Time to support the underdog !

If I look back over the last 30 odd years of following wolves, there have been huge ups and downs. Within this we have had huge shocks in terms of wins and defeats (chorley, man utd etc), reasons to be cheerful and times when frankly being cheerful has been very hard (like now).

I do however draw a conclusion that as a club we operate better in adversity, we operate better when our backs are against the wall and we collectively operate better when we are an underdog.

Going back to the 90's one (not the only) of the reasons we struggled to get promotion was due to the expectation levels. We had strong support and were generally spending more money than other clubs in the league. The result of this was extremely high expectations, low tolerance of defeats and a arguably a slight trait of delusional grandeur within our club.

This finds its way to the supporters quite a lot and we are at our worst in my opinion when we think we must win, cannot lose and are significantly bigger and better than the opposition (players, supporters and owners). This has been a general feeling for the early part of this season. Conversely we are at our best when we are realistic, humorous, supportive and truly inspiring to our players and fans. That has often come when we are the underdog (eg our win record vs top 6 in the prem etc, after nearly going int liquidation etc). I genuinely believe this kind of perspective, support and mindset helps the club and this is when we operate at our best.

Which brings me to the present. It would be very easy for us to get twitchy if we aren't thrashing Bristol city after 20 mins, after all we have spent more, have greater support etc etc. but this belies the facts of form, confidence and how we are playing.

Therefore, whilst this season has been desperate. I believe we need to remove thoughts of how we should be mid table, how our squad is too good and how it's just down to the managers. I think we all need to treat each game as a one off, but treat it like we are the underdog (because on form we will be).

Our history shows that we perform better when there isn't such huge levels of expectation (like when mick turned us around and the graham turner era), where we as a club come unstuck is when we believe we must win, we must be top 6 and we must not lose and when we miss the obvious signs on the pitch (squad needs improving etc). Football doesn't work like that and surely the last 14months have taught us all that.

So my message is simple. Saunders get the players revved up like a cup final and get them to take the opposition very very seriously, 2M's stop looking at the squad and deluding yourselves that they are better than they are, we need loan signings and we need to realise these players haven't performed and recent results show that. Finally wolves supporters, we all need to be truly supportive, we need to keep sticking with the team, we need to accept that we are the underdog, we are not in form and we need to recall that when we turn up with this positive, forgiving, supportive attitude it helps, it truly is like an extra man.

If we add that cocktail to the players and management acting like its a cup final and inspiring us and to our owners treating this like we need some bodies we have a chance to survive, move forward and progress. If we believe we are too good to go down, the players are good enough, we don't need new bodies and we should be thrashing these teams, we will go down.

So Morgan, moxey sort some loans out quick, Saunders motivate the players like a cup final and supporters be passionate, supportive, positive and loud. All parties are needed more than ever, we cannot carry any passengers it is well and truly time to support the underdog !