After the most turbulent week in the club's recent history, Wolves departed Newcastle with an unlikely point in Terry Connor's first outing as manager. It's hard to distinguish which reality would have seemed most unlikely to supporters at the beginning of the week; avoiding defeat at a team occupying one of six European places or the fact that the new man in the dugout would be such a familiar face.
Connor's appointment has been met with widespread derision by both Wolves fans and those outside the club. It seems, on paper at least, completely illogical to dispense with the services of Mick McCarthy only to replace him with the man who has assisted him throughout a campaign which has seen the club win just five times in 26 league fixtures. Indeed, my immediate reaction to the decision by the Molineux board was as follows; if Mick McCarthy was deserving of the sack, then surely his coaching staff are part of the problem, and not the solution?
However, with time comes perspective and when this is applied to these latest goings-on the decision to appoint the former Brighton and Leeds striker does not seem so perplexing. Connor has been a part of the backroom staff at Wolves for 13 years, which is impressive in an age where coachs are chopped and changed frequently (just ask Ray Wilkins). According to Manchester City centre half Joleon Lescott, one of the finest players to ever don gold and black, Connor is the best coach he has ever worked with, which apparently makes him superior to both David Moyes and Roberto Mancini. Whilst we would perhaps be wise to take this last comment with a pinch of salt, it is a glowing testament to the capabilities of the latest incumbent in the Molineux hot seat. Nobody was ever this kind about Steve Kean.
The time-honoured argument against internal promotion such as this is that a good coach does not necessarily make a good manager. Brian Kidd, so highly regarded as an assistant manager but largely deried during his spell in charge of Blackburn, is an example of the perils that may await any coach planning to leave the comfort of the training ground for the intensity of the dugout. But thus far, Connor has navigated this most difficult of routes relatively smoothly; he spoke with clarity in his first press conference and then orchestrated a daring comeback from two goals down on Saturday. The key to any managerial appointment is how the players react on the field, and the Wolves players certainly did that against Newcastle. Granted, 'TC' has only been in charge for a grand total of four days, but such positives such be clung to by those disillusioned by his appointment.
It would seem that throughout this whole saga, from McCarthy's dismissal to Connor's appointment, it is chairman Steve Morgan and chief executive Jex Moxey who have come out with the least credibility. Indeed, at times Morgan's comments have been cringe-worthy; his talking up of Alan Curbishley just hours after the job became vacant, only to be turned down twice by the former Charlton and West Ham manager, was particularly galling. And Moxey's insistence that the job was 'not one for a novice' only to then plump for a man with no managerial experience was, quite frankly, ridiculous. But it would be naive to believe every report made during the ten days that the job was vacant. Journalists have an agenda (to sell newspapers) that is just as strong as that of Moxey and Morgan, theirs seemingly being to try and keep the fans on side as much as possible, hence their odd statement on Friday afternoon which suggested that Connor had always been a candidate for the job from day one. We will never know exactly what went on during that period of uncertainty, but it would be rash to firmly side with either party.
The reality facing Wolves fan is that their only chance of impacting on the remainder of Wolves season is to lend their support to their new manager and his team, whether they approve of his appointment or not. They must resist the urge to lambast those running the club, as they did so willingly during the more troubling periods of McCarthy's final season in charge, and instead apply perspective and patience, as hard as some may find it. They did so on Saturday and were rewarded with a spirited comeback against one of the division's better sides. A televised trip to Fulham awaits on Sunday; an away following in good voice will doubtless be more helpful to the players than home crowds of recent weeks.
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