only to be told that as well as her, I would have a 2nd Supervisor to help with my dissertation. I remember thinking, brilliant two academic minds to bounce ideas off….until i met the new supervisor.

My new supervisor; has decided that my idea is rubbish and there is no substance! (The other one said it had mileage, and would be very interesting). Now I find myself thinking about it all, and pondering what he said.

Okay, it has knocked my confidence massively, and has made me not even want to look at it right now. Although thats easier said than done of course. As my dissertation, is an area, that I will always be passionate about: Football.

So after my rant on the University Staff of Nottingham Trent University, that explains the conundrum that I am now facing.

And for those who are interested this is my dissertation:

Football Finances – The Rich get Stronger and the Poor get weaker. A view from the bottom looking up.

One thing is for sure….I will not give up.

And another song to end….The Verve:

Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s’ life
Trying to make ends meet
You’re a slave to money then you die.

 

Things happen for all the wrong reasons…..

 

Sometimes life throws you curve balls, seems like the today has thrown me a huge curve ball.

Sometimes I struggle with how I feel about certain things or people in life, and admittedly I know that, that is not good for me at all. I am someone who does (most of the time) keep my feelings to myself.  Maybe I need to learn to open up more, the problem is to who?

There were 2 people I use to be able to open up to…….

My Granddad, was the first person I really openly spoke to about how I felt, He always knew when I was upset or down, He could just tell by looking at me. Our views differed on certain areas; Football in particular, He really wasn’t a fan. But he was always there. When  I Couldn’t do something, he would teach me how to do it or talk me through the best possible solutions.

Then all that changed; he died after 7 years battling cancer, his body gave up the fight. And Cancer claimed another life. And that was it….He was gone. 4 years ago he died.  But when I go back and see my Gran, and look around the farm that they together built up themselves, built up from nothing, I look and think…..He did something with his life and was happy….Why can’t I do the same?

Charlotte, is the second person who I felt, I could openly talk to and share how I really felt with. Meeting her over 4 and a half years ago, brought me a new direction and a new positive mantra. I myself, am not the most positive person in the world, and I don’t make it easy for the people around me at all! But she has always been there to cheer me up, and get me through difficult situations. For that alone, I Thank You Baby.

With my last year of university proving to be the hardest challenge of my life to date, all I want to do is make my Granddad and my Girl proud……..sometimes it’s the simple things in life that are the most difficult to accomplish.

A few lines from ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay, sums this up.

Nobody said it was easy, Oh it’s such a shame for us to part.

Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said it would be so hard.

twitter: andy_wolves91

 

 

The Changing Face of Football

In the last week, I have been on public transport on 4 different occasions and have had plenty of time to think through a number of things that are happening at the moment. Not only in my life but also in the world at the moment

Firstly, Sepp Blatter. His comments on Racism have been met with dismay and disgust by football fans.

To say that if a player is racially abused during the course of the game by someone else, then it should be sorted at the end of the game with a handshake!
If this is the attitude of FIFA’s president; we have no chance of getting rid of racism not only from our beautiful game but also off the football pitch and on the street.
Blatter, you have to resign. Get out alive while you still can.

When I first started writing my dissertation I thought, it was going to be pure hell. So choosing a topic that I was interested in was the thing I was told to do, as it was supposed to make it easier.
You don’t even need three guesses to work out that I chose Football!!!
I have a working title that at the moment is this:

‘Football Finances – The rich get stronger and the poor get weaker’: a view from the bottom looking up.

The main theme of the dissertation will revolve around the finances of football clubs and i will be hoping to answer one question.

What’s more important? Making a profit? Or winning games?

twitter: andy_wolves91