As summers in the ever turbulent, never boring universe of Wolverhampton Wanderers go, this has been the quietest in recent history.



Too quiet for those with one nervous eye on the arrival gate, with Kenny so far only adding a pair of free transfers to his League One conquerors, one of whom has already absconded to the treatment table.

But panic we should not.

Last season’s triumph was built on the strength and cohesion of the team, not the brilliance of an individual. That team is very much intact and a capable challenger to the 23 opponents that await.

Consistent home form will be crucial and heading back to the Championship Wolves are yet to lose a league game at Molineux in 2014. This will of course be the sternest examination of that proud record.

Norwich City

Summers are seldom lazy when you drop out of the greed league and the Canaries haven’t bucked the trend.

High profile departures have thus far been kept to a minimum though, with only Snodgrass and van Wolfswinkel jumping ship. Others including Fer, Tettey and Hooper have reportedly attracted interest.

Sacking Chris Hughton last term and replacing him with a rookie in Neil Adams was a maverick move, particularly so late in the season. After failing to save their Premier League bacon, he’ll be under the spotlight from minute one and expected to deliver.

There’s no reason he shouldn’t either. He has some handy players throughout the team, many of whom are well versed in the rigours of England’s second tier.

That said, keeping the squad united and managing all the ins and outs that are bound to occur before the end of August will be a significant challenge, as we know ourselves from bitter recent experience.

Away form cost them dearly last season with just two wins (and a painful 14 defeats) to show for their exertions, so they’ll want to make positive inroads from the very start this time.

Wolves

I’m excited that the team likely to start on Sunday will mirror the eleven that finished against Carlisle in May. I said back then I thought they could challenge anyone in the Championship and I’m hoping to be proved correct.

Should that be the starting lineup, Leon Clarke will consider himself unlucky to miss out after a prolific pre-season. But I still think Dicko has the shirt. Dave Edwards would be another strong contender, but I think Kenny will opt for the balance of Henry and Sako (if fit) out wide with Jacobs in the pocket.

Lee Evans looks to have won the battle to partner McDonald in the middle, but Price and Rowe will be snapping at his heels in the weeks to come. I expect the latter to become a regular, but the competition will be interesting.

Overall, I still think Kenny is a player light at both ends of the pitch (a forward and a defender) but has interesting options and decent variation, particularly in midfield. He showed himself to be a strong tactician last season so with greater resources, it’s exciting to think what could be achieved.

The gaffer

Predictions

Given that the blog was fairly light on updates over the summer, you might have thought I was sunning it up abroad somewhere exotic. I was actually, but not the whole time.

No, I spent a good chunk of my holiday figuring out how to improve the Prediction League and with help from regular contributor Mike (aka Twixfix), I think I’ve been successful.

Most excitingly (for me anyway) the whole system is now automated. Just enter your score as instructed in the comment box below and everything else takes care of itself.

This season, it’s 2 points for predicting the correct outcome and 3 points for predicting the outcome with the correct score. With more points on offer, it should make the competition more compelling and the table more interesting.

Additionally, the number of predictions made by each person is being counted, so if players are locked on the same score, the pundit who has achieved the score with the fewer predictions will be higher.

So there you have it guys, enjoy. Hopefully we can entice more people than ever to take part and it can continue to be a great mechanism for getting everyone talking.

As for my prediction, I’m playing it cagey and going for a score draw.

2-2.

Up The Wolves!