You Must Be Voking

Twenty fours hours after championing the strength of our ‘back up’ strikers,Sam Vokes today joined Championship outfit Bristol City.

At this point it may prove sensible to take a closer look at Vokes’ statistics in greater detail- 8 goals in 41 appearances for Wolves, which is close enough to 1 in 4. This alone is not a bad return for a player often referred to as target man who is expected more to provide rather than bring us 20 a season.

Exploring the stats in even greater detail, it turns out that Vokes has only started four games for Wolves, coming off the bench for the other thirty seven. Remembering his appearances from the bench usually lasted somewhere between three and twenty minutes his goals per minutes ratio packs more than a punch.

I maintain every confidence that if called upon through a recall, Vokes has what it takes to make an impact in the Premiership and can only feel sorry that he is back out on loan. The only saving grace in the matter is the fact he is twenty years old and most likely has fifteen years ahead of him- most of which I would hope would be with us.

The allowance of this loan throws up several conundrums- considering the 25 man rule for a start- considering the size of our squad it is going to be difficult enough as it is for Mick to dwindle it down to this number- Fact; Vokes, being 20, would not have to have been named as one of the 25.

Of further interest, one would assume that this has pushed Andy Keogh up the pecking order, another surprise considering this is a player available for transfer.

Now, I am assuming we have a recall option on Vokes based firstly based upon the assumption that that there is a good chance that Keogh will move on. I’ve always maintained that the closer we get to the start of the season, those managers have given up on signing their ‘first choices’ will begin working their way down their respective lists- and if Keogh is not on at least half a dozen Championship target lists I would be greatly surprised.

I may be one of few but I think Keogh is an excellent footballer and one of our best young players. I have never liked him as one of a front two for the simple fact he will never give you enough goals in return- this is based on the fact that 1/ he gets knocked off the ball too easily based on his size and lack of strength 2/ he does not like or cope well being man marked (and if I know that then every Premiership manager knows it). On the flip side, Keogh has matured tremendously during his relatively short time with the club, and his all round game means he can play behind one or two upfront as a floater, and on either wing. I think he is a clever footballer with the ability to outsmart the opposition. His versatility makes him a rare breed.

Unless Mick has had a complete change of heart (which he is not known for) based on a good pre season, I very much expect Keogh to be on his way sooner or later, and that leaves me thinking that Mick has a surprise up his sleeve.

With Vokes effectively gone (for now) and the likelihood that Keogh won’t be around for long, that only leaves us with Blakey as back up for Doyle and Fletcher. In conclusion, this would all point to another striker coming into the club- there must be one they have been after that has become available or is close to signing- a loan singing I would assume. The club has admirably kept it’s transfer cards close to it’s chest for the best part of the last 3 or 4 years, and despite their insistence that we have to sell before we can buy, I suspect there is more money available than we are (sensibly) going to announce, and that we may all wake up today, or the day after, to find that we have signed someone fairly special. Otherwise, I am afraid, this deal does not make much sense to me whatsoever.

Thoughts on a postcard- the usual address.

I hope you enjoyed my tabloid headline as much as I did.



New York City Wolf