Ladies and gentlemen, THAT’S how you celebrate. Yesterday, Mick McCarthy, manager of the Wolverhampton Wanderers (or, if you prefer, “Wolves”), secured promotion into the Premier League via a 1-0 win over Queen’s Park Rangers.
This really shouldn’t be a shock, of course; Wolves have sat on top of the table since October. The fact that a Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was the scorer also shouldn’t be shocking; he’s the Championship’s leading scorer, with 25 this season. Two-time Championship “Manager of the Month” McCarthy wasn’t shy about his new signing’s success, either:
“I haven’t been fortunate. I signed Chris Iwelumo, I signed Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, I signed Michael Kightly for £25,000. I’m not lucky. They were bloody good signings.”
That trio has accounted for 47 goals this season, so he’s right in saying that they’ve made an impact. In fact, those three have scored more than nine entire Championship sides; they’re the Messi/Henry/Eto’o of second tier, if you will (scoring has never been a problem at Wolverhampton; they’ve scored 6,779 goals since their first season in 1888, which is more than any other English club). Still, owner Jez Moxey knows that three won’t be enough, and says he’s prepared to spend money in the transfer market to bring in some new talent (he doesn’t say how much money he’s willing to spend, however; that may end up being the make-or-break point for their next season).
Wolves were last in the Premiership back in 2004. They were relegated after amassing only 33 points; Leeds United and Leicester City also went down that year. Unlike their fellow relegation victims, however, Wolves managed to stay in the Championship and are now back in the top flight while Leeds and Leicester toil away in League One.
Mick, I don’t rate you as a manager, and I don’t rate you as an alcoholic.
Oh, and Leicester is back in the Colaship. Leeds…not so much, yet.
Ah, WSR is correct; Leicester played in League One this year, but they won that, so they’re Colaship bound.
Still, Wolves never fell to the lower tier, which is pretty impressive considering the pedigree of the teams who did.
Why is Isaiah Thomas trying to blind that poor man?
I think they may do well next season, they play some attractive football. I wonder if they’ll get to help pick the bones of Newcastle if/when they go down.