Summer 2026 Transfer Window Thread

[Deutsch Wolf]

No heart, no fight

This is a massive one. "Effort" isn't just measured by if you bother running a bit.

So many of this lot give up when we go 1-0 down, as we will a lot, because they are shit and can't defend for toffee.

As I say, 2011/12 Stephen Ward desperately needed a change of scenery (and wasn't done as a player, as proven by what he did for Brighton and Burnley for years afterwards) but give me him 10,000 times out of 10,000 over Hugo fucking Bueno.

 

[Lycan]

I can’t make the “giving up” thing make sense, period.

As ever, if you’re a professional footballer and you’re actually not giving it 100%, you shouldn’t be back on the pitch for that club. It’s fucking wild to me, and always will be, how commonly lack of effort is leveled at players. If it’s true, the manager should suspend the player or be sacked.

It’s appalling to me that it’s such an element of the sport. Effort is non-negotiable. Or it should be.

God, now I’m thinking of Kepa refusing to be subbed off for Chelsea. Fucking madness what players are allowed to do by their clubs.

It happens all the time. Players readily admit it. 5 minutes search on YouTube and you'll be able to take your pick from hundreds of stupid ex players on podcasts guffawing about the time they stopped trying to force a move or get a manager sacked. Chelsea have clearly done it with Rosenior as a recent example.

In our own squad Doherty has openly admitted to being unprofessional and overweight before he made lifestyle changes and Nuno came in.

 

[Alan]

I really, really strongly feel that the “heads dropping” phenomenon cannot be looked at as wholly a matter of character.

The club has been toxic for years. You can’t untangle it, IMO.

Anyway. No surprise that I’m the one on this side of the fence. On brand ay

 

[Alan]

It happens all the time. Players readily admit it. 5 minutes search on YouTube and you'll be able to take your pick from hundreds of stupid ex players on podcasts guffawing about the time they stopped trying to force a move or get a manager sacked. Chelsea have clearly done it with Rosenior as a recent example.

In our own squad Doherty has openly admitted to being unprofessional and overweight before he made lifestyle changes and Nuno came in.

Yeah, I try to ignore it because it makes a total mockery of the whole sport.

It’s gross and turns everything into a soap opera with kits. Fuck that.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Character is a huge thing. We used to bother looking at it for a while when we signed players then stopped bothering and just bought anyone.

You want someone who's going to throw everything at it if you're in a muck and nettles battle.

André is a better footballer than Romain Saiss ever was.

André will never do this.

 

[Alan]

I haven’t at all said that character isn’t a huge thing. Of course it is.

My point is maybe that the Wolves Romain played for would have been far easier to love playing for than what the club is now.

The current squad have not been good enough, but the club haven’t given them anything like a supportive environment in which they maybe could have been.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You can pick any number of examples.

We were bottom six dross in 2009/10 and 2010/11, lost loads of games and got outclassed quite often just on pure quality.

Jody Craddock was in that team, on his very last legs, and he was better than any centre half we have owned all season on every conceivable level.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The current squad have not been good enough, but the club haven’t given them anything like a supportive environment in which they maybe could have been.

Well Joao Gomes signed for us when we were bottom of the league and André willingly put pen to paper while we were on an epically bad run under Gary O'Neil.

They knew what they were getting into, if they didn't want a scrap then they shouldn't have bothered.

 

[Alan]

Well Joao Gomes signed for us when we were bottom of the league and André willingly put pen to paper while we were on an epically bad run under Gary O'Neil.

They knew what they were getting into, if they didn't want a scrap then they shouldn't have bothered.

I imagine they didn’t expect to be coached by nothing but fucking morons, really.

The last few seasons have been wretched up and down the club, and me saying that the environment has undermined the players is not me saying that it’s the only thing wrong. It absolutely is part of it, though.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Mate, I'm not up for making excuses for any of them, bar Mané who is a kid who shouldn't have played as much as he has (but we've had to, because we built the least creative squad ever seen in Premier League history) and Armstrong who was signed with a very clear brief for next season (and I think he'll do alright for us).

They're bad technically, they're bad physically, they're bad mentally, they're a collective stain on the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

If you Marty McFly the 2013/14 League One squad to August 2025 then I'll put most of them in our starting XI. I'm not joking either.

 

[Alan]

I’m not saying you have to, but you don’t need to stop me pointing out that there were problems that made things even harder on them than necessary.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Of course we have deep rooted problems, it's not just "we have shit players".

But as @Lycan has pointed out, maybe, just maybe if we have a goalkeeper who doesn't concede every single shot on target for two months then we aren't cut adrift before the clocks go back. Then maybe even if we change the manager in the autumn, we can attract someone with actual Premier League credentials. And we can sign players in January who will give us a shot at staying up if we're only looking at say, a 6 point deficit to 17th, rather than Gary Coleman and a Championship striker.

José Sa can fuck off, he is absolutely as bad as Johnson and O'Hara.

 

[prawnking]

Big boo hoo for our millionaire pampered lazy unprofessional players, most of whom will walk out of the club (or already have) unscathed while we drop through the trap door

 

[Deano]

This is the squad I've disliked the most in my times supporting Wolves. There have been other squads similar but there has always been at least a handful of players that I either liked or at least enjoyed watching, when I go to the game tomorrow I'm not looking forward to anything about the 90 minutes from 3pm onwards.

 

[basher]

Character is a huge thing. We used to bother looking at it for a while when we signed players then stopped bothering and just bought anyone.

You want someone who's going to throw everything at it if you're in a muck and nettles battle.

André is a better footballer than Romain Saiss ever was.

André will never do this.

The sheer effort, grit, and graft Saiis put in that night was phenomenal.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

It’s quite an achievement to assemble a squad after 8 years and about a billion pounds income that very few fans care about a single one of them. Not enamoured with any manager since Nuno come to think of it.

 

[Tredman]

Apologies @Alan have just spent the last few minutes liking every post except yours.

 

[Alan]

Apologies @Alan have just spent the last few minutes liking every post except yours.

Pretty old hat happenstance at this point mate

 

[Tony Towner]

Others have covered pretty much everything I have to say. All I'll add is what JSL served up after being given a new contract was as bad as anything O'Hara or Johnson did. Edwards gaslighting us into how hard he was trying even after he left is the biggest reason I question his integrity.

 

[Alan]

Did we all forget that Johnson showed up to training drunk??

Whatever, we’re down so doesn’t fucking matter what I think about the squad. As if I’m making them out to be angels.

God, fuck. I need to log off.