The ‘Merlin Formulae’ that carried Wolves into the ‘Promised Land’

Football FanCast columnist
Adam Thompson looks at the Merlin formulae that has seen his beloved Wolves return
back to the Premier League.

Standing
amongst the thousands of delirious fans that swarmed onto the Molineux pitch,
just over a week ago, the sense of relief and ecstasy was blatant as my team
Wolves would be back in the big time after an absence of 5 years.

In those
years Wolves as a club fell into a transitional period. Dave Jones couldn't
shake off the hangover that haunted them after his under prepared and underfunded
season in the Premiership and joined by Leeds and Leicester they were relegated
in English footballs 2^nd tier.

Glenn
Hoddle came in to replace the popular and (in
many fan's view) hastily dismissed Jones. Hoddle's reluctance to commit
long term questioned his loyalty to wolves. He turned Wolves into the draw
specialists, the football was bland, The signing of striker Tomas Frankowski
who never scored a single goal for Wolves in 16 appearance for the club, was in
Hoddle's words was ‘The missing piece in the jigsaw' lost the Wolves
faithful, Hoddle's resignation on the morning of England versus Portugal summed
up the integrity of a man who never engaged with the Wolves following.

Up steps
Mick McCarthy declaring he could feel the sense of misery in the city in the
aftermath of his predecessor's tenure. He proclaimed he was no ‘Merlin
Magician' (referring to the ‘M M' on
his tracksuit) and with no money and 14 professionals at the club, got
Wolves into the playoffs. They were eventually knocked out by them lot down the
road (West Brom but who needs reminding).
His second season was much a return to the days of Glenn Hoddle with 3-0 being
the biggest win of the season for them and despite having more funds and more
resources available Wolves missed out on the playoff where a challenge for 6^th
place came too late in the day.

Onto the 2008/2009 season. Many including myself felt any place lower than 6^th
by Christmas would leave McCarthy's job in question. What happened surpassed
even the hardened Wolves fans expectations, Wolves flew to the top of the
league where they held the position since October and eventually went on clinch
the title last Saturday at Barnsley.

So what did
Super Mick get right that Dave Jones couldn't conjure, that Glenn Hoddle never
found the missing piece to and what was lacking from McCarthy's 2^nd
year at Wolves.

Formation

Towards the
end of the 07/08 season wolves experimented with a 4-3-3 formation that
compensated for the loss of Michael Kightly and Matt Jarvis, it papered over
the cracks for a few games but was always seen as a quick fix. Many argued that
signing like for like wingers as back up to Kites and Jarvo would allow Wolves
to stick with the successful 4-4-2 and not tinker with the tactics too much.

McCarthy
recognised this, after losing both Kightly and Jarvis in the same game the
manager wasted no time in recruiting Carlos Edwards from Sunderland and
shifting the tested Keogh onto the right wing to allow Wolves to play top scorers
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Chris Iwelumo in the same side.

No paper
talk

Wolves
banned the ‘P' word from the training ground and any player found talking about
promotion was fined.  The previous two season's
Wolves' handling of the press felt inexperienced and rash. Boasting they were
going to ‘stuff Albion' before a black country derby they eventually lost and
proclaiming  they were going to win
promotion, something they never came close to achieving only added unnecessary
pressure onto the players something  ever
present in a city that demands top flight football. Like Dave Jones in the
build up to the playoff final, McCarthy let the press speak but not the players
and let all outside influences to remain outside the dressing room. Once
Promotion was confirmed the sense of relief from the journalists interviewing a
free speaking Wolves camp tells its own story how disciplined they were with
the press.

Jody
Craddock

He was on
the brink on leaving last season, then after breaking his foot in a home game
against Sheffield Wednesday it seemed there was no way back. The signing of
Christophe Berra all but sealed his fate. Neil Collins was chipping in with
goals from defence, but for every goal he scored he would gift the opposition
2. Richard Stearman's performances dipped and Wolves going through their
roughest patch of season needed someone to stand up lead them out their retched
run of 1 win in 9.

Step forward Jody Craddock. McCarthy asked him to do him a job, which he did.
Wolves began to play up again and it's no coincidence that his presence in the
Wolves side alongside the ever improving Berra was a decision that steadied the
ship and kept wolves on course for promotion. A fans favourite, Craddock is now
to be awarded with a new deal, a thanks for being the corner stone of Wolves
success when the season reached squeaky bum time.

He's
silenced his critics

Mick
McCarthy is his own man; you always feel his decisions are nobody else's but
his. Any influences outside the club are minimal (something needed in the Premiership as West Ham and Newcastle United
will tell you). As a Wolves fan myself there is certainly a section of
supporters that only want to talk Wolves after they have been featured on Sky
Sports news or one of their client offers them a free ticket. There's certainly
a fickle contingent but its minimal compared to fan bases like Reading and
Birmingham who simply can't fill they're stadiums despite their promotion push.

But as delighted as I was with the scenes of jubilation against QPR then
Barnsley, I can't help but feel that once the euphoria has died down and the
realisation of a tough season a head come into the psyche of the fans, Mick
McCarthy would not only celebrate a 2^nd Championship on the CV but
also the fact of ramming down the throat of his doubters and critics Wolves
most successful season in a generation.

The radio phone ins, emails to the papers and internet messages board all
demanding McCarthy get out despite Wolves being top of the league seem to have
been forgotten quickly by many fans. But a proud man like McCarthy won't
forget, even in the midst of celebrations this past week he still had a message
for the Wolves's turncoat quarter ‘The same people who wanted me out will be
singing Super Mick in the pub tonight'.

In the 3 years that Mick McCarthy has been in charge he has succeeded where
many Wolves managers have failed, he's realised that he would always have his
critics but he isn't scared to take them on. Manager such as Graham Taylor and
Colin Lee buckled under the supporter demands; whereas last season the Kevin
Kyle and Freddy Eastwood saga was a battle of ego versus fan power. This season
McCarthy has let his faith in his team and tactics put the ‘McCarthy Out brigade' noses out of place
and any attacks on the fans haven't been as direct or scathing but more back
handed remarks in jest ‘If we lose I'm a dog if we win I'm a god' being
just one of the sound bites aimed at the fans ready to jump on the bandwagon…or
the Oakwell pitch it seems.

After
Sundays game against Doncaster when the last of the alcohol has left the system
and Wolves scarves are pulled in from car windows the realisation of an arduous
season ahead will begin to descend. Do we have enough quality? Who will we buy?
Are we another Derby? Will some of the questions processing through the fans
mind. Is McCarthy the right manager to keep us there? That question remains to
be seen but after reading this article I hope the successes he got right this
season will at least bring comfort to those Wolves fans (Despite the failures of Jones and Hoddle) who still question his
leadership.

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