The Steve Morgan Legacy

[Langers]

New thread time to take some of the discussion away from the takeover thread.

Thought it'd be interesting to hear what we all think about the Morgan years - are we in a better state now then when he arrived in 2007? Obviously we've had some amazing highs and some pretty bloody dreadful lows. I can't and won't subscribe to the view that he's been a complete disaster - plenty of things have been great and under his tenure, I've experienced some truly memorable moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The same could be said of the negatives. The awful appointments of Connor and Saunders (I can at least see what we were trying to do under Solbakken and I don't particularly blame him or Moxey for that - it just didn't work out) and the farce of relegation to League 1 were atrocious and should never have happened.

I'm sure that he never envisaged handing the club over as a mid-table Championship side, and of course he must take some of the responsibility for not achieving what I'm sure he set out to do - establish us in the Premier League but it shouldn't be forgotten that we now have better facilities and - off the pitch at least - we're stable.

Over to you lot. Success? Failure? Something in between? Best/worst moments between 2007-2016?

 

[MARKakaJIM]

On the pitch things are pretty much as they were when he took off, Wolves are still a middling Championship team although there's been plenty of ups and down, but they're in a much better place off it with much improved infrastructure.

A lot of footballing decisions probably could've been done better but he's certainly not done any harm to Wolves.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Morgan has two big positive legacies

1. The training ground redevelopment and Category A status academy. If you have never been, you should. The facilities there are absolutely staggering and top class. Obviously not quite on the scale of St George's Park or the brilliant facility that Man City have built, but the quality is astounding.

2. His community work around the city. He did a lot of good in his time here, and those projects will last well beyond his tenure.

Middling legacy
The North Bank - it is a great stand, the views are superb, the concourses are wide. The Museum is excellent. However, the stairwells are a bloody disaster and it takes forever to get out. The big problem is that the unfinished project looks frankly rather bizarre. Now FOSUN have arrived and turned us minted I really hope the button is pushed on the Steve Bull and then the South Bank as the ground currently looks fucking odd

Playing legacy - he leaves us as he found us in terms of league position, and the squad is probably a bit weaker than the one Mick had started to build.

 

[Tredman]

Morgan's era was the most successful of my 30 years supporting Wolves. The prem, at times, was great - as was winning the champ & L1. It was a roller coaster, but up to last season it was never boring. Growing the academy and the plan to produce our own players is / was a fantastic idea - its a shame we couldn't support it last year with the purchase of the odd good player.

IMO he did well, other that appointing that twat Saunders.

 

[Langers]

I do like a nice questionnaire type thing.

So - during Morgan's tenure, what was your

Favourite game:
Least favourite game:
Best performance:
Worst performance:
Best signing:
Worst signing:
Best moment:
Worst moment:
Hero of the Morgan era:
Villain of the Morgan era:

 

[The Bear]

We've come full circle on the pitch, but to say that he left is in the same state as he acquired us would be disrespectful IMO.

Not only did we win the league and spend three very enjoyable seasons in the Premier League but we broke our transfer record as well with Doyle/Fletcher.

Yes we were subsequently relegated to League One, but that was down to the choice of manager, which anyone can get wrong even with the best intentions.

Self sufficiency hasn't seen much excitement once we were relegated from the Prem, but it does mean we are a very attractive financial proposition to buyers, with virtually no debt and cash available. Having a sane and sensible owner and not a nutjob obviously helped too.

Extending the ground was wishful thinking based on staying in the Prem, and the new North Bank is a good stand IMO. Shame we couldn't get started on the others but Cest La Vie. I'm sure the plans are all ready there for the next lot in charge. I'm sure Morgan will give them a good deal on the work too :icon_wink:

We also have a superb Category 1 Academy now too. That must have cost a few million to upgrade. Not to mention the training ground cost as well which IIRC was around £3m.

All of the above has likely made us more attractive to potential buyers so you can't fault Morgan for the state that he's left the club in. Yes he made a couple of poor managerial appointments but those would have been made by the board members as well, not just Morgan/Moxey.

Overall 7/10 IMO.

 

[Trips]

For me his legacy will be one of missed opportunity.

Playing wise, we are exactly where he found us - muddling around in the Championship. Facilities wise, as previously said, we are miles from where we were. Fantastic training and academy complex, the new North Bank is awesome as is the museum. He has also done fantastic charity work around the city with Wolves Aid and The Way.

The championship winning campaign was fantastic, as was the first season in the Premier League. I moved from the area at the end of the first Premier League season and don't get to games as often as I'd like now, but those two seasons were an awesome experience. Obviously the double relegation and Connor/Solbakken/Saunders appointments will haunt him.

But as I said at the start of this post, my over-riding feeling is one of missed opportunity. At the end of the 2010-11 season we had scraped survival on the last day, but we were in the league again for a third straight season, the ground redevelopment plans were starting and we were in a position to strengthen the side again. For me MM should of been moved upstairs at the end of that season, with a new manager bringing a fresh approach and ideas. If Morgan had been brave enough to make the call then we could of been a settled Premier League side now - see Swansea, Stoke, West Brom. Unfortunately he saw differently, the signings made that summer didn't work out and we all know what followed.

If he had been braver 5 years ago, his legacy here could of been secured. Unfortunately, for me, it will be one of "what if?"

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

So - during Morgan's tenure, what was your

Favourite game: Barnsley (a) when we got promoted. Fucking bonkers day out that was
Least favourite game: A myriad to choose from, but I think I would have to go with Wolves 1 Albion 5. That was a humping and a half, and the repercussions lasted years
Best performance: Wolves 1 Chelsea 0
Worst performance: hmmm - when we shipped 5 away at Fulham we were fucking garbage
Best signing: a tough one - Sako, Fletcher, Afobe would all be up there. I think I will go for Sako
Worst signing: Halford
Best moment: The promotion pitch invasion at Barnsley. Sharing the pitch with several mutant ninja turtles, some lunatic dressed as Chewbacca and a large inflatable lobster was just fucking surreal
Worst moment: Waking up in Oz to a text from Kenny telling me we had appointed that cunt Saunders
Hero of the Morgan era: Mick
Villain of the Morgan era: Saunders

 

[Langers]

I'm going to go for:

Favourite game: Wolves 6 Rotherham 4
Least favourite game: Wolves 1 Huddersfield 3
Best performance: Wolves 5 Forest 1 - one of the best displays I've ever seen from a Wolves side
Worst performance: Fulham 5 Wolves 0 - I think that's why the 'Things that Make You Happy' thread was created - to calm myself down. An abject surrender.
Best signing: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake or Bakary Sako
Worst signing: Roger Johnson - I actually think O'Hara would have been a great signing had injuries not destroyed him, despite how sour that particular transfer turned out.
Best moment: Winning the Championship - though the wins against Albion, Villa, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool were all unforgettable too.
Worst moment: when O'Hara lost his head v Huddersfield and I knew we were going down to League 1.
Hero of the Morgan era: Even though he didn't appoint him, I'm going to say Mick McCarthy. Great bloke - loved his time here.
Villain of the Morgan era: Dean Saunders. No fucking idea what was going on there. Morgan's lowest moment!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Favourite game: Liverpool 0-1 Wolves
Least favourite game: Gillingham 1-0 Wolves
Best performance: Wolves 5-1 Nottingham Forest
Worst performance: Fulham 5-0 Wolves
Best signing: Nouha Dicko
Worst signing: Grant Holt
Best moment: Promotion
Worst moment: Knowing after about three days that we had appointed a fucking moron in Saunders and being able to do nothing about it
Hero of the Morgan era: Bakary Sako
Villain of the Morgan era: Dean Saunders

 

[Trips]

Favourite game: 3-1 win over West Brom. Beating that lot, in the Premier League, live on SKY. Awesome. Closely followed by QPR at home to seal promotion.
Least favourite game: Easy. 1-5 against West Brom. A dark, dark day.
Best performance: Winning 3-1 at West Ham away was a great performance, as was the 1-0 win at Anfield with Stephen Ward's winner.
Worst performance: Fulham thumping us 5. I watched it at work, with my Fulham supporting Assistant Manager. We were pathetic that day. I think I sacked her not long after.
Best signing: Kevin Doyle. He had a massive impact for us in his first couple of years. HM to SEB, his goals fired us up in 08-09.
Worst signing: Roger Johnson, one of the catalysts for the disastrous two years that followed his signing.
Best moment: Celebrating promotion on the pitch at Molineux
Worst moment: 1-5 v West Brom. I would of gone with relegation from Championship but I was sunning myself on holiday when we went down, so not all bad.
Hero of the Morgan era: Mick McCarthy
Villain of the Morgan era: Dean Saunders

 

[Tredman]

So - during Morgan's tenure, what was your

Favourite game:
Wolves 6-4 Rotherham - My twins first game, win 6-4, get promoted and a high 5 from their favourite player (closely followed by beating Liverpool at Anfield)

Least favourite game:
Any of the 0-0s last season - just dreadful

Best performance:
Beating Stoke 2-1 in second season of Prem, future seemed very bright and the sun even shone

Worst performance:
see least favourite game....

Best signing:
Fletcher

Worst signing:
Halford

Best moment:
Pitch invasion after winning champ

Worst moment:
Anything saunders related

Hero of the Morgan era:
Mick & Sako

Villain of the Morgan era:
Saunders

 

[darlowolf64]

Favourite game: Spurs 3-3 despite the ref robbing us blind
Least favourite game: Any one of the depressing 0-0 draws at home last season
Best performance: Chelsea, Man Utd and Spurs all at home in the Prem
Worst performance: Fulham away. I was there and it wasn't pretty but it was pretty shocking
Best signing: Bakary Sako although Dicko was an inspired signing as an actual forward!
Worst signing: Grant Holt.. Stank the place out and denied our young players a chance. Oh and you can maybe add Leon Clark
Best moment: Beating QPR at Molineux to clinch promotion
Worst moment: Saunders relegating us
Hero of the Morgan era: Kenny Jackett for trimming the squad after relegation and for those first two seasons
Villain of the Morgan era: Saunders

 

[The Saturday Boy]

He achieved more at Wolves than Sir Jack Hayward who also took over a middling championship team and left us a middling championship team. Both Morgan and Hayward wanted to invest in the infrastructure and move Wolves towards self sufficiency and Morgan built on the solid foundations that Hayward had started. The highs of Morgan's tenure outweigh the lows. The only two seasons that really tested me were the Staale debacle and last season - the rest of the time has been positive.

Hayward was a Wolves fan who invested from his heart, Morgan wasn't a Wolves fan and invested from his head - that to me is the only significant difference between the two. Both appointed good and bad managers, presided over good and bad time.

I will remember the last few years with a great deal of fondness.

 

[visage]

To make it easier for everyone, might as well omit the Villain question. We know.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Favourite game: Blackburn at home escaping relegation
Least favourite game: Last season
Best performance: Wolves 5 Nottingham Forest 1 - possibly not the best ever but that first half....
Worst performance: Last season
Best signing: Kevin Doyle
Worst signing: There were a few but Roger Johnson
Best moment:Keogh scoring against Wigan for our first away win in the top league since Mardenborough.
Worst moment: Luton away in the FA Cup
Hero of the Morgan era: Mick
Villain of the Morgan era:Solbakken

 

[So Long Architect]

Don't get to too many games but there have been some highlights and lowlights...

Favourite game: Wolves 6-4 Rotherham - Just brilliant fun from start to finish and the first time my wife had seen us score since the first game I took her to, Reading away in the mid-90s.
Least favourite game: Fulham 5-0 Wolves - everything about that day was wrong, from the pissing rain, to my alcoholic mate getting tanked up and leaving me to watch his little boy, to the abject performance
Best performance: West Ham 1-3 Wolves - Thought we finally looked like a proper premier league team (shows what I know!)
Worst performance: Other than Fulham, Wolves 0-2 Ipswich. My birthday, Mick's first game back at Molineux (I think) and just generally really really really shit.
Best signing: SEB
Worst signing: Dunno. Maybe the Hoff.
Best moment: Promotion to the Prem
Worst moment: Mick getting the sack. Had to be done, but I felt genuinely sad about it.
Hero of the Morgan era: Mick
Villain of the Morgan era: Saunders

 

[lemonjelly]

So - during Morgan's tenure, what was your

Favourite game: Wolves 6 Rotherham 4 - phenomenal game of footy
Least favourite game: The loss v fulham
Best performance: Difficult one. There were some brilliant performances in the PL, when we beat spurs 1-0, when we beat chelsea. Some good games v Man Utd too.
Worst performance: see #2. Directionless.
Best signing:. Mick.
Worst signing: Saunders
Best moment: Best moment was probably either promotion, and/or seeing us compete in some of the PL games under Mick. Most emotional moment was the game v Blackburn as the season ended. Possibly proudest moment was either Jarvis being called up for England, or seeing so many academy products breaking into the first team.
Worst moment: the debacle of 5 managers across a 12 month(ish) period
Hero of the Morgan era: again, Mick
Villain of the Morgan era: That fucking arsehole saunders to cockswinebag.

To add, Morgan meddled a lot in the champ season. I think he learned from that and stepped back. Takes a big man to accept and own up to that kinda responsibility and he did. I respect him a lot for that.

 

[nimrod]

I like Steve Morgan and think he had the best interests of the club at heart, at least the until start of last season. for me it's been an era of missed opportunity, particularly after Mick had, somehow, managed to keep us in the Premier League. he set an objective but I sensed there was no real plan of achieving it and I don't think he brought in sufficient expertise to deliver that objective resulting in failure. the 3Ms always seemed a bit too cosy, and I never felt Mick was particularly on the same page as the other two particularly when they were talking about challenging for Europe at the start of the season that ended with relegation. from the Board perspective, rabbits & headlights sprang to mind. the Mick replacement saga was a clusterfuck, I think he was unlucky with Solbakken but managed to exacerbate that misfortune with the Saunders appointment.

although you could say we are now back where we started, i think the PL has moved further away from the Championship so imo we're much further away from our goals and in the absence of the purchase would have been far less likely to be challenging. so overall, a disappointment for me despite the infrastructural improvements.

 

[Jinky]

Loved that 6-4 v Rotherham and also loved the Barnsley away trip when we went up. One of the best atmospheres in an away end I have ever witnessed and I got to share it with a bunch of you off this very forum. Also went mental when we beat QPR 1-0 at Molineux to secure promotion (although the rest of the game was largely forgettable) - good old SEB. I actually ended up in the row in front :icon_lol: The 5-1 slaughtering of Forest as well was sublime football. Probably the best football I've ever seen us play.

There have been a number of games where I pulled my hair out, but I can take a one off poor performance/slapping over a prolonged period of underachievement. The absolutely dreadful football on display for large chunks of last season was worse than any one off battering because it continued for weeks rather then ending after a poor 90 minutes.

Best Signing would have to be Sako. Although Kightly/Jarvis/Foley/Wardy etc run him close due to the fact they cost us next to nothing and fired us up to the Premier League.

Worst moment has to be the relegation to League 1. I was more gutted when we were relegated from the Premier League., but there's no way we should ever have been in a position where we went down to League 1.

Villian - Saunders, Roger Johnson... O'Hara? I'll go Saunders. Oh, and fucking Marlon Harewood. He can fuck the fuck off the useless pile of shite.