Solbakken repairs the fracture that wouldn't heal

Turbulent times then.
The arrival of a new boss, with new ideas and a new way of conveying them, and the departure of three players who could have been major weapons in the battle for promotion.
So where now?
For Wolves to amass something in the region of £27 million for the sale of Fletcher, Jarvis and Kightly is remarkable.
I don't begrudge the trio a return to the Premier League, and I don't blame Wolves for cashing in. I don't think there was a sensible alternative.
No-one doubts this is a challenging Championship but Wolves have to believe they are good enough to win promotion.
There was a positive mood at Molineux on Tuesday, with a victory that offered hope and excitement for the months ahead.
I like the demeanour of Stale Solbakken. I liked his fury at a misplaced pass, and I liked his instant connection with the South Bank.
And I like the fact that he has seemingly repaired the Molineux fracture that threatened never to heal.
I winced at many headlines last season, but the one highlighting the training ground performance of our captain Roger Johnson was the most painful.
I shook my head in sad disbelief at the on-field argument between Johnson and Hennessey. Like the whole stadium that day, I sided with Hennessey.
And I took no delight in the abuse Johnson received from Wolves fans as he sat on the subs' bench.
I'm not saying he didn't deserve it - just saying there is no delight in hearing Wolves fans turning on their own players.

So to see and hear Johnson receive a standing and loud ovation from the South Bank on Tuesday night was a remarkable moment.
Where did that come from? Wolves fans often stand accused of being unfairly unforgiving.
Well it certainly helped that Johnson was an outstanding performer against Barnsley, but no-one can surely have anticipated such a transformation in relations between player and supporters, as we played out the final weeks of a depressing Premier League season against a backdrop of such antipathy and anger towards him.
I'm still struggling to understand what has happened here.
Johnson has said nothing publicly, and maybe that is a key ingredient in restoring faith.
Wolves fans have respected the fact Johnson has got his head down, and concentrated on persuading Solbakken that he deserves a chance.
The heart of Wolves' defence has been too weak for too long. It should not be difficult for Johnson to prove he is the best available option for the new boss.
And he appears to be proving it.
It was really heart warming to be on the South Bank at full time on Tuesday. There was a sense of forgiveness and togetherness.
Roger Johnson could, perhaps should, be the best central defender in the Championship. 
He should a Molineux asset rather than a distraction. And if nothing else, it's much nicer if  we're all friends.

Stale Wolves provide a fresh approach

So no need to spend the summer condemning Wolves for taking too long to appoint a manager.

No need to metaphorically burn your season ticket book in disgust at Wolves appointing a manager from within.

And no need to spend the summer sifting through the English football baggage that would have accompanied the appointment of a "traditional" journeyman.

Ever since Steve Morgan rightly sacked Mick McCarthy, but at hopelessly the wrong time, I had pinned my hope on Chris Hughton being our next manager. Along the way my eyes wandered in the direction of Solksjaer and Holloway, but my Molineux heart belonged to Hughton.

But then England swooped for Roy Hodgson, and from that moment my Hughton hopes were dashed. He's such an impressive individual that he may still stay with Blues - but if he moves he would surely plump for The Hawthorns rather than further along the A41.

We know Wolves are the second best team in the Black Country, so why amplify it by losing out to the Baggies in the potential fight for Hughton?

So just 24 hours after Morgan told the end of season awards dinner that he's a **** loser, he finalised a deal that sent legions of Wolves fans scrambling for YouTube and Wikipedia.

I can only speak for one Wolves fan, obviously, but I think life within the Molineux dressing room was too predictable, too safe, too cosy - even if rumours of a fractious atmosphere were true.

Same voices, same results, relegation.

So a stale Wolves have sent for Stale. The 44-year-old Solbakken is an exciting appointment, simply because it's so left field. No-one knows what to expect and that has to be a good thing for players and fans.

So ok, if Wolves are 14th after a rainy night game in October, the excitement levels will have dipped. And we have to accept it may well take time for the new Wolves to adjust to a new manager.

But the man who did so well in Hans Christian Anderson territory may write a new fairytale.

Jez Moxey admits too many supporters have fallen out of love with following Wolves. He is completely spot on, but I commend Molineux's High Command for this appointment.

It is a big step in the right direction. It's not Bruce, it's not Megson and it's not TC. It's exciting and it's hope.

Premier League - it wasn't all bad!

Just 90 minutes left to endure until the Premier League becomes a memory.

The game was up weeks ago, but the game will be up officially on Sunday when Wolves physically return to the Championship.

Forty five players, barring any surprise last day debuts at Wigan, have worn the old gold and black these last three seasons. 

Bassong, Bent, Berra

Castillo, Craddock

Davis, De Vries, Doherty, Doyle

Ebanks-Blake, Edwards, Elokobi

Fletcher, Foley, Forde, Friend, Frimpong

Gorman, Guedioura

Hahnemann, Halford, Hammill, Hennessey, Henry, Hill, Hunt

Iwelumo

Jarvis, Johnson, Jones, Jonsson

Keogh, Kightly

Maierhoffer, Mancienne, Milijas, Mouyokolo, Mujangi Bia

O'Hara

Stearman, Surman

Van Damme, Vokes

Ward

Zubar

And Wolves arrive at the DW Stadium on Sunday with a Premier League record of:

Played 113

Won 25

Drawn 28

Lost 60

Points 103 (out of a possible 339)

It's all ended on a low note, but there were highs which I'll always remember fondly:

Winning at White Hart Lane

Winning at Anfield 

Sylvan equalising at Old Trafford

Beating Man Utd at Molineux - again!

Winning at Villa Park

Zubar's goal at West Ham

Jarvo coming on for England

Hunty's corner against Chelsea

Beating the club which will probably be crowned Premier League champions on Sunday

And finally....being in a Champions League spot last August!

Builder Morgan has some subsidence to repair

A successful relationship between a football fan and a club chairman is surely built on faith and trust? If so, Wolverhampton Wanderers chairman Steve Morgan clearly has some ground to make up.

When Wolves avoided relegation from the Premier League on a gut-wrenching afternoon of high drama 11 months ago, Morgan took to the Molineux pitch and declared an intention that our club wouldn’t be in this position again. Almost a year on, his words have proved depressingly accurate.

Oh to be going to Wigan on the last day of the season needing to avoid defeat to secure a fourth successive season in the world’s richest football league.

We knew weeks ago that the game was up. Many thought relegation was odds-on back in November - and some Wolves watchers thought the game was up on that afternoon of surreal tension last May.

Morgan and Mick McCarthy delivered the dream - promotion in May 2009 after a wonderful Championship season. But, when Morgan needed to be decisive, he dithered. And hindsight would suggest he picked totally the wrong time to ditch McCarthy.

Results since Terry Connor took over have been some of the worst in Wolves’ history. Losing 5-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion was painful, but Morgan sacking McCarthy from his ski chalet set in motion an ever-increasing slide back towards the Football League that has been pitiful, shameful and hugely embarrassing.

After sacking McCarthy, Wolves declared: “This is not a job for a novice manager.” And, on the day they appointed Connor, Morgan clearly bridled at the suggestion that he had anything to be embarrassed about. But those of us who stand on the South Bank, and travel around the Premier League in gold and black, were embarrassed, and are embarrassed.

We stand and stare at the imposing new North Bank stand - and wonder where Morgan’s priorities lie, and how on earth Wolves are going to fill those thousands of new seats.

Morgan says he has spent £48m on 19 players to keep Wolves in the Premier League. But the reality is Wolves have not bought enough quality.

Could it be, with Swansea, Norwich and QPR joining the elite in August, that the board banked on the Premier League being weaker this season? If so, it was a gamble that spectacularly exploded in Molineux faces. And nearly half that £48m go on four players - Fletcher, Doyle, O'Hara and Johnson?

Quite apart from the very steady strides being made down the A41 at The Hawthorns, the performances of Brendan Rogers’ men at The Liberty Stadium and Paul Lambert’s team at Carrow Road that have really shown Wolves up.

Nobody can argue that Wolves do not have a solid financial base. But we have been left behind where it really matters - on the pitch. It feels like we are trapped in a tactical time warp.

If Stoke City are perceived as our Premier League benchmark, how many Wolves players would genuinely interest Potters boss Tony Pulis? Not many. Jarvis? Fletcher?

Many point to one of our rare victories this season, against Sunderland on 4 December, as the defining moment. It was only our fourth win of the season, against a team that had just appointed Martin O’Neill, and it bought McCarthy time.

But all it did ultimately was delay the inevitable. Prior to that Sunderland win, we had seen some appalling performances at Molineux - QPR and Swansea instantly spring to mind.

Wolves’ third season in the Premier League has been defined by an inability to defend. We have seemed tactically inept, with an obvious lack of concentration at key moments.

And, when the inevitable came, following the capitulation against the Albion that Morgan did not even attend, Wolves embarked on a farcical hunt for a new manager.

Hiding behind a cloak of confidentiality, Wolves refused to discuss the names of those men they wanted to replace McCarthy. But we are not daft - we know what happened. Alan Curbishley definitely and probably Walter Smith said no thanks, and there was the bizarre u-turn over Steve Bruce. And another name in the frame, Reading’s Brian McDermott, will now pass us on the way.

Wolves fans, certainly those of us who lived through the Bhatti Brothers regime in the 1980s, don’t want anyone to gamble with our club’s future. We’ve seen the problems that creates at Portsmouth and Glasgow Rangers.

Morgan points to the money that has been spent, but the reality is quantity will never beat quality. And there is a perception among fans that Wolves won’t pay the wages that attract authentic Premier League footballers.

When Wolves secured their first clean sheet in 31 games at Sunderland on 14 April, the back four was Kevin Foley, Christophe Berra, Richard Stearman and Stephen Ward - all stalwarts of the 2009 promotion campaign.

The rate of progress has been too slow, and Wolves have been found out.

We return to the Football League with a current squad containing 13 players who helped get us promoted. More depressingly, which of those 13 has universally enhanced their reputations? I’m struggling after Jarvis and Wayne Hennessey, although I will always argue that Karl Henry deserves huge credit - and it would have been great to see a fully-fit Michael Kightly over these last three seasons.

Henry features in the most divisive chapter of Wolves’ season - the handing over of the captain’s armband he wore with such pride to Johnson. That was the biggest clanger in a catastrophic season.

Against Man City in the game that sent us down, Henry was man of the match. He cares.

We have an honourable man at the helm in Terry Connor, but we don’t have a proper manager, and many Molineux hearts sink at the prospect of a journeyman boss with a briefcase full of P45s replacing McCarthy.

We desperately need something new. We need some hope, and we need some excitement. Wolves have gone stale.

Chief executive Jez Moxey finds himself, once again, in the eye of a Molineux storm, but for me the blame lies exclusively at the door of our chairman.

House builder Morgan built on the solid foundations provided by Sir Jack Hayward, and delivered our long-held dream of Premier League football. For that, I will forever be grateful to him.

But he didn’t spot the cracks at Molineux and now has to deal with the subsidence - and 25,000 utterly dejected Wolves fans who feel comprehensively let down.