The 5 Year Plan

[MrJan]

Something to do with telling the media on regular occasions that he will be WRC champion perhaps?

Would you rather that he told the media that his goal was to come 6th in the championship?

Wilson isn't all that good, but without him I doubt that Stobart would bother sponsoring a driver and we'd be left with a championship even more bare than it is now.

As far as I'm aware Matt doesn't go trying to grab media attention (certainly not like Block), the microphone comes to him. I'm not a Wilson fan, I don't think that he'll ever amount to anything interesting and I think that Kimi will be a better rally driver by the end of another season, however I don't really see the point in complaining about the bloke.

[jonas_mcrae]

I remember when the 5 year plan started, it actually didnt sound that bad and it was good to have an other car running rallies, but after 2007 it was obvious Matt didnt have the speed.

Now its ridiculous, specially in the season 2009 the level in wrc was extremly low, with only two works teams and petter in a Xsara, the chances to grab some podiums were quite real (henning got two...), but instead wilson was fighting and most of the times, loosing with the rest of the bottom of the table. Ogier was in his first full season and finished the year just 4 points behind a driver who had 4 years doing the championship...

2010 was worse, he only got to 5th once, again finished the championship 7th this time beating H. Solberg, BUT Henning did some events with a fiesta and didnt score points!

What is to come in 2011? I dont think he will be even close to works drivers (unless the mini really sucks...), IMO he should drive an s2000 in 2011, if it goes well, then have a last chance with WRC in 2012. But still im quite bearish on his chances.

[cut the b.s.]

What about Al Qassimi, Block and Raikkonen all guys who are in their drives due to the money behind them? Can we open this debate up to include their ability./results? To single one driver out suggests a loaded agenda on the posters part(s)

Al Qassimi doesnt pretend to be the next big thing.

I wanted to dislike Block, his Gymkana videos arent my thing, brash Americans arent either, but watching how he has gone about WRC this year and I have to say I am full of respect for him.
He is a very successful business man, he came late to rallying and that he can do the times he does is fair doing. In any interview I have heard with him he shows huge respect to the events and to those who can cover the stages faster than him, he isnt pretending to be going anywhere in the sport, he's just enjoying being there.

Kimi, again late to the sport, google him, he has proved himself else where before coming to rallying

You forgot Henning solberg, poor year too, but for me his S2000 drives show what he can do when happy in a car.

Would your defence of Matt be anything to do with your shared nationalities? Maybe its you with the loaded agenda?

[alleskids]

I think that Mathew Wilson is quite a good driver, much better then most of us on the forum, and predictable to finish in the (lower) points. His only fail is that he pretended to be a furture world champion, and he failed in being that, even with having the best equipement available, with lots of testing posibilities, and help from WRC rally winning drivers.

Mathew Wilson is a good WRC driver, but not good enough to fullfill the dreams he had, especially with the oppertunities he had. Many more talented drivers would do beter with the oppertunities and equipement Mathew got. Many rallydriver would give his/her left arm for 1/2, even 1/4 off the oppertunity/equipement he has been given, and even without their left arm would do better then Wilson.

[GigiGalliNo1]

Bla bla bla, i watched the highlights from GB.... and they showed the top contenders..... then out of the blue three times of Wilson....

Matt Wilson?!?!? I was waiting to see Ostberg, Henning, Black for crying out loud but no

Just because he was a british driver driving in a british rally.... EH

I don't think he brings anything to the table... not after 5 years?!??!?

the annoying thing about wilson i think is that he presents himself as a future champion rather than a useless privateer he is...i think everyone would be much happier and would have no problem if he presented himself like a hobby guy who just drives for fun

Instead that bigheaded daddys money boy always in his interviews says he is here to become champion and even compares himself with Mcrae and Burns....

but ok its nice to have him and raikonnen in the sport...every circus needs some clown people to have a laugh with.

+1.000.000.000.000...........................

[TyPat107]

As far as I'm aware Matt doesn't go trying to grab media attention (certainly not like Block), the microphone comes to him. I'm not a Wilson fan, I don't think that he'll ever amount to anything interesting and I think that Kimi will be a better rally driver by the end of another season, however I don't really see the point in complaining about the bloke.

Have you not seen the useless press releases they pass out about him to rallybuzz and the like? "Wilson finishes ahead of Kimi!" Really? kimi went off the road and thats what you take away from it?

But I will agree with you about Block, though he isn't doing it at the world level like he did here in the US. But Block has also stated he knows he can't win, he is just looking to increase his speed and skill which after one season is close to Wilson's fifth season. Oh no it almost sounds like I stood up for Block.. thats never happened before.

[Daniel]

Well done Betty. Just when we thought the season was over and we are to be spared any more mindless attacks on young Wilson, you start an entirely new thread dedicated to him.

The lad's inclusion in the Stobart team is a private matter for those involved and absolutely no business of anyone on this forum.

Those who attack him from the anonymity of a nom de plume do so for two reasons only;
1. Jealousy.
2. A general lack of intelligence prompting them to write the kind of drivel they believe will earn them populace support.

Tuppence? You've overstated the value several fold!

As Ben said, what a load of nonsense.

Keeping Mathew on shows where Malcolm's priorities don't lay. Over the years Malcolm has had some fantastic chances to really give his team the chance to do well but seemingly makes a habit out of making the wrong choice or pursuing something which is clearly not working for years after we (the people with a general lack of intelligence) have worked it out.

Seriously, you're deluded mate. Just because other people here haven't spent their time organising rallies, competing in rallies or selling TRD bits doesn't mean they don't know what they're talking about. We have different ways of looking at things and tbh in some ways looking at things from the fans point of view is the right way to look at it as the sport belongs to us and not the competitors or some jobsworths who mete out the most petty forms of justice based on their petty small minded interpretations of the rules.

If the forum archive wasn't gone I'd show you hundreds of posts saying that active diffs had to go, cars had to get cheaper, remote services had to be allowed and that mille pistes would never work........ YEARS before dimwits like Morrie Chandler & co have made the changes which had been made in the last few years which have taken the WRC in a more positive direction to the one it was taking.....

Long rant, but the message I'm trying to put across is that even for all your involvement in the sport you still don't know what you're talking about.

[Daniel]

P.S I don't dislike Matt in particular. I've disliked Warmbold & various other drivers wasting daddy's money in the past. The problem is that for me Matty is a distraction for daddy when daddy is meant to be running a team which is the main competition for Citroen and Loeb. Now I'm a Citroen/Loeb fan but I'm not one of these idiots who just wants to see his team winning, I want to see proper opposition and that can only happen if Malcolm runs his team properly and brings in decent drivers rather than clinging to the old saying "if you want to win bring a Finn" because contrary to what Malcolm thinks, that doesn't mean just getting any Finn! It takes a Makinen, Gronholm, Alen, Toivonen, Vatanen or dare I say it even a Paasonen.

Ok so I said Paasonen just to keep AFF happy but you get what I mean

[sollitt]

One thing you can always be absolutely certain about Daniel, is that I always know exactly what I'm talking about.
Which is a direct contrast to knowing what on earth it is that you are talking about ... an affliction I sadly share with most on the forum.

Rather than being anything at all to do with my near 40 years involvement in rallying or my business acumen (thankyou for acknowledging) my comment is simply about common decency and maturity, 2 traits you can presently only aspire to.

Matthew Wilson would appear at face value to be quite a likeable young fellow and I don't believe for a moment that he is "generally disliked".
I think we can all accept that he is unlikely to rise to be WRC champion however that is no reason not to have it as a goal.

A quick 'google' reveals that M Sport employs some 200+ staff and so it is fair to assume that Matthew's programme is likely catered by others delegated to the role and is an unlikely distraction for Wilson Snr.

Accepting that the lad is where he is through priviledge, he is certainly far from the first to be so and most assuredly will not be the last. They all have the right to be there and all add value. This afterall is the defining difference between rallying and other codes of motorsport.

Very few in such position have demonstrated 'champion' material and I would be surprised if Matthew's performances were bettered by any more than one or two.

Whilst there are undoubtedly a number of drivers presently demonstrating more speed, and perhaps talent, and who lack the resource to secure a seat at WRC level, it's surely time that we acknowledge firstly that the seat Wilson fills would not have been available to them, secondly that he has done nobody on this forum, or the sport for that matter, any harm and that he is not deserving of your continual derision.

He is simply a young man who has taken an opportunity presented to him and is running with it as best he can as I'm sure would the rest of us if fortunate enough to be in the same position.

Those who cannot make such an acknowledgment and who continually malign Wilson Jnr actually make much more of a statement about their own inadequacies than they do about his.

Oh, a PS Daniel. Morrie Chandler is a countryman. If you think slagging off at him is a way to upset me, you'd be wrong. I am no particular fan of Morrie's but I do have enormous respect for him.
A long time high performing competitor, a very successful businessman, an astute and knowledgeable administrator and an asset who adds value wherever he goes, Morrie can rightly be credited with bringing the WRC one of it's highest quality & most favourite events. It would be difficult to imagine a more qualified person to fill the roles that he has.
If you possessed an ounce of Morrie's DNA you'd be a far greater man than you have any hope of becoming.