With just a little less than a month left before the inauguration of the new Championship season, Wolves have already made three signings (four if the recent contagious Iwelumo speculation has any substance) in Vokes, Stearman and Jones.

I love impartiality, as I'm sure anyone who's ever read my work knows, so it'll be no surprise that I'm starting off rather despondent in the face of growing optimism!

A forward, a midfielder, and a defender in and it looks like we're finally attempting to cover all our bases for next year. Happy days, you'd assume, that is if it weren't for the fact that we have no idea what we're getting other than a vague impression of Jones' passing ability and a snazzy five minute YouTube  compilation on Vokes, which ultimately means we've got no forking idea what the hell we have, and that we'll have to wait until Home Park comes a-calling until we can make a genuine judgement. Sounds alot like 07-08 to me, when in Darren Ward, Elliot and Eastwood we were similarly left in the dark, assured by the apparently knowledged few that Eastwood was to become our 20 goal a season man, Elliot acting as his provider, and that Darren Ward was an unappreciated entity at Palace.

The best laid plans of mice and men and all that...

So what we know is a whole load of nothing, and what we don't know is everything. Actually, that's not quite true, we can be quite certain that our plastic welshman is very much off on his bike and similarly that the likes of Seyi, Potter, Ward (Beckham Ward, not Mick's very own blue eyed superhuman) will not grace the Molineux turf in a Wolves shirt again, which doesn't really fill me with anything but a numbing emptiness.

We've been quick to make light of Seyi's imminent Premier League departure but I reckon deep down we all feel a sense of regret about Oli, irrespective of his sluggish form after the ACN and his, granted, lack of consistency, he was one of the best in the division when those big boots actually shone, and it's a shame we'll not see one of those Burnley away-type performances again. Good luck to him, most of us are quick to point out what a gentleman he was and considering that football's not exactly bursting from the seams with honest players that makes the whole thing grate just a fraction more.

As for Mick's "ingenious" transfer listings which supposedly evidence his "turning the corner", well what other choice did he have in the end? Even a car crash dummy could have figured out that if players like these were in around the first team next season, that Mick would soon be calling for a taxi to Barnsley or wherever it is he resides. Also, if he's just turning the corner now, following an average season with generally spineless football, he needs his head genuinely examined for retardation. 

And just to finish off my little rant, with (at my last count, and assuming, as per last season, our youngsters won't be featuring prominently) with 17 first team players, 1 of whom in Matt Murray appears permanently crocked, 2 of whom in Collins and Ward who should, by all rights, be considered squad players at best, and 2 of whom haven't played a proper season of football in a long long while in Mark Davies and Lewis Gobern, and 3 of whom we know nothing about, I'm unsurprisingly wary of our chances this season. 

Frankly, if we're to drag ourselves out of the pit that Mick built we're going to have to invest heavily and bring in a few squad players and some real proven talent. Easier said done, I'll grant you.

All those niggling little details aside, there's still plenty of promise for Mick, if we're to rely on outside opinions alone, then Vokes  has a huge amount of potential, so sayeth Newcastle and the Bournemouth fanbase, as Leicester City's player of the season and a feature on Martin O'Neill's shortlist, one can only assume Stearman is the lad to shore up our defense, and given his Premiership and Championship experience, there's hope yet that Jones can fill Oli's boots and unlock those tight 4-5-1's we see so often at home. 

Mick bashing aside, and although a little delayed, we're starting to see an exodus of all the deadwood and disruption in the squad (I can assure you no one was more relieved than me upon hearing of Freddy's departure, perhaps we'll finally have some stability in the squad, or so I dare to dream) and surely evidences our progression towards a stronger team  for next year. If I'm frank I'll not entirely miss the likes of Rob Edwards (as decent a squad player he was and as much as we'll rave about the legendary "Collins-Edwards" partnership!),  Mr  "ping it  sidewards"  and  Breen, who  I half expected to be given the captaincy at the end of last season.

And, finally, I suppose we can speculate all we want, the ying and the yang (some of you won't get this but to hell with it) will continue to feud over whether Mick McCarthy is the devil, and at the end of the day...all we know is...one of us is going to come out on top, though I seriously doubt the Mick-Out brigade will be flying the flags high if we miss out this year. 

Whatever, enjoy your holidays, have a cracking summer and get as much drinking in as possible, trust me, it makes pre-season digest so much easier!

Related links:

Sam Vokes Goal Compilation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoOe_kGebEA&gt 

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