A View From The South Bank

And so farewell, to a year that will live fondly and forever in the memories of all Wolves fans.

If 2008 was great, 2009 was sublime.

So many highlights – and even positives to take from a pointless Christmas after which Wolves still sit outside the Premier League relegation zone.

For an hour at Anfield, Wolves were defiantly standing firm. And for 30 minutes on Monday evening, Wolves were so impressive against Man City.

But Steven Gerrard, Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy highlighted a gulf in class that even Steve Morgan’s millions would struggle to bridge at this stage of Wolves’ development.

The year started with a 3-1 home reverse against Preston, and ended with a 3-0 defeat against City. But so much of what happened in-between was fantastically memorable.

Michael Kightly’s winner at Forest, Marlon Harewood’s driven cross headed home by Andy Keogh at Derby, the on-pitch celebrations after the QPR win, the carnival atmosphere at Barnsley, the thousands of flags waving against Doncaster, Keogh’s winner at Wigan, Jody Craddock’s two goals at Stoke, that outstanding win at Spurs, and watching our team walk out at Anfield.

In 2009, Wolves played 40 league games, winning 14, drawing nine and losing 17. Mick McCarthy’s men scored 43 and conceded 58, securing a haul of 51 points.

You can do anything with statistics, and you have to accept the Premier League is a massive step-up in class, but the goals scored column is an area for concern.

Kevin Doyle has been a brilliant signing, easily worth the money paid to Reading in relation to other transfer fees, but Wolves need more goals.

Doyle has five, but Sylvan is stuck on one –a surprising statistic after his remarkable goals record in the Championship.

And so to the transfer window, where I expect wing reinforcements will be top of McCarthy’s shopping list to help the quest for goals.

With Michael Kightly’s injury torment, Wolves are short of wide men. And the supply from Matt Jarvis, who gave everything at Anfield in particular, is plentiful rather than precise.

A real message of intent would be to go after Middlesbrough’s Adam Johnson, but does Gordon Strachan need to sell? And is there an appetite within Molineux to spend probably in excess of £5m?

The lesson from Wolves’ pre-season spending is fairly clear. If you spend big, like we did on Doyle, you get quality.  If you spend £2m, you get players who may struggle to cement a first team place.

This is a truly wonderful opportunity for Wolves to avoid the drop. We are adapting to the Premier League, and playing with admirable desire and a growing sense of calm authority.

Premier League plaudits are due to Karl Henry, Jody Craddock, Christophe Berra, Richard Stearman and Stephen Ward – my Wolves player of 2009.

While Marcus Hahnemann looks so solid, and the increasingly impressive Nenad Milijas now has a platform to propel Wolves forward in 2010.

Portsmouth, Bolton, Hull, West Ham, Wigan, Burnley, Blackburn and now Stoke are the clubs we need to watch – and I’m confident we will ultimately prove to be better than three of those teams.

At least three of them.