Today’s update:
2009/10 Season (30 matches)
Premier League = 15th.
FA Cup = 4th Round.
League Cup = 3rd Round.
Top Goalscorer = Kevin Doyle (9).
Fans' Player Of The Season = Jody Craddock.
Players' Player Of The Season = Kevin Doyle.
There was a general air of confidence with Wolves return to the Premier League after a five-year absence. Unlike 2003/04, the team was fresh and young with a dynamic attack so optimism was strong for a positive showing.
The summer transfer window saw the arrival of 9 new recruits in total (7 permanent and 2 loans) at a cost of £18.5 million. The most notable new addition was Irish international striker Kevin Doyle, signed for a club record fee of £6.5 million from Championship side Reading. Doyle would have a tremendous impact in his first season for Wolves.
The season began with a 0–2 loss to West Ham United in the club's first Premier League fixture in five years. Wolves immediately bounced back by winning on the road at Wigan Athletic, giving the club their first ever away win in the modern Premier League. This was followed up by a narrow 1-0 loss at Manchester City where Wolves where quite unlucky not to force a draw.
The comparison to 2003/04 was stark where in that season Wolves lost 5 of their opening 6 games, earning only 1 point whilst only scoring 2 and conceding 17 goals. Whereas in 2009/10 Wolves had earned 7 points scored 5 and conceding 8 goals.
As the season progressed, manager Mick McCarthy became increasingly pragmatic and changed his formation from his standard 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 with Doyle acting as the lone striker, where he performing outstandingly as the club’s leading goalscorer for the season. Unfortunately, the club’s previous leading marksman in Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was invariably sacrificed, as he started the season struggling with injuries and only started 12 league games for the season scoring 2 goals.
The defensive nature of McCarthy’s 4-5-1 system resulted in Wolves being generally hard to break down. In 2003/04 Wolves had conceded 4 or more goals in 8 games, whereas in 2009/10 they conceded 4 or more goals in only 3 games, and in one of those games, a 5-2 loss at Sunderland, the result flattered the hosts where Wolves were actually the better team on the day.
Wolves only lost 2 out of their last 10 games, avoiding relegation, and finishing 15th, some 8 points clear of the relegation zone. Survival was confirmed with 2 games to spare, with a respectable haul of 38 points for the season. This marked the first time they had avoided relegation from the highest level since 1980/81, nearly 30 years ago.
Although Wolves spent their entire time in the bottom half of the league, they were only in the relegation spots for only 6 weeks of the season; unlike in 2003/04 where they only spent 4 weeks out of the relegation spots.
Although Wolves had finished the division's lowest goalscorers (with 32), their strong defensive resolve meant they had conceded the least of the bottom 8 (56), creating the formula for their survival.
NOTE: Starting from this season 2009/10 then to 2012/13 - the match highlights are a bit of a black hole.
Wolves played 180 competitive games of which I'll be releasing 112. Of the 68 matches missing I have highlights from 28 but YouTube/Premier League block them from being viewed due to copyright.
Now I have no issue with that but the Premier League has no vision of those matches available - in fact there's a dearth of games from the Premier League for any club available to view for seasons 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12.
Our Championship relegation season of 2012/13 is a little better where I've to source 38 out of 50 matches but again some of the quality is rather average (14 of the 38 have no sound). Again coverage is quite sparse.
Normal service resumes from 2013/14 (where I have 50 out of 51 matches) and from 2014/15 onwards I have every game.
