Spoilt for Choice

Some interesting stuff from Mick McCarthy in today's Birmingham Mail and on www.birminghammail.net about the challenge of keeping all his players happy.

Wolves now boast such a well-stocked squad compared to last season that several high-profile figures have found themselves not even sitting on the bench but in the stands.

That perhaps lends itself to the theory that team spirit might be affected, that back-biting and envy might sneak in amid certain battles for places.

And the fact that several players - Freddy Eastwood, Darren Ward and Darren Potter for example - have spoken out about their lack of action has led some to believe there is dissent in the camp.

Not true.

Yes no player is happy when they are not playing, but they are not causing ructions.

I have read on internet messageboards that the fact that the likes of Eastwood, Ward and Potter have spoken to the local press about their predicament suggests 'trouble at mill'.

Again not the case.

Very few footballers ever actually put themselves forward for interview.

Journalists don't arrive at training grounds to be met by queues of players desperate to see their words in print.

At Wolves, all interviews are requested by reporters, the requests are filtered through via the club's press office and the player decides when to speak.

The club's press officers, and indeed Mick McCarthy, adopt an impressively relaxed attitude to such requests.

There's a strong relationship of trust in place between Wolves and the local press, while McCarthy has never once demanded a certain player should be gagged from speaking.

The point I'm making is that Eastwood, Ward and Potter only spoke out after aforementioned requests.

And even then, it's not just a case of flying in like a juggernaut.

Players will sometimes reject interviews if they don't feel the timing is appropriate and Potter for example, a hugely articulate and engaging interviewee, preferred to do his talking on the training pitch before breaking his silence when he regained his place.

A sensible approach.

Eastwood too was extremely thoughtful when initially expressing his frustrations while with Ward there was almost a fortnight's 'cooling off' period after he was dropped before the requests went in.

Another thing worth pointing out, every word of these interviews would have been expressed privately and directly, by the players to McCarthy in any case.

Making them public therefore was not going to change anything with a manager whose open door policy also extends to players being allowed to speak their mind, within reason.

It wasn't a case of 'blowing the whistle' or trying to get a message across of turbulence behind the scenes.

The manager explains today that he feels his treatment of players - always explaining why they are not playing - helps when he eventually does have to call on them as he did with Ward, Kevin Foley and Seyi Olofinjana at Burnley.

The evidence supports such a theory, and while the debates can rage long and hard about McCarthy's selections, the fact that players sometimes express their dismay should not be taken as a sign of conflict.