Just Who Is Mick McCarthy's Best Signing? (Part IV)

By Tom Bason
June 10 2010

With Steven Fletcher becoming Mick McCarthy's 38th signing since arriving in summer 2006, I decided to take a look at some of McCarthy's better signings. Each day this week, I will be taking a look at 2 players, and then on Friday you can vote for your favourite. I'm not necessarily looking just for value for money, but someone who has took the fans by surprise or drastically improved the team.

Kevin Doyle from Reading, £6,500,000

Apps: 34 (3)

Goals: 9
Signed in the summer of 2009 as Wolves record signing, a lot of pressure was placed upon Doyle to score the goals to keep Wolves in the Premiership. With Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, twice the Championship’s leading scorer also in the team, there were expectations of goals galore. This didn’t happen, with injuries and a loss of form for Ebanks-Blake forcing Doyle to play upfront by himself for the second half of the season. This has proved to be the making of Doyle. It was home 0-0 draw with Liverpool where he first really stood out. Facing two uncompromising centre-backs in Sotiros Kyrgiakos and Martin Skrtel, Doyle was excellent. His work rate goes without saying, but in this match he gave their defence the complete run-around, prompting Mick McCarthy to call it the finest centre-forward performance seen at Molineux. 

Andy Keogh regularly gets plaudits for being a hardworking striker, but he looks like Dimitar Berbatov in comparison to Doyle. Playing upfront by yourself is a thankless task, and his ability to do this, without getting much support from the midfield has allowed an extra defensive midfielder to play, and as a result it was the defensive record rather than our attacking prowess that has led to a second season in the Premier League. As a result, he hasn’t got the goals that he would have liked, but his all round play has shone through, and has been demonstrated by the supposed interest from Arsenal. In fifty years, when we are looking back through the stats books, he may not be someone who stands out, but for those of us now who have seen him play will always greatly appreciate his contribution.  


Kevin Foley from Luton Town, £900,000

Apps: 121 (4)

Goals: 2
I first saw, well noticed, Kevin Foley play on his debut, in a League Cup match against Bradford City I turned to my friend and remarked that he looked a quality player. What struck me most was the amount of time he always had on the ball. No matter how he received it, or how many opposition players were in the vicinity, he always found the time and space to control the ball, lay it off and move into more space. A couple of weeks later he played against Norwich in a 2-0 win, and was excellent. One second half throw-in aside, I don't think he gave the ball away at all. I knew at that match I'd found the player to have on the back of my shirt.

Winning player of the season in 2009, ahead of 25 goal Sylvan Ebanks-Blake showed the fans recognition of a player who isn't flashy, but does the simple things very well. Last season, injuries and the form of Ronald Zubar forced him into an unfamiliar right-midfield role. As usual, he gave his all and although his lack of pace didn't allow him to penetrate the opposition defence as often as he would have liked, his positional ability allowed the likes of David Jones and Zubar to push forward, safe in the knowledge Foley had their backs. Eventually, Foley’s versatility could be his undoing. Had he spent this season playing at right-back, surely he’d be playing there next season as well. However, Zubar appears to have made this position his own, and with the impending return of Michael Kightly, Foley will have a fight on his hands to keep his place in the starting-11.

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Just Who Is Mick McCarthy's Best Signing? (Part IV)
Discussion started by Wolves , 10/06/2010 14:58
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10/06/2010 14:58
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