Slick McCarthy or Dick McCarthy?
Slick McCarthy
by Peter Jones
Mick McCarthy has come in for some stick this week from people moaning about his selection policy for Wolves’ trip to Manchester United. The FA have asked him to explain, UEFA have of course had their say and Arsene Wenger has bemoaned the decision in a none too subtle attempt to distract from the fact his ‘title contenders’ failed to win at Burnley. Let’s be honest though, we all have Wolves down as a team destined to be relegated and somehow Mick McCarthy has to make sure this isn’t the case. Christmas is a point in the season that will often make or break a campaign so protecting your better plays to cope with the gruelling schedule seems like a wise move to me. Every point is the difference between future trips to the likes of Old Trafford and The Emirates or cold Wednesday nights in Scunthorpe, Doncaster or God forbid, Coventry.
To an extent I can see the miffed fans points of view, though there is something utterly hilarious about them moaning the next day on Sky Sports News as one of Murdoch’s minions rams a camera in their faces. Come May if Wolves are safe from relegation then they will have long forgotten the £40 they forked out to see their team lose at Old Trafford. Wolves are a pereniel yo-yo side, stoping this rot would be a massive achievement.
We also must remember that this is not Wolves first game at Old Trafford this season. In the Carling Cup 3rd Round we saw a team featuring only three of the players who started the league match get beaten 1-0. Not only did this team filled with First Teamers lose to Manchester Utd at Old Trafford, they did so against a Utd reserve team. Kuszack, Brown, Neville, Fabio, Welbeck, Gibson, Owen and Mercheda are hardly ever likely to be the first names on Dear Old Fergies team sheet. Having attended the game myself, I know that Wolves caused Utd no threat in the slightest.
Ultimately this issue will be judged on Saturday with the six pointer trip to Burnley. However at least Mick has given his side the best possible chance. Slicker than your average.
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Dick McCarthy
by Gavin Cooke
Wolves fans singing ’42 quid to watch the reserves’ puts a bit of a funny spin on McCarthy’s team selection but I agree with some of the more angry reactions of their fans and the media. The chances of Wolves winning this game, full strength or not, were always pretty slim, but to pick a team with literally no chance to get anything takes away any romance about the game.
Had Wolves managed to nick a point or even win at Old Trafford it would have created a brilliant memory for the 4,000 travelling fans, the sort of memory that lasts an awful lot longer than whether they have to play 46 games in the 6th best league in Europe next year. My abiding memory of City’s 08-09 season will be the Hamburg game at home which actually saw City knocked out. Previous to that it’ll be derby wins that define seasons, winning at Blackburn to get promoted to the Prem and, of course, the playoff final against Gillingham – relegation seasons don’t even get a look in, and certainly not bottom-of-the-table clashes within them. Who gives a shit what division you’re in (okay so I’m exaggerating there) or if you beat the mighty Burnley in a mid-season snooze-fest, the chance to go to United et al and maybe nick something is what being a Wolves fan should be about this season – and McCarthy’s short-sightedness has taken that away.
I’d level the same accusations at Martin O’Neill and Gary Megson for throwing away their team’s UEFA cup runs, and think that it’s superb that Villa went on to have a shit season last year from the moment they did. Villa didn’t finish in the top 4 anyway, and even if they did what’d be the chance of them following the only team to break into it recently and going out in the qualifying rounds just as Everton did? They did however, have a very real chance of winning a European trophy last year (City were favourites for it throughout most of the knockout stages and Villa were a much better side) and, even if not, they’d have some memorable nights like the City v Hamburg one to look back on. I know which I’d prefer, and I’d imagine 99% of Villa fans are the same.
I think every fan of football is dismayed at the gap between the country’s top teams and the rest, and on one hand McCarthy’s actions are only a symptom of that – but to take your team’s chance of an upset from only maybe 2% down to zero fundamentally goes against everything being a fan is and should be about, and I think he deserves all the stick he gets. Come on Burnley.
