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Wolverhampton Wanderers relegated from English Premier League
DOWN 'N OUT ... boss Terry Connor failed to save Wolves from the drop
Published: 22nd April 2012
WOLVES have been relegated from the Premier League after losing to 2-0 Manchester City.
The Midlanders sit 10 points behind 17th-placed Wigan in the table with just three matches of the season remaining.
Their horrific run since the turn of the year condemned them to the drop.
Boss Mick McCarthy was sacked on February 13 after nine matches without a win.
His No2 Terry Connor was put in caretaker charge after a fruitless search for McCarthy's long-term replacement.
But Connor could not halt the slide and results went from bad to worse.
Wolves had managed just two points in their last nine games before today's defeat at Molineux.
Sergio Aguero gave City the lead in the 27th minute when he latched on to Gael Clichy's brilliant pass and prodded past Dorus de Vries on his Wolves debut.
Samir Nasri doubled the lead after the break and Wolves had no response as they went down with a whimper.
Blackburn Rovers relegated from the Premier League
Steve Kean's men have dropped to the Championship for the first time since 1999 after failing to beat Lancashire rivals Wigan at Ewood Park on Monday night
May 7, 2012 9:55:00 PM
By John Christodoulou
Blackburn Rovers have been relegated from the Premier League after their 1-0 defeat at home to Wigan Athletic on Monday evening.
The Lancashire outfit fall out of the top flight for the first time since the 1998-99 campaign in which they finished 19th - the position they will occupy this term.
Steve Kean's men have been battling at the bottom of the table for much of the season and required two wins from their last two games to have any chance of survival.
Although results went their way at the weekend, Rovers failed to take advantage at Ewood Park, with Antolin Alcaraz's later header consigning them to the Championship.
Rovers will be relegated alongside Wolves, whose fate was sealed after their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in April, and will be joined by either QPR or Bolton on the final day of the season.
Reading and Southampton are set to replace them after gaining automatic promotion, and they will be joined by the winners of the Championship play-off final.
Kean believes he will keep Blackburn job despite relegation
The Scot admitted that his squad were "devastated" following the defeat to Wigan which sealed their fate but is targeting promotion from the Championship next season
May 7, 2012 11:49:00 PM
By Alex Fisher
Blackburn boss Steve Kean insists he is the right man to help the club bounce back following their relegation from the Premier League.
Monday's 1-0 home defeat to Wigan ended Rovers' 11-year stay in the top flight but Kean is backing himself and his squad to attain promotion next term.
“I’m a big believer in my own ability and the guys I’ve got in the dressing room, each and every one them is devastated but I can’t fault their commitment," he told reporters. "I’m convinced we can build a side to move us forward again.
“Yeah I do [believe I’ll still be here]. I can’t control [the fans reactions]. We’ve not mentioned what’s happened tonight but I’m confident we’ll have a plan in place to build a squad that will bounce us back immediately.”
The Scot also revealed his disappointment that the Lancashire outfit could not force the relegation battle down to the last game of the season.
He added: “It’s difficult to put into words what the atmosphere is like in the dressing room, I think there was a few things thrown our way that questioned our commitment but tonight I think we gave it a real go.
“We felt we’d done enough to take it to the last game like we did last season.
"It was going to be tough but we felt that could we have won tonight then, obviously we had to go and beat Chelsea but the fact was that we had to win tonight. It was disappointing we couldn’t take it to the last game.”
The 44-year-old went on to bemoan the loss of several key players during the season and targeted a quick return to the Premier League.
“I’ll sit down with the owners and discuss how to assemble a squad that can help us bounce back straight away because certainly we’ve lost a lot of experience over the last six months," he continued.
"I think we need to try and keep the majority of the squad together to make sure from the first game of next season we’re in a position to get back into the division we should be in.
“We have to build a squad as quickly as possible, the division below is a very tough league to get out of and we need a squad that can be competitive. That’s the first thing I’ll be doing tomorrow morning.”
"I'm convinced that results will come and we will climb up the table quickly.""The owners want us within four or five years to be competing in Europe season on season."
Bolton's 11-year stay in the Premier League came to an end at the Britannia Stadium after they could only manage a draw with Stoke. Potters striker Jon Walters equalized from the penalty spot 13 minutes from time, and Bolton's agony was only deepened by the knowledge Manchester City's dramatic late victory over QPR meant a win here would have been enough. It looked like things were going Bolton's way at the end of the first half when Mark Davies and Kevin Davies both scored fortuitous goals after Walters had given Stoke the lead in controversial circumstances, but it was not to be.
Stoke's record on the final day of the season since their promotion to the Premier League in 2008 read played three, lost three, including the 1-0 defeat 12 months ago that helped Wigan stay up, but they began with purpose on Sunday. Bolton looked nervy at the back, and in the sixth minute Ricardo Fuller, who could be playing his last game for the Potters, twisted and turned on the edge of the penalty area before firing in a shot that Adam Bogdan pushed round his near post.
Peter Crouch then fired wide from a tight angle while Matthew Etherington had a shot saved by Bogdan, and the Hungarian keeper was at the center of the drama when Stoke opened the scoring in highly controversial fashion in the 13th minute. Etherington crossed for Walters, who appeared to have taken too heavy a touch in front of goal, but the striker then headed the ball into the net seemingly out of Bogdan's hands and referee Chris Foy awarded the goal.
Stoke were causing Bolton all sorts of problems and Walters might have made it two when he turned neatly on the penalty spot but he curled his shot wide of the post. The visitors had offered little going forward but they came within inches of scoring twice in the 32nd minute, first when Kevin Davies hit the bar with a looping header before Ivan Klasnic followed up with a sweet volley that Thomas Sorensen somehow tipped round the post.
Bolton's frustration showed when Sam Ricketts lunged into a tackle on Dean Whitehead, the full-back perhaps slightly fortunate only to be given a yellow card. But that was nothing compared to the lucky break Bolton enjoyed in the 40th minute to provide them with a priceless equalizer. A long ball from Bogdan was not well dealt with and Klasnic played in Mark Davies. The ball looked to have got away from the midfielder but Robert Huth smashed his attempted clearance against Davies' legs and it flew into the net.
It was reminiscent of the own goal West Brom scored that gave Bolton the lead last week, and remarkably five minutes later they were ahead, again in unusual circumstances. Kevin Davies mis-hit his cross from the right but Sorensen was badly caught out and could only help the ball into the net at his near post. Bolton's defensive frailties surfaced again at the start of the second half as three Stoke defenders found themselves free at the far post when Etherington curled in a free-kick, but Ryan Shawcross got his header all wrong.
Martin Petrov then came within inches of giving Bolton breathing space when he was played in by Mark Davies, the winger's shot beating Sorensen but drifting just past the post. Ricardo Fuller was given a standing ovation as he was replaced by Cameron Jerome, who was into the action straight away as he wriggled free in the area before seeing his shot superbly blocked by Tim Ream.
Stoke were certainly not giving up and Etherington was the next player to come close to an equalizer but he was stretching as he shot and could not keep his effort down. News from the Etihad Stadium, where QPR led City, had understandably subdued the Bolton fans, and events on the pitch had also gone somewhat quiet, although Petrov sent a 30-yard free-kick just wide.
But Bolton's hopes suffered another huge blow in the 77th minute when their side conceded a penalty, Bogdan felling Peter Crouch having initially done brilliantly to save the England man's shot, and Walters made no mistake from the spot. Two substitutes combined for Bolton as Marvin Sordell crossed for Lee Chung-yong but he sliced his volley behind, while the Trotters were then saved by an offside flag at the other end when Crouch's effort was turned in by Jerome.
Bolton piled forward in a desperate attempt to find another goal, and Ream came close with a header from Petrov's corner that was gratefully grasped by Sorensen, but in the end there was no way back.
