Striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake put his court troubles behind him today to map out a bold view of Wolves’ prospects in the forthcoming Championship campaign.Ebanks-Blake is now free to finally focus solely on his football after Friday’s hearing in Plymouth, in which he was fined £1,350 for an attack on a nightclub doorman, drew a line under an episode that had been hanging over him since he signed for Wolves.
The 23-goal Championship Golden Boot winner assessed his side’s chances following the arrival of Sam Vokes, Richard Stearman and David Jones and reckons Wolves have to be one of the favourites to reach the Premier League.
“I’m very confident this could be the year,” said Ebanks-Blake.
“I can’t wait to get going because I think we’ve got one of the best if not the best squads in the Championship.
“We’re definitely a team to be watched, and we will be - closely. We all know the expectations, we know what the fans want and we know what we want as players.
“We’ve got the staff, the manager and everything in place to be a magnificent team and a magnificent club, and we’ve got a magnificent following.
“I’m really excited about the future here. I came here in January and it was a good back-end to the season for me. But to now start a pre-season afresh with the lads, we’ve got every chance and I don’t say that lightly.”
Birmingham, Derby and Reading have big money to spend after being relegated, while promoted Nottingham Forest reportedly offered Andy Cole £25,000 a week to underline their ambitions to make an impression at Championship level.
But Ebanks-Blake has seen enough of Wolves already not to be fazed.
“I’ve looked at the teams who have gone down and the sides who have gone up,” he said. “I’ve looked at how we did last season and we could have got the first play-off place if results had gone our way.
“To think we could have done it last season really fills me with confidence about this season.”
* Defender Gianni Zuiverloon admitted he turned to advice from Liverpool winger Ryan Babel before joining West Brom.
Zuiverloon and Babel have been friends since helping Holland to retain the European under-21 Championships last summer.
He sought his guidance before agreeing to The Hawthorns in a £3.2m deal from Heerenveen.
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