Wolverhampton Wanderers were this week fined £25,000 by the Premier League for fielding a 'weakened' team against Manchester United in December.

Apparently this falls under E20 of the Premier League rules, what a load of bollocks. It is totally up to Mick McCarthy what team he wants to field and considering the match was a midweek game against the Premier League champions with Wolves prioritising the weekend's game against Burnley, if anything it was a shrewd piece of management.

I'd also like to know what constitutes a 'weakened' team? Should this rule not apply to the League Cup aswell? If that is the case the big clubs would be getting fined left, right and centre.

Back in 2006/07 Liverpool fielded several 'weakened' teams at the end of the campaign in order to prepare for their 2007 Champions League Final, come to think of it didn't Manchester United do exactly the same last season away to Hull? In fact the last game of the 2009 season was a pivotal fixture in the battle for relegation.

Nobody from the Premier League gave a shit when the two big clubs decided to rest players.

Unfortunately, Wolves have been made an example of because they are a 'smaller' club, but in essense they were doing exactly the same as Liverpool and Manchester United.

I'm not sure what this fine aims to achieve in all honesty, does this mean managers cannot use second string players anymore? It stinks.

Link to Man Utd team vs Hull (2009)
Link to Liverpool team vs Portsmouth (2007)