THE Premier League bosses are seeking an explanation from Wolves manager Mick McCarthy regarding his decision to 'rotate' his squad by making 10 changes and turning out the reserves for the game at Man United.
Not surprisingly, Wolves lost 3-0 but a matter of nine more changes brought a win and three welcome points against Burnley last Sunday to prove his point. As a result Wolves shot up from the relegation zone to 12th and technically European contender
s, which gives an idea as to how desperate things are in the Premier League.
It isn't the first time a club have said: 'We aren't going to win there, so we'll leave a few lads out.'
In any case if anybody ought to be up before Premier League bosses for fielding a weakened side it could well be Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, whose team are rapidly becoming the whipping boys of the league.
It seems incredible that when he was desperate for points to get his side back on track, the Anfield boss picked a defensive line-up against bottom club Portsmouth and duly paid the price. Little wonder the natives are restless.
They will also look at Danny Murphy's form with Fulham in the destruction of Man U and recall that he was felt to be past his sell-by date at Anfield some years ago.
Man City are even more restless. Sixth in the table with a game in hand on most of the clubs above them, they crudely sacked the dignified Mark Hughes and appointed an Italian, who apparently was virtually in place before last Saturday's game.
Hughes will no doubt get a healthy pay-off and should soon be back working but the way the affair was conducted did more damage to the image of the club and was an insult to him. People still remember such managers as Tony Book and Peter Reid getting elbowed by City when they were also well placed.
One thing Hughes has done very successfully is get the best out of the fiery Craig Bellamy, who is playing some of the best football of his career.
PROFESSIONAL rugby league starts again this weekend after a break of about ten minutes and lasts until some time next November.
This means more reminiscences about matches on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the smell of cigars and all that stuff. Smoke a cigar in a stand now and you get locked up, far better to invade the pitch.
It is 50 years this weekend that surprise was being expressed that Batley and Dewsbury were not playing each other on Christmas Day.
However, Batley were rubbing their hands at the prospect of a game against Leeds at Mount Pleasant and perhaps a 10,000 crowd.
As it happened it poured down with rain and the attendance was around 5,000 but at least Batley won 8-6 with tries by that talented stand-off Ian Geldard and Bob Kelly and a goal by Jimmy Lawton. It should be noted that Kelly's try came after a dribble upfield. They don't even dribble in football these days.
n Memories were revived in rugby union when Sale had volunteers helping groundstaff to clear the snow to play a game against Harlequins last Sunday. They even stopped the game on a couple of occasions so the lines could be cleared. A loyal band also helped clear snow at Gillingham.
Now that does bring back memories. Braziers on the field, wrecking the pitch for the rest of the season, and straw which did the same.
These days the authorities check if the steps in the stand are safe, the Bovril is not too hot and approaches to the ground are clear.
In the old days it didn't matter because people walked, cleared their own bit of terrace and had a hip flask.
