I agree with scottswan, great instinctive keeper great shot stopper excellent reflexes,and his quick ditrabution earned us a lot of points,but i used to cringe when he had to deal with a cross, and he is going to have to deal with a hell of a lot of set pieces in the premiership, with a lot more venom and accuracy that he's been used to in the championship, hope it works out for him but its a move that might suit us better, depending on who we get to replace him
DDV has been a good servant to the club. Good luck to him he's going to need it being on the bench. The only worry is we have not made many signings. Lots of talk and rumours no substance.
The difference between De Vries and Pratley is that De Vries was almost guaranteed to start the season as No.1 keeper. Pratley was always going to be an impact substitute. I feel a little let down by De Vries, I thought that he'd give us a chance. His silence before the transfer has definitely let the fans down, and the move definitely hints more towards money in comparison to some of our previous stars to leave the club (Martinez - to his 'home' club, Scotland & Trundle - last chance saloon, Pratley - squeezed out of a competitive midfield). Taking a sidewards step to a club that will probably finish the season in around the same position as us, and having to prove himself before guaranteeing first team football, seems suspicious. At least Britton (who's move can also be described using the previous sentence) was promised that the team would be built around him. Good luck to DvD, but I think that he's jumped ship a little early. If he thinks that Wolves will expect to stay up this season, he'd better think again! Their season will always start with survival as the main aim!
Thing is he was doing the same when his last contract was up, so no surprise really! And I disagree that we have lost £8m-£10m on these two players, probably a couple of million tops, but we have gained so much more, the club know what they are doing, and have plenty of time and money to replace the players.
why just a couple of million because they have no contract and off for free, if they were on a contract you would be saying that both players are worth around the £5 million mark each..
I disagree kidderz , I think Pratley would have played more with us this season in the Premier , than he did with us last season in the Championship .
Not surprised by this really, it was always on the cards. Been a good keeper for us except on crosses as has been said. Filthy lucre comes to the fore again, oh these poor footballers, can`t even make do on the shed load their getting from us. Poor dabs!
Thing is pratley didn't want to discuss a contract last summer after protracted talks, not sure with dorus but I suspect he was just waiting to see, he's got a big signing on fee, there is no way on earth he was worth £5m , he is 30 and has 4 or 5 years tops, not tested at the highest leagues, pratley is also not tested at the highest leagues and despite his abilities is nowhere near a £5m player no matter how long he had a contract for. The figures you are bandying about is not based on anything but your opinion of them, pratley was worth a million in January , dorus was trying to go to various clubs in 2009 but nobody would sign him , so would go for a figure close to scmeichel who just went for £1.5m , and that is about it
Very strange decision that he will certainly live to regret. Firstly Wolverhampton is a dump. Lets not muck about, it's a hole and if he wants to live there then good luck to him. On to the footballing side of things; they will struggle this season, avoiding relegation is their remit and if he wants to challenge himself doing that then he's a bigger fool than I thought. He's also not guaranteed to be first choice either and if he thinks they would have paid money for him he's living in cloud cuckoo land. They've taken him on as a freebie punt, nothing lost really if he doesn't displace Hennessey. I'm really not dissapointed by him going, surprised yes but not dissapointed. We can move on to taller and better things and watch him undoubtedly struggle.
I would be surprised if his main reason for leaving was money, Wolves have one of the lowest player budgets in the league and up until o'Hara joined we did not pay anyone more than 30k per week to any player. Maybe he just thought that he had a better chance of staying up with Wolves than with Swansea? so better chance of earning the higher salary for the next 3 years.
Yes but its a punt ain't it, nobody is safe and it took you until the last game to stay up, from what I can understand he refused a clause on relegation , you must have the same clause otherwise you'd go bankrupt, and the new rules will no allow you to spend more than 65% of income on wages.
dorus will be no1 goalkeeper for wolves and at 30 is young for a goalkeeper, its at this age that goalkeepers come into his prime and can go to play for many years longer than out field players. dorus will go on and be first choice for Holland soon and his value will shoot up in the next few seasons, dorus is definitely worth at least £5 million now, it was very bad buisiness that these players at the time dorus, britton and pratley were refused contracts, we have lost millions over this and to rub salt in the wounds we have to pay the blades for britton....shocking bit of buisiness that has cost us a shed full of money...
I agree with you Crackerjack. I think Pratley would have played more in the Premiership as well - but only as the season wore on and we realised that his presence would be valuable. Unfortunately, in his current position, he probably didn't feel that he would be first team material due to what has happened this season. In that respect, it's irrelevant how much we think he would play - it's only what's happening in the player's mind that matters. If you'd been a bit part player all season after scoring 12 goals, would you believe that you could do anything to force your way back into the side? I was gutted he left, would have been a great asset to us in the Prem.
Disagree with that, you can't force players to sign contracts, ones were offered to all players we wanted to keep, at the end of the day it's down to the players to agree or not, these players all had contracts for a few years at the time of signing the previous contract, it's about both sides agreeing ! And let's face it what we lose on one hand we gain on the other, all football sides lose players for free, and I don't think dorus will play for the Dutch ever now, pretty hard to do that as third choice keeper.
Whitershade...agreed this is disappointing and surprising - rather than shattering. Bad move for DDV I think - he may well end up #2 at a side that is more likely to go down next year than us. And then he will be struggling for the season after. I think he was good but never outstanding.
I'm pretty dejected at Pratley leaving & the way his last season went with us even though he scored well for minutes played , . But I'll get over it , I hope he does great no matter where he goes though , same with De Vries . All I want this season Kidderz , is players that want to play for us & players signed within a budget that means we can keep them if we drop . I do feel I'm asking a lot in this period of club football in Britain though , where players want big money & the club taking all the chances .
Cracker, I'm probably the same as you I think we will miss Pratley more than Dorus. Good keeper not brilliant. His forte was reflex shot stopping, but we all know how bad he was coming out for crosses etc, and only saved one pen. Thank you for the memories Dorus and good luck. Now I wouldn't mind Shay Given or Lee Camp as a replacement. Was thinking about Keiron Westwood, but gone to Sunderland today on a free shame!!!
Players come players go but we still develop and grow as a side. Wolves have got DDV. So what? We'll find somebody better. We have always done it for years. Prateley, DDV, and possibly Taylor and Rangel, all left or want to leave, let them. As a fan I want players who show commitement and loyalty. 10more Tates please.
who says dorus will be wolves 3rd choice keeper. who says he wont go straight in as no1. only mick mac has an idea and i bet not even he has made that decision yet. we all know how much he has admired dorus so i can see him going from strength to strength as wolves no1 choice and Holland will come calling....
I can't see it, he won't be called up for the dutch side when their current keeper is playing for ajax and is on top of his game, and to be honest it doesn't make a blind bit of difference he has gone, we will move to bigger and better things! I still say that we can't force people to sign contracts, he signed a two year deal in 2009, the club tried to extent that last summer, he refused what can the club do ? So the £5m tag you have put him is rubbish, premier league proven goal keepers go for that, there is no way a championship goal keeper has that kind of value
