Wolves put out an under-strength side last night at Old Trafford, and the next morning Watford look an almost certainty to go into administration. You can guess which story concerned ole’ Sam Matterface on Sky Sports News on this cold December day.
What I want to know though, why such an outcry over something which isn’t that significant? The Premier League never felt it necessary to investigate when Liverpool played a similarly sub-standard team at Fulham back in 2006, and they didn’t even have the excuse of injuries to fall back on. Saying that, the persecution complex would have kicked into overdrive and the Merseysiders’ would have threatened to leave the league or something. God forbid that ever happens!
The facts then – the side Mick the Tyke fielded is as follows, with all ten outfield players changed from Saturday’s win at Spurs:
Marcus Hahnemann,
George Elokobi,
Ronald Zubar,
Matt Hill,
Michael Mancienne,
Kevin Foley,
Andrew Surman,
Greg Halford (David Jones 76),
George Friend (Matt Jarvis, 61),
Segundo Castillo,
Stefan Maierhofer (Chris Iwelumo, 54).
£42 – the cost of match ticket for each Wolves fan, and a lot more on top of that for travelling I’m sure.
This doesn’t detract from the fact that Wolves, in all likelihood, weren’t going to get anything from Old Trafford on a Tuesday night in December, especially after their efforts at the Lane on Saturday. To go along with this why have the players if you don’t play them? Several of the team have impressed at times this season (Maierhofer, Castillo, Jarvis, Halford, and Hahnemann) and it’s not like they put out a complete team of unknowns, so why the investigation? Would this be happening if the boot were on the other foot and Man Utd had made 10 changes? I think not.
Back to that first point, and spare a though for Watford Football Club. The whole board have just resigned and, according to reports, they need around £5.5million to stave off administration. One source of money, which looks like it may have dried up, is Portsmouth Football Club. They owe Watford funds from the transfers of Tommy Smith and Mike Williamson but it’s anybody’s guess when/where/how/if they will get it, and with no real assets in terms of players at Watford it’s difficult to see them getting anyway near the £5.5million needed. Time to ring Elton methinks!
So although as a Palace fan the mandatory ten point deduction Watford would receive for going into administration may help us out come the end of the season, it’s never nice to see a so-called “bigger” side slipping away much in the same way Leeds have in recent years.
