Any Wolves fans reading this who were at Old Trafford on Tuesday night may like to post a comment or two to clear up a mystery.
When defending his radical decision to rest all 10 outfield players from the victory against Spurs four days earlier<http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/16/mick-mccarthy-wolves-manchester-united>, Mick McCarthy said he had some sympathy if fans were disappointed but hoped they would understand his reasoning. So the question is: do they? Do Wolves fans really not mind trooping up to Manchester on a cold, rainy night and paying £40 or so to watch the reserves get trounced? And would they, as McCarthy trusts will be the case, forgive everything if the club manages to stay up at the end of the season? Part of the reason for asking is that midway through the second half the away fans struck up a chant of "We want our money back". In the press room afterwards, opinion was divided about how this should be presented to news desks. Clearly, a team sending out the stiffs to lose 3-0 to Manchester United<http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchester-united> and being attacked by their own supporters for offering poor value for money makes a good story, one that virtually writes its own headline. Yet it was not at all clear the Wolves fans were attacking their own team. They remained good humoured all night and seemed to enjoy themselves despite the disappointment, mocking the United support, predicting the locals would soon be following Chelsea or Manchester City, and proudly proclaiming they supported their local team. Even at the end they were singing both the team's name and McCarthy's, so it was hard to say they were angry or even discontented. I actually thought the "We want our money back" chants were ironically aimed at United, because neither the Old Trafford atmosphere nor the home performance were anything to write home about and the away supporters had just been chanting "What a waste of money" at the mostly unimpressive Dimitar Berbatov. While it was worth mentioning, it was not necessarily a case of Angry Wolves Fans Turn On McCarthy, even though that story was clearly there to be written. One imagines angry Wolves fans will soon be turning on McCarthy if anything goes wrong on Sunday against Burnley, the "winnable" fixture for which the manager is saving his senior players, though if I am wrong and supporters were genuinely annoyed at Old Trafford please write in and let me know. All I can say is it didn't sound like it. A crowd of more than 73,000, paying the sort of prices Premier League<http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague> grounds charge these days, certainly has a right to be annoyed when what looks like an intriguing fixture - bearing in mind Wolves' sensational result at the weekend - turns into a meaningless reserve match devoid of any excitement or interest. In the old days there used to be firm rules about this sort of thing, both to protect the interests of paying spectators and to keep the competition honest so that Chelsea or Arsenal, say, could not complain United were given the points too easily. McCarthy said he didn't hear any objections from United when he gamely but unwisely gave Chelsea an easy victory by attempting to play 3-5-2 against them, though that is not really the point. Wolves are at Arsenal in April next year, at a stage of the season when they are likely to be fighting for every point and unlikely to be picking their matches. Should McCarthy's players battle for a draw at the Emirates, for example, and those two dropped points make the difference between Arsenal finishing inside or outside the top four, what Wolves did at Old Trafford will not be easily forgiven in London. A team's levels of energy and application vary throughout the season in response to the exact challenge at hand, everyone understands that. But it still ought to be recognisable as the same team, even if listless one week and motivated the next. Ten changes is just too many, especially after such a splendid win on Saturday. The trouble is that the old rules were formulated in the days when squads were considerably smaller and everyone knew to within a position or two what comprised each club's best team. Younger readers may find this hard to imagine, but in the dim and distant past football supporters could not only rhyme off the names of their own club's first team, they could do so for most of the rest of the division as well. So you knew when you were being short changed. You might be disappointed on occasion if United turned up without George Best or Liverpool without John Barnes, but you would be familiar with the deputies. If teams turned up with half a dozen or more players you had never heard of they would be in trouble, because they would literally be playing their reserves, and reserves in the old day were not potential substitutes but a lower level of competition altogether. Reserves in that sense hardly exist any more. Champions League squads, Carling Cup teams, seven substitutes and the dreaded rotation have blurred all the old boundaries, and McCarthy was within his rights to describe his Old Trafford side as drawn from his first-team squad. It may even have been his strongest side, there is no way of knowing. It wasn't his first team, though, not by a long chalk. McCarthy says he will be justified if Wolves stay up at the end of the season, though for the 73,000 who paid to watch a non-event at Old Trafford, that's too long a wait. Longer even than the match itself. Jim Parkes Manager Client Solutions Munich Reinsurance Group in Australasia Level 10, 143 Macquarie Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia Phone +61 2 9272 8059 | Fax +61 2 9272 8133 | Email: mailto:jpar...@munichre.com<mailto:kpavla...@munichre.com> CAUTION: This message is intended only for the named addressee. It is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful. By opening any attachment, you agree that Munich Re Group will not be liable for any loss resulting from viruses or other defects. Any views in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the views of Munich Re Group. 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