A letter from Wolves fans to the Premier League – Please read

I’ve just received this email from a fellow Wolves fan and feel it only right to pass it on to my loyal blog followers.

“In light of the FA’s inconsistency with punishing Wolves over the Man United team selection, We feel it is necessary to make the FA aware of our attitudes to this, giving them a right headache in the process.

If you don’t support this campaign feel free to ignore this, however, those that do could you copy the following letter and email it to info@premierleague.com or any other you can think of that need to be made aware of our opinions!

To whom it may concern,

Once again I feel that it is necessary as a Wolves fan to contact you to express my concerns about the inconsistent treatment of clubs in the Premiership.

A number of us contacted you when Wolverhampton Wanderers were fined for fielding a weakened team against Manchester United in December and received a fairly bland reply from yourselves, that many of us felt was a copy of the press release. It was noted how the situation was different from other occurrences of this situation. For example, Manchester United fielded a vastly changed side against Hull at the end of last season that ultimately may have decided the fate of several teams in the lower half of the Premiership table. As it happens, Manchester United won and nothing more was said.

The concentration being on the result and not the team. I do find it difficult to understand the logic of this because the rule is about the team being fielded not about the result, which to me suggests that this should not have been brushed under the carpet. This is especially as the FA took it upon themselves to declare the team sent out by Mick McCarthy against Manchester United as ‘weakened’ less than 7 months later.

This itself appears to be a shocking display of inconsistency on the FA’s part and has inevitably led fans of Wolverhampton Wanderers to suspect that bias against the so-called ‘smaller’ clubs exists. We now have the situation where other teams have fielded considerably weakened sides and nothing more has been said. For example, Fulham fielded a considerably weakened team against Hull (and lost) and Arsenal, despite some injuries, still changed several other players against Wolves recently. I would be interested in your comments on this and how the situations differ from when Wolves made their changes.

I would also like to highlight the rather insulting decision made by the FA that the team Wolverhampton Wanderers fielded against Manchester United was a ‘weakened’ side. I don’t believe that is the Premier League’s place to decide when a team is ‘weaker’, surely that is the job of the managers. This decision has been made somewhat more absurd when you consider that the majority of the team that was named that night have now helped Wolves to survival. If you are in any doubt that the team has started to adapt to the Premiership since that Manchester United game then you only need to watch the recent West Ham fixture to confirm that the ‘weaker’ label placed on these players has been cruelly misapplied.

Of course, the point of this email is not to contest the FA’s decision to fine Wolverhampton Wanderers, I am aware that the fine was suspended and will probably never have to be paid. The point in bringing it up is purely to further the belief that the FA are inconsistent in their handling of clubs depending on how ‘big’ they are.

Unfortunately, a recent controversial team selection came to the fore on the 25th of April in the Everton Vs Fulham game which Fulham lost 2-1. Fulham made 9 changes, with their focus clearly on the impending Europa League semi-final. As you are probably already aware, Fulham’s team selection has been questioned before by West Ham United, a complaint was sent and nothing has been heard since. I am quite interested to know exactly where you stand on this now. Especially as it has happened twice. It would appear to me that Fulham have decided they can get away with this and decided to bend the rules again with the inconsistency of your sanctions and punishment protocol in mind.

All in all, we continue to have the feeling that the “new” lower clubs aren’t allowed to compete with the established clubs on an equal basis. How can you demonstrate that everyone is treated fairly and satisfy the numerous people who believe otherwise?”

United scrape past Wolves

Wolves 0 Manchester United 1 (Scholes 73)

Wolves remain 17th after the loss

Manchester United dealt Wolves another blow in their quest to avoid relegation after winning by a Paul Scholes goal to nil at Molineux.

With 17 minutes remaining, Scholes scored from six yards after Wolves failed to clear their lines to send the 2,500 away following into raptures.

Wolves had great chances of their own and substitue Sam Vokes in particular will be gutted after failing to convert a glorious chance in second half injury time.

The Welsh International somehow managed to blaze the ball over from 12 yards after being picked out from the right by Andy Keogh.

Earlier chances came to both Stephen Ward and David Jones but neither could beat Edwin Van der Sar in the United goal.

Mick McCarthy said: “The only way our luck will change is by carrying on playing that way and I do believe it will because we are playing well. We’ve put in good performances.”

Wolves (4-5-1) Hahnemann, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward (Keogh 84), Henry, Foley, Guedioura (Ebanks-Blake 84), Jones, Jarvis (Vokes 88), Doyle.
Subs: Hennessey, Elokobi, Milijas, Mancienne.

Man Utd (4-1-4-1) Van der Sar, Brown (Neville 46), Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Scholes, Valencia, Carrick, Gibson (Diouf 62), Nani (Park 73), Berbatov.
Subs: Foster, Rafael Da Silva, Fletcher, Obertan.

Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)

Attendance: 28,883

My Verdict: Wolves could and should have taken something from a game that United didn’t look as though they wanted to win. Thoughts now turn to the biggest game of the season so far, Saturday’s trip up the M6 to Turf Moor, home of Burnley. A huge six pointer!