Swindon boss Maurice Malpas admits he is "frustrated and disappointed" over Wolves defender Charlie Mulgrew's decision to stay put at Molineux. The 22-year-old Scottish defender, who is now the fourth-choice left-back behind George Elokobi, out-of-contract Michael Gray and Daniel Jones, has been told he has no future at Wolves.
Despite having the chance of earning similar money with regular football at the County Ground, the £125,000 move has collapsed, with the former Celtic man deciding to remain where he is in the hope of a more attractive offer coming in.
Malpas said: "I thought everything was done on Friday evening but we got a phone call saying for personal reasons it was no from Charlie. That's football for you, sometimes they happen easily, sometimes they don't. I'm frustrated and disappointed but it's the player's prerogative to decide what he thinks is best for him and his family. Charlie's decision was to stay where he is and see what else comes up. It was purely personal reasons. I have no problem as it was his prerogative. I wish him all the best and no doubt will bump into him."
Mulgrew, who was a makeweight in the Lee Naylor transfer to Celtic in 2006, has played just six senior games for Wolves, the last of which was in November of that year. We all know what he brought to the Blues team when he joined us on loan for the Orient away game in February and the following three months.
It could well be that the Scot is now pinning his hopes on the Shrimpers stepping up their interest in him again. Previously, we fell short of Wolves' asking price, but after Tilly's positive comments this morning another try must be in the offing now that Swindon and his former Scotland under-21s boss have failed to tempt him to leave for the home of Honda. (Though maybe there's a pining for a return to Scotland, Hibs showed some interest last year, but that would go against comments Charlie has made previously.)
Let's hope Uncle Ron is on the phone to his Wolverhampton counterpart right now tying up the loose ends. This could be an interesting week.
P.S. Sources close to Coventry say they are going in for Freddie once again, but who is going to make up those promised payments?