We at Wolves Heroes have a talent-spotting team all of our own; those individuals who track down long-forgotten Wolves players. Leading our search – all the way from California – is Charlie Bamforth, who now tells the fascinating story of another Molineux man from yesteryear that he has somehow traced.

Ray Aggio in his recent years.

The Italian word aggio (pronounced adge-o with a soft g) means ‘premium.’ That would be a pretty good word to describe a bloke by the same name, Ray Aggio. Top man.

I wonder what might have happened if Stan Cullis had not been shown the door at Wolves in 1964. Perhaps then, Ray might have been able to look back on a Wolves career that had more than a handful of Central League games as its pinnacle.

Aggio was born in Edmonton, North London, and grew up a Spurs fanatic. In an instant, he rattled off for me the 1961 double side and said: “My hero was Dave Mackay.”

The young pretender played for his school team (Huxley Secondary Modern) and gained representative honours for the district, for London and for Middlesex Schoolboys.

“I was less than 5ft 8in but I played centre-forward. I trained at Tottenham for five years and, three times, my father and I turned up for me to be signed. Each time, there was an excuse. My father lost his rag, at which point Wolves and Crystal Palace came in for me. Dad reckoned Wolves would be a better bet – an environment of success.”

So Aggio signed apprentice forms at Molineux in March, 1962. “In the first year, an apprentice got ₤7, it was £8 in the second and £10 in the third. I had to pay ₤3.50 for my digs.”

He was housed with Bill Shorthouse’s mum, along with Peter Knowles. “I’d send ₤1 or ₤1 10s home to my mum and she saved it for me. We got lunches paid for – at a restaurant that we called The Civic in Wolverhampton.”

Most of the young players at Molineux were from the Midlands or the Yorkshire nursery at Wath and Ray confesses he was homesick for several months.

“We got to go home for a long weekend once a month. Freddie Kemp was the only other Southern lad at the club – he was from Exeter (although born in Italy).”

As an apprentice, Aggio was one of the first to appear at the club each morning. “We had to clean the corridors, the dressing rooms, the baths, the front door…all before the senior players arrived at 9.45. Mr Cullis, though, arrived at 9am.

At Molineux in the 1960s, with youth on his side.

“Every day, he would come and watch us youngsters play games for the A team and B team at Castlecroft. If he came in at half-time and took his hat off, we knew we were in for a hard time. But if he left his trilby on, we’d be all right!

“I cleaned the boots of all the players, but especially Peter Broadbent’s. His shoe size and mine were the same, so I tried to nick his boots when they got a bit worn!”

Ray was close to the young winger Roger Barton and other pals were Kemp, Knowles, John Farrington, Ray Hall (the England schoolboy international) and Les Wilson, who set us on the search for this latest interviewee.

“Phil Parkes, too. Lovely lad. I first met him when I played for Middlesex against his Staffordshire Boys team. He was an amateur, not an apprentice.”

Aggio’s first full season at Wolves saw the senior team start with a bang. They won their first game 8-1, against Manchester City, and remained unbeaten until October. “BBC’s Sportsnight, with Peter Dimmock, brought their cameras to Castlecroft to watch us training,” he recalls.

Alas, two seasons of decline in first-team fortunes followed, with the departure of the legendary Cullis and relegation in 1964-65. Ironically, that season was a highlight for Aggio as he signed as a full-time pro just before the change of manager and broke into the Central League side. His first game was a 2-0 defeat at Bolton in October in a side that read: Phil Parkes; Fred Goodwin, John Harris; John Kirkham, Graham Hawkins, Ken Knighton; David Thompson, Peter Knowles, John Galley, Ray Aggio, David Carrick. It was also ‘Lofty’ Parkes’ first reserve game.

Ray had already been part of some pretty successful sides. Wolves, despite their overall slide, reached the FA Youth Cup semi-finals and quarter-finals in successive years, in the latter losing to a Chelsea side including Peter Osgood and Jim McCalliog.

“There were more than 50 professionals at Wolves and I was simply devastated at the end of that season when I was one of just three to be let go,” he added. “The club were, of course, in turmoil. Andy Beattie was there and, in the last two or three weeks of the season, Ronnie Allen arrived as coach. I just couldn’t come to terms with the fact they were giving me a free transfer.”

Aggio went to Crystal Palace for a month’s trial, playing alongside the likes of David Burnside. They saw enough to offer him a second month but Romford stepped in.

“They were pulling crowds of 3,000-4,000 in the Southern League and were offering four times what I was getting at Wolves. I was there for four seasons. In my first two, I scored 66 goals. In the second, we won the championship. I was the youngest lad in the team, playing up front with the old West Ham player, Harry Obeney.”

Next came a disappointing season with Nuneaton and a period with Tamworth before the chance of a trial with Notts County.

“I had been recommended by one of Jimmy Sirrel’s directors, so I was not surprised when the manager took me to one side after a game and told me he wasn’t going to sign me. I reminded him that he took John Cozens from Hillingdon and I’d outscored him in non-League. But nothing I was going to do would change his mind.”

Then it was to Worcester City, alongside Gerry Hitchens (“a lovely lad”). “I was there for four years, scoring more than 40 goals from midfield. One of my best was against Telford. I put one in from 35 yards. Their manager, Ron Flowers, said he’d never seen a swerve like it. ‘Well,’ I told him, ‘I trained for you in the summer and you could have signed me.’”

....and in his Barnet days.

From Telford, it was to St Albans for a year and then to Barnet for four, in which he included among his team-mates Jimmy Greaves and Bob McNab.

For much of Ray Aggio’s early non-League career, he still lived near Castlecroft in Wolverhampton, making for a lot of commuting to the south-east. Ironically, it was Stanley Cullis who was instrumental in changing that particular lifestyle.

“It wasn’t too many years ago that I was at Birmingham City for a game with Fred Davies (Shrewsbury manager at the time) and there was Mr Cullis. He was beginning to lose his memory a bit, so I didn’t think he’d know me. ‘You don’t remember me, boss, do you?’ I asked. Stan replied: ‘Just remind me.’ I told him my name. Straightway, he said: ‘Yes, I spoke to Eddie Stuart and got you to Worcester City, didn’t I?’

“It was true. I had bumped into him once on a train to London. He was in first-class and I was on my way back through to second from getting something to eat. He basically told me it was such a waste travelling up and down to London and I’d be better served getting a club nearer my home. He called Eddie Stuart soon after.”

Barnet was Aggio’s last club. By now, he had set up a newsagent/tobacconist shop on Barnet High Street, later going into partnership in several shops in the likes of Peterborough, Welywn Garden City and Bedford. These days, he has the station shop at Hitchin.

After retiring as a player, he also worked as a scout until 2002-03. “I have been a good mate of Barry Fry ever since our time together at Romford,” he recalled. “When he went to Birmingham, I scouted for him and did the match report work. I followed him to Peterborough to do the same.

“But it’s such a hard slog when you are trying to run your own successful business – imagine heading up to somewhere like Wrexham for an evening game, then travelling back to get to bed in the early hours, only to be up again for the day job. I ended up having a triple bypass operation and stopped the scouting.”

Andy taps in the winner in '80.

Many of Wolves’ League Cup winning heroes will be back on parade together later this season at a star-studded dinner in the Black Country.

The function, promoted by Sedgley-based Route 39, is a celebration of the club’s successes in the competition in both 1974 and 1980, and has the latter final’s match-winner Andy Gray as one of the main guests.

The Wembley goalscorer against Nottingham Forest will be joined on stage for reminiscences by Kenny Hibbitt and John Richards – team-mates of his that day 32 years ago and the two marksmen from when Wolves beat Manchester City at the same venue six seasons earlier.

The trio will have a generous collection of former colleagues in attendance as they relive memories of the triumphs under Bill McGarry and John Barnwell respectively and will answer questions from MC Paul Franks, of BBC Radio WM, as well as from the audience.

Among the other players so far lined up to attend are Mike Bailey, Dave Wagstaffe, Geoff Palmer, Phil Parkes, Willie Carr and Mel Eves, with approaches now going out to several others.

The three-course dinner is being held on Friday, March 16 at the Copthorne Hotel, Level Street, Merry Hill, and begins at 7.15pm. Also in attendance will be comedian Bob Webb.

Tickets are £55 each including VAT, with special rates available for tables of eight or ten. Special packages guaranteeing prime locations in the room and photo opportunities with the guest speakers cost£950 including VAT.

More details for the lounge-suit occasion are available from Route 39, who have a close association with Compton Hospice. They are contactable on 01902-680023.

Kenny strikes in '74.

Also, this Thursday, the promoters are staging their second Big Quiz night in aid of the hospice. That is also at the Copthorne Hotel, Brierley Hill (7.30pm).

Teams of four are welcome to enter, with the cost set at £10 per player – a charge that includes a curry. The Wolf FM’s Dicky Dodd is the evening’s host.

The cover to look out for.

A recently published book on Wolves has revealed that Molineux was haunted by returning former players long before Robbie Keane was even out of nappies.

While the Irishman’s two goals last weekend provided one of several big talking points of the derby against Aston Villa, author Clive Corbett has emphatically proved in his latest publication, Out Of Darkness, that the concept of old favourites coming back to hurt the gold and black cause is nothing new.

Interestingly, though, his eye for detail and his insistence on leaving no stone unturned means he also demonstrates another trend; namely, how often, in 1980-81, goals scored against Wolves came from the boot or head of players the club would sign in later years.

At £19.99, this is no cheap buy; nor is it a quick read. The 484 pages see to that. But it is a brilliant in-depth record of 13 years of Molineux history, picking up in 1977 where he left off with his sell-out first book, Those Were The Days.

I am several weeks into this latest hard-back and am not yet half-way. But there’s no mistaking the painstaking research of a Wolves fanatic whose day job is as a headmaster of a Worcestershire secondary school.

So many snippets that had disappeared from the memory bank – a rebel tour to South Africa involving John Barnwell and a proposed Wolves trip to Argentina, for example – are there.

Through his trawl of old Express & Stars and match-day programmes, plus a lengthy list of new interviews with players from the period, he has uncovered much we had either forgotten or didn’t know.

And nothing surprised me more than the impact of all those Wolves old boys or future signings at a time when Keane was a baby and Barnwell’s team returned to Europe as League Cup winners and also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup.

We all know that the club missed out big time on the barnstorming talents of Peter Withe, whose brief goal-scoring impression at Molineux in the mid-1970s was not enough to prevent his quick sale to Birmingham.

As 1980-81 was the year Aston Villa won the League Championship, it’s no shock that Withe (like Keane seven days ago) should strike the decider in the late-winter return clash of the clubs that season.

A few months earlier, Peter Eastoe netted against Wolves at Goodison Park on the same day that a Billy Wright (a pale imitation of the real thing, of course) also appeared on the Everton score-sheet. But there’s more.

Floyd Streete, as Wolves fans would rather remember him!

None other than Glenn Hoddle scored from a brilliant free-kick for Spurs in the first instalment of the Cup semi at Hillsborough, as he did in one of the League clashes, and Cyrille Regis was on target for Albion in an early-season Black Country derby draw at The Hawthorns.

But try these for unlikely scorers against Wolves: Terry Connor (for Leeds), Bobby McDonald (Coventry), Jim Melrose (Leicester) and, most improbably of all, Floyd Streete for Cambridge in the tie that released Wolves’ grip on the League Cup.

I can pay Corbett no greater compliment than to say his first book has always been close at hand for reference on all matters concerning the 1960s and 1970s. Now, his even weightier new tome will be alongside it.

* Please contact us by email if you need further details about Out Of Darkness.

Jim McCalliog in action for Wolves away to one of his previous clubs, Chelsea.

Jim McCalliog has opened up on the huge crossover between his and Tommy Docherty’s careers after signing up to a new Scottish-based memorabilia business.

The long-serving Wolves midfielder twice joined clubs managed by The Doc as well as helping beat his sides in an FA Cup final and a semi-final.

But the links between the two Glaswegians run even deeper than that and they could have worked together long before they actually did.

“I remember walking home to where we lived in the Gorbals after playing in a schoolboy international between Scotland and England at Ibrox and being told by my mum that there was someone in the house to see me,” McCalliog recalled.

“I’d had my tea, then gone outside to kick a ball about. When I came in, I recognised Tommy. He was Chelsea manager then and wanted to take me there.

“I’d had 22 clubs after me altogether, including Celtic, but had already promised Leeds that I would sign for them, which I did. I went there just after Peter Lorimer, who was from Broughty Ferry near Dundee, Frank Munro’s home town.

“When things didn’t work out for me at Leeds, though, I returned to Glasgow, asked a couple of reporters to mention in the paper that I was looking for a club and one of them must have led me to The Doc at Chelsea.”

As it transpired, McCalliog made a bigger impact at Hillsborough than he did at Stamford Bridge, even scoring one of the goals as Sheffield Wednesday beat Chelsea in the 1966 FA Cup semi-final and hitting another in the Owls’ final defeat, from two goals up, against Everton.

And it was while he was in Yorkshire that he learned from a familiar source that he had been selected to play for Scotland for the first time.

“The manager Alan Brown told me I was in the squad and made sure I was in the dressing room so he could announce it in front of the other lads and have them shake my hand and say ‘well done,’” he added.

Jimmy Mac with keeper Bobby Simpson during a link-up with the Scottish squad in April, 1967.

“Little did Alan know, though, that Tommy had been on the phone the previous night and told me I was picked. I don’t know how he knew but I pretended to Alan that I knew nothing. It was well before The Doc was national manager but he was always very interested in my career and wanted to tell me the good news.”

The player became Britain’s costliest teenage footballer in the mid-1960s and had previously played for Chelsea in an FA Cup semi-final defeat. Then he had similar near misses after being brought to Wolves by Bill McGarry in 1969.

His first goal in gold and black was in a 3-2 win against Wednesday at Hillsborough but he was to be frustrated when trying to take the final step to glory. Not only did he appear in the run to the 1972 UEFA Cup final but also played several games in the excellent cup runs of 1972-73, only to then miss out on playing in the semi-finals of both.

And when it came to the parting of the ways just after he had been on the sidelines for the 1974 League Cup final, guess who was on the other end of the phone?

“I had fallen out with McGarry and was not really part of things when I travelled with the Wolves squad to Wembley in 1974,” McCalliog says. “I didn’t think he was treating me very well considering I had played over 200 games for him and was his captain when Mike Bailey was injured for the latter stages of the UEFA Cup run and the final itself.

“I needed to get away, although I loved Wolves, and went over to have talks with Vic Crowe and Doug Ellis at Aston Villa. The only problem was that I didn’t really want to drop into the Second Division.

“Around transfer deadline day in the March of 1974, I just happened to ask Bill if anyone else had been on for me and he said: ‘Yes, Tommy Docherty at Manchester United.’ The secretary Phil Shaw put me through on the phone to him and I couldn’t get in my car fast enough.

“Bill was annoyed and told me that, if I went to United, I wouldn’t get the bonus I was due in the August of that year, although he was happy for me to have it if I joined Villa. Maybe he was hoping to get a player in exchange from Villa.

“So it cost me money to go to Old Trafford and we got relegated that spring anyway. But you can’t turn down that sort of opportunity.

“On the day, I had been in the dressing room at Molineux in my training kit and was saying a few cheerios to the lads. They assumed I was going to Villa and saying things like: ‘You’re not far away, so we’ll be able to stay in touch.’

“But I was teasing big Frank, who got changed next to me, by saying they would have to look in that night’s paper to see where I ended up.

“The record books show that my last Wolves game was actually a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, which I don’t remember, but I enjoyed linking up with The Doc again at United – more than he enjoyed it when I made Bobby Stokes’s winning goal for Southampton in the 1976 FA Cup final anyway!

“I always seemed to do well against my old clubs. I even went back to Molineux with Southampton and scored one of the goals when we won six in a night match in the Second Division.”

....and signing up for Past Heroes boss Mike Godfrey.

McCalliog and his wife Debbie now run the Langside Guest House in Kilmarnock but he was happy to support another enterprise – the memorabilia business Past Heroes – when proprietor Mike Godfrey called on him earlier this winter with various items to sign.

For more information about the business, please click on www.pastheroes.com

Unlike many former players, there isn’t much chance of Don Goodman disappearing from our football lives – not while he finds such regular work with Sky TV as an articulate commentary-box summariser. Here, though, John Richards puts a host of readers’ questions to the popular Molineux striker on behalf of Wolves Heroes.

Q: Did you have any hesitation joining Wolves after being an Albion player previously? (From topcat99) 

A: No hesitation whatsoever. I was ambitious and wanted to play in the Premier League. That was my driving force in leaving Albion in the first place. I went to Sunderland believing they would be the vehicle to get me there – a big club, Roker Park, a huge following and lots of passion. I thought they would be that club but it became evident while I was continuing to make a decent goal-scoring contribution that I was playing in a team round the middle to the bottom of what is now the Championship. I had bigger plans and Wolves were up there near the top of the Championship, spending money on players, like Steve Froggatt and Tony Daley, two wingers getting crosses in – just how I liked to play. It was ideal, Bully was there, and David Kelly. I honestly felt this was the team to get me into the Premier League. That’s why the answer to the question is an unequivocal ‘no’. It’s not as if I went straight from Albion to Wolves. It’s a brave step to go from one to another. I know Bully and Tommo did it but they weren’t particularly first-teamers at the time. If they had been established players at Albion, then moved across, it might have been different. Albion’s loss was Wolves gain in that case.

Don Goodman - the latest interviewee in John Richards' q and a series.

Q: Which stint in your career did you enjoy most? WBA or Wolves? (from Rocky Balllboa). Q: Which fans gave you the most support? WBA or Wolves? (from Edgmond Wolf )

A: I am asked on an almost daily basis about whether I preferred being at Wolves or Albion. I enjoyed them both – I had five good years at Albion and four good years at Wolves. I think that’s very different to a Steve Bull, who had two minutes at West Brom and an eternity at Wolves, and someone like Cyrille Regis, who was the opposite way round. My scenario was very different. West Bromwich Albion was the club that made me the player I was – predominantly through the coaching I received from Stuart Pearson. They were the first set of supporters to put me on a pedestal and that stays with you. Obviously, I then went away to Sunderland and was well received there. Then, when I came to Wolves, it would have been so easy for the fans not to give me a chance, especially as I didn’t score for seven games. I played up front in my first game against Notts County and then put out on the right wing. That was the manager’s prerogative. With Bully and Ned Kelly, he had two excellent players. But the Wolves fans were very fair to me and I will never, ever forget that, as long as I live. It would have been very easy for them to have a go – big-money signing, seven games without a goal, ex West Brom, what a waste of money! They could have got on my back. Not once did I get any of that, though. I then went on to have four good years at Molineux and struck up a wonderful relationship with those terrific supporters. Ideally, like many others, I would like to see both clubs battling it out at the top of the Premier League. That’s where they should both be. Wouldn’t it be great to have these local derbies in the Premiership every year, the way we’ve got it now? 

Q: I would like you to cast your mind back to the cracking Wolves v Sheffield Wednesday FA Cup fourth-round replay at Molineux on February 8, 1995. Wolves won 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw over the 120 minutes. The game was so atmospheric, broadcast on a freezing cold night on Sky TV for the world to see. It was so nail-biting, it must be stored in the top drawer of your football memory bank……Wolves were 3-0 down in the penalty shoot-out and looked dead and buried. So how did it feel to score THE penalty, the one that decided the game, down at the South Bank? Did you sleep that night or stay awake, scoring the penalty many times over in your mind? And does your heart still pump that bit faster when you think and talk about it today? (From Berlin Wolf )

A: Yes, I remember it well. We were 3-0 down and out of the competition really. I wasn’t in the first group of five to take a penalty and I thought we were dead and buried. I never thought I’d be called upon to take one. But they missed their last two, Chris Waddle was one of those, and we scored our last three to bring it level. Their guy missed the next one and I remember thinking I just wanted to get it over with. I’d already made my mind up that I was going to smash it as hard as I could down the middle and didn’t waiver from that. Ironically, the keeper Kevin Prestman didn’t dive but I struck it well and it beat him for pace. I’ve actually got a photo from a cameraman who was behind the goal that night, with the ball bulging the net and the keeper with his hands in the air, not a million miles from it. I have to say I was very relieved because I was still a new boy. This was the February and I’d only signed in the December. The last thing I wanted to be remembered for was the clown who ruined the Great Escape. I can’t imagine that there has been another occasion when a team was 3-0 down in the penalty shoot-out and still won. Great memories! 

Q: The 1994-95 season was Graham Taylor’s only full season as manager of Wolves. I’m certain we’d have been promoted that season had it not been for the fact we had horrendous bad luck – arguably the unluckiest season in Wolves’ history. The following summer, Dean Richards was signed permanently and the Premier League experience of Mark Atkins was added to further bolster the squad that had just missed promotion. Of course, Taylor was sacked quite early in 1995-96 but, as a player with insight into both contrasting seasons, why do you think Wolves struggled so badly in those few months that led to Taylor’s sacking? (From Beowulf )

Q: You were always one of my favourite players in those days, Don. What’s your take on why we never quite got that promotion we were so desperate for? Everything seemed to be in place? (From crocos) 

A: As I mentioned, I came to wolves because one of the prospects that excited me was playing with Froggy on one wing and Tony Daley on the other. I’d played against them both several times before and they were the sort of players who were going to get lots of crosses in and create lots of chances. However, straightaway, they both got injured and then there was Geoff Thomas, who I think could have made a major difference, but who was already injured and who never really got back properly. Three quality players there, all of whom played for England, and we didn’t have access to them. So, that was one thing. 

All Wolves fans will remember the game when we only beat Bolton 2-1 in the first leg of the play-offs at Molineux. It should have been 10-1. We absolutely murdered them but fate conspired against us. We hit the woodwork four or five times that day. It’s such a fine line between success and failure. And, obviously, in the second leg, John McGinley could and should have been sent off for headbutting David Kelly. If that gets seen by the referee, it’s a whole new story. And we would have fancied our chances in a game at Wembley with the players we had. It wasn’t to be that year, then because of the money that had been invested in players, there was pressure on Graham Taylor. There were factions of the press that were desperate for him to fail because he was the ex-England manager. When I say the press, I mean the national press not the local ones. They turned up waiting for Wolves to fall, so they could have a story to write about Graham Taylor. I don’t think that helped the club. Then there was the board. You need strength and resolve there, but, with the greatest of respect, I think they buckled under the pressure to get rid of Graham. When I look back and think of what Graham went on to achieve at Watford after being at Wolves, taking them from League One to the Championship and from there to the Premier League, I think it was one of the biggest mistakes Wolves have made in modern history. So, there were lots of things that seemed to be conspiring against us at the time.  

Greeted by the law when arriving at Tonbridge for a friendly in July, 1995.

Q: How did it feel getting the winner against Leeds, having been born in the city but never played for them? (From Dewsburywolf ) 

Q: My favourite goals of yours for Wolves was the one against Leeds in the FA Cup sixth round. Which was your favourite? (From Mugwump)

A: It is one of my favourites. I’ve scored technically better goals than that but, for what it meant and what it was, it’s very special. It was the quarter-final of the FA cup, I’m a Leeds lad, I was born and brought up there, I stood on the terraces at Elland Road as a boy, I was also a ball-boy there - and I’d been rejected by Leeds as a young lad. Ironically, Leeds are a club I always used to score against – for Bradford, West Brom, Sunderland, whoever. That was my first game against them in a Wolves shirt. When the chance came, I just saw the keeper coming off his line and dinked it over him. That was something I always tried to do when I was one-on-one with the keeper, just try to lift it over him. It was late in the game. There were about ten minutes to go and I don’t know where that calmness came from. When it hit the back of the net, it was an amazing feeling but then young Robbie tripped up Hasselbaink. I remember going numb and thinking we’d blown it but Hans Segers saved the penalty and the day and the rest, as they say, is history. Great occasion! I still get Wolves fans coming up to me, saying ‘Elland Road, 1998, I was there.’ It’s a brilliant memory for all of those reasons mentioned and the fact that it got us into the semi-final of the FA cup, which is no mean feat as a Championship club. 

Q: How did Bully and Keane react to being benched for the semi-final v Arsenal by Mark McGhee and what effect, if any, did it have on the players going into the game that day? (From DurhamWolf )

A: The manager signed about four new players before the semi-final, including Steve Claridge and Robbie Slater, and Bully and Keane were left on the bench. But, make no mistake, Arsenal were a great team. They were one of the best of that era. It was unfortunate for the lads to be left out but I also remember being hauled off myself with about 20 minutes to go and I felt I was the one causing their defence most problems, even if it was only through sheer physicality. I remember David Seaman and Tony Adams scowling at me because I clattered into them. I couldn’t understand why I came off but I never really saw eye-to-eye with Mark McGhee and don’t know whether that had any bearing on his decision. You’d like to think it didn’t but you never know. He once went six weeks without talking to me. If he saw me going towards him, he would turn around so he wouldn’t have to acknowledge me. That’s how petty it got with him. We had a great day out at Villa for the semi but it would be fair to say we were second best on the day. 

Q: What do you remember of your debut for Sunderland? You played against Wolves and had two players sent off? (From Mugwump)

A: We had two players sent off in the first five minutes, for dissent would you believe! You can imagine what it was like. I signed for Sunderland and then, a couple of days later, I was making my debut for them at Molineux. You couldn’t write it really. Of course, I got barracked when I got off the bus, when I warmed up, during the game. It was a busy linesman who took exception to one of the lads swearing because he disagreed with a throw-in decision. If every footballer who swore was sent off, there would be nobody left on the pitch. I remember the game clearly because I was ploughing a lone furrow. After an hour, I was physically exhausted. I was winning all the headers from our keeper’s kicks and my only instruction from our manager Denis Smith was to ‘head it for touch and get behind the ball.’ That’s all I did throughout the game. We held out until a few minutes from the end before a great shot by Paul Cook beat us.  

Q: Who was technically the best player you played with, Don, and who was perhaps the worst – but made up with it by hard work. And did you ever consider playing at left-back? (From OLDGOLD) 

A: That’s a good question because the word ‘technically’ has been used. I’ve played with a lot of good players, a lot of internationals who were coming to the end of their careers, like Andy Gray and Tony Morley. But what I would say that, technically, the best is someone Wolves fans will remember – Gordon Cowans. An absolutely incredible player, Sid, again coming towards the end of his career, but left foot, right foot, he was the best by far.  

Q: Don, who would you say was the most underrated player of your time at Wolves, such as an unsung hero or just a player that did not quite get the recognition he deserved? (From OoohRobbieRobbie) 

A: Difficult question and obviously I’m looking at someone from a Wolves perspective. Actually, I’m going to say someone who, sadly, is no longer with us – Paul Birch. You were guaranteed a performance from him week in week out, without stealing the headlines. He was consistent, reliable, the sort of player you’d want in your team. 

Getting in a header (centre) in the Steve Bull testimonial game against Santos.

Q: You suffered a serious head injury while playing for Wolves at Molineux. How hard was that to come back from and how nervous were you about going into your first competitive aerial challenge after that? (From Mutchy) 

Q: You suffered a horrific injury while playing for Wolves and cracking your skull. We were all desperate for you to get well. How worried were you that you’d never play again? How did you spend your time during your convalescence? How worried were you that you’d not be the same player? And how’d you celebrate coming back from injury. (From singwolf_1) 

 A: It was a fractured skull which I did at Molineux against Huddersfield in 1996. It was two weeks before my daughter was born – that is how I remember the date so well. We had a corner and I flung myself at a ball I was never going to get, and smashed into the back of the full-back Steve Jenkins’ head. He was concussed, if I remember right. I was conscious throughout but was down and couldn’t feel my arm. The physio Barry Holmes started looking at my arm, then I put my hand up to my head and felt some blood. Basically, there was a big hole in my head. It was a depressed fracture of the skull and it had caved in. I said to Barry: ‘Actually, I don’t think it’s my arm that’s the problem, I think you’d better take a look at my head’. I saw his face when he looked at my head and realised it was pretty serious. I was paralysed down my right side because the skull was pressing onto the left side of my brain. It was a nasty one, six months out, but no after-effects thankfully. The operation involved drilling four holes into my skull and lifting it back into the shape it should have been. A depressed fracture, as described to me by the surgeon, is like pressing your thumb into a ping pong ball. They said I’d be out for a year but, fortunately, I was back much sooner. I think many people thought I would never play again. It was that serious. But, the surgeon was amazing and reassured me that, in time, the skull would actually be stronger than before. In training, I was wearing a skull cap and taking part in one of my first five-a-sides and a ball was smashed in my direction straight at my face, I automatically dipped my head down and it hit me on the skull cap and knocked me off my feet. All the lads came running over and were panicking around me. I got up, smiled at them and said it was alright. That was the moment I knew it was going to be alright. 

Q: How did you sometimes defy gravity by appearing to hang in mid-air when heading a ball? Is it just me who thought you were defying gravity? (From OoohRobbieRobbie)

Q: Don, you were superb in the air – what was your secret to be able to ‘hang’ for so long? (From Boss Hogg) 

A: I get asked this a lot. It’s just something I could do naturally. I’ve always had strong legs, big quads and big calves, and that obviously helped me sprint and helped me spring as well. I also had good timing. I could judge the flight of a ball better than most. It was just a very natural thing.

Q: Don, your nickname was “Woody” how many times do you remember hitting the woodwork? I think one season it must have been about 20! (From Arcadius)

A: That’s a new one on me. I did hit the woodwork a lot, that’s true, but I don’t remember being called Woody.

Q: There’s a lot being said about racism in football today, what with the alleged Terry incident and Blatter’s gaffe. What was it like to be a black player during your time? How much racism did you face at Wolves or at any other club? (From singwolf_1)

A: I think it was the generation before me that we have to pay homage to – the likes of Big Cyrille (Regis), Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson. They were the ones who took it on the chin and came through it. That was the most important thing. Those lads were so mentally strong, they got through it. And that enabled the next generation of players like me to be able to play without fear. I was lucky. There wasn’t that much racism directed at me and, even if there had been, I was one of those guys who could laugh it off. In 20 years, it only happened to me once. This player made a racist remark to me in front of the referee. I asked the referee if he was going to put it in his report but all he said was: ‘I didn’t hear a thing.’ That was the only time it happened to me on the pitch. We had jovial banter in the dressing room and things were probably said then which wouldn’t be acceptable now. But it wasn’t offensive. It’s just the way things were. People like me and other black players need to be grateful for those lads who had to deal with it in the sixties and seventies. I’ve seen photos of Cyrille having bananas thrown at him and he was mentally strong enough to deal with it and come through it. It’s players like him with that resilience that has allowed me to go on and have a career in football. I’ll be eternally grateful for that. With regards to Blatter, he has made himself look an idiot on many fronts other than race; it’s remarkable that he is still in the position he is. 

Q: You refused work with Sky on the day of Wolves’ play-off final victory at Cardiff because you are quoted as saying you wanted to go as a fan…..(From Shergar)  

A: I went to the game as a fan but the play-off final was 2003 and I wasn’t even on Sky’s radar at that time. 

A natural in front of the Sky TV cameras at the Masters tournament.

Q: On the subject of Sky, how did you get into that line of work? (From JR) 

A: I really enjoy my work with Sky. I was never interested in going into management and was always told I talked a good game. It seemed a natural progression. I actually called Gary Newbon for some advice. He said I gave good interviews and advised me to get a column in the local newspaper if possible. I did that for the Express & Star, then starting summarising on games for Radio WM – something I did for a season. Gary said I would be picked up by someone if I was any good. And that’s what happened. I did three years with Radio 5 Live and, from there, got a call from Sky asking if I was interested in TV co-commentaries. That’s what I had aspired to. Once I’d made the decision to try my hand at broadcasting and media, then the biggest and the best to work for is Sky Sports. They are the market leader and, when they came calling, it was brilliant. But, then, you’ve got the pressure to maintain your standards, make your commentaries interesting and do a good job, otherwise they’re not going to keep you. I’ve now been with them for five years. I love it. Some would say, apart from playing, coaching or managing, it’s the best job in the world. And they probably wouldn’t be far wrong.

Time for a monthly look behind the scenes at Wolves Heroes – and an outline of the other calls and meetings we’ve had over and beyond our pursuit of the stories that have actually made it on line.

Tues, Dec 20: Met up briefly over coffee in Trentham Gardens with Denis Smith, Harry Burrows, John Ruggiero and the wife of Terry Conroy.  It was Stoke City business obviously but I regretted not having chance to ask their memories of games against Wolves – or whether any of them had ever come close to moving to Molineux. I have to make a return visit, though, so maybe next time…..

Sat, Dec 24: Had a 35-minute Christmas Eve conversation by Skype with Les Wilson. Our 14-year-old nephew was excited to be introduced, albeit by computer, with a man who was not only a former Wolves player but who took Canada to the World Cup finals. We were hoping to see more than just Les and wife Lois on screen and were disappointed not to catch a glimpse of their adorable golden doodle Scholzey (named after a certain Manchester United player). Also had an unexpected Happy Christmas phone call today from Danny Hegan.

Proud Granddad with Oscar and new arrival Eli Joseph.

Thurs, Dec 29: Word reaches us that Peter Knowles – now 66 and scaling back at Marks and Spencer – has taken up playing golf again. And he’s doing so around Wolverhampton. His contemporaries say he was a natural on the fairways in his football-playing days, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Talking of which, how big were those lodgings Peter used to stay in? The number of ex-Wolves players who tell us they were in the same digs as him must be past 20 now!

Fri, Jan 6: Relief at last in the Richards household. John and Pam’s youngest daughter Abbie has given birth two weeks later than scheduled to Eli Joseph, who weighed in at 8lb 12oz and is a not-so-little brother for three-year-old Oscar. Wolves Heroes’ co-owner is currently home alone while Pam is staying in Yorkshire as an extra pair of hands.

Thurs, Jan 12: Put a real good shift in for Wolves today. No, honestly, I did. Holiday arrangements in their media department got me a day shift in there, so I covered the Steve Morgan press conference and then wrote up an interview on Karl Henry. The game at Tottenham on Saturday will be his 200th for the club in the League and I’m thrilled he’s won over some of those who were unkindly berating him early in the season. A Wolverhampton lad doing his absolute best for the club he supported as a boy - I thought we were meant to cherish players like this.

Fri, Jan 13: Fixed up Jim Heath, author of our recently-published Wolves In 20/20 Vision book, with an interview on talkSport. The station rang us this morning asking to be put in touch with a supporter they might chat on air to about the Molineux season. Jim was hesitant at first but was impressed that the Hawksbee and Jacobs team had done their homework and gave his publication a generous mention.

Coming soon....

Mon, Jan 16: Our recent feature on Wolverhampton-born former Los Angeles Wolves goalkeeper Malcolm White has been better read than we thought. We have been contacted by a friend of Ray Veal, one of the team-mates Malcolm mentioned. But the request for a possible getting-in-touch came with the assurance: “Don’t worry, there’s no rush. We haven’t spoken for 50 years.” Talking of coincidences, we had an unscheduled reunion when we jumped into the back of a minibus for a day tour of St Lucia early in 2008 and found ourselves sitting opposite Malcolm and his Wulfrunian wife Val.

Wed, Jan 18: Signed off our book project with the Daily Mirror today – a 208-page hard-back Wolves project that looks stunning on screen. It’s out in March or April and, thanks to some hired expertise from Swindon, is the best-designed book on the club I’ve ever seen. The foreword is by JR – can’t wait to have it.

Sign please! Fred Kemp does the honours.

Fred Kemp has stepped in to fill one of the few remaining gaps in a signed football card collection that is being sold to raise money for needy children in Africa.

The former Wolves wing-half, along with his team-mate David Wagstaffe, were two of the handful of players still being chased by organisers of a project to help fund a new school in Zambia.

And Wolves Heroes were happy to act as go-betweens by not only connecting the various parties but calling on the ex-Molineux duo for their signatures.

“Trying to track down so many players who feature in a collection of 1968 cards was an ambitious idea to attempt,” said David Grimshaw, a Burnley fan based in the Potteries. “But we have nearly got there now, thanks to the help of many people who love the game.

“I’ve recently opened a lovely letter from the former Coventry and Huddersfield full-back Chris Cattlin in Sussex and the Welsh striker Ron Davies has kindly replied from the USA.

“That means that, of the surviving players in the 1968 series, the only ones we still have to reach are Tony Hazell (QPR) and Eddie McCreadie (Chelsea). It’s fantastic to think all these years later that these guys can be tracked down – and are so keen to help.”

Kemp was born in Salerno in Southern Italy and played only four first-team games for Wolves – all successively in 1964-65. And the last three of those coincided with the first three of the 404 senior appearances Wagstaffe made at the club.

He made a much bigger impact at his second club, Southampton, which is why the pictures he was asked to sign were taken during his time in Hampshire.

He moved there for £5,000 in 1965, when he was only 19, and became a crowd-pleaser with his all-action style after belatedly cementing a place in Ted Bates’s side.

But, despite the fondness with which ’Fiery Fred’ was remembered at The Dell, one high-profile team-mate, the skipper Terry Paine, was often underwhelmed.

The proud Saint.

The World Cup 1966 squad member felt ‘the end product didn’t warrant all that energy.’ So we can only begin to imagine Kemp’s dismay a few years later when, as part of the Hereford squad, he saw Paine arrive as a player-coach!

“Terry and I didn’t always see eye to eye but a lot of water has passed under the bridge since,” Fred smiled. “We move on.”

Kemp, who played 72 games for Southampton, now lives a couple of miles from Wolves’ Compton training base and considers himself retired at the age of 66.

The Hawthorns - setting for this November, 1958, Black Country derby clash as Jimmy Campbell shoots for goal. Forces will be joined next month with a walk from there to Molineux.

Former Wolves players are being urged to join their Albion counterparts next month by supporting a pre-derby walk in aid of the Acorns Children’s Hospice.

Groups of supporters from the two clubs are crossing the Black Country on foot before the big Molineux return on February 12.

And organisers hope there will also be a sprinkling of players on parade in the countdown to the lunchtime kick-off.

“The idea is to get Wolves and Albion supporters pulling together in support of one of the West Midlands’ most important charities,” said Kieren Caldwell, whose daughter Emma was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour at the age of 13 months.

“Participants can either walk from The Hawthorns to Molineux or walk from Molineux half-way to Albion and then walk back with ‘the other lot’!

“It is 10.5 miles in total, so even walking at 3.5 miles an hour, people should be able to start at 9am and get in for kick-off. The response from both sets of fans has been fantastic but it would be amazing to get some players along, even if it’s just to start walkers off and give them some encouragement.

“The police and councils have agreed to the event and we have 28 walkers and £1,000 promised so far. But we are only ten days into the idea, so we would like things to grow quite a bit.”

Destination Molineux, where Wolverhampton-born Albion defender Derek Statham is destined for a crash landing here under Geoff Palmer's meaty challenge.

More information is available from the walk’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/events/318434308197578 or by clicking on to http://www.justgiving.com/teams/MarchToMolineux

Wolves Heroes will also be delighted to act as go-betweens for readers who are keen to be involved, either through walking or sponsoring. Please email us with offers of help and we will do the rest.

A brief read of the Caldwell family story underlines what a good cause this is.

Jack Rowley.....slipped Wolves' clutches.

In relatively recent times, Wolves fans have found it painful that Jason Roberts went on to have a prolific, far-reaching career without kicking a ball in first-team football while at Molineux.

A decade or two earlier, Charlie Nicholas confessed to departing Wolverhampton in a hurry when he felt homesick during a trial here and this website has already recorded how Wolves missed out on recruiting Alex Ferguson as a manager and Alan Ball as a player despite having both at their fingertips.

But few oversights in the club’s history can measure up in magnitude to the one which allowed Jack Rowley to escape their clutches – and then carve out a magnificent career with Manchester United.

Rowley, whose Christian names were John Frederick, was born in Wolverhampton in October, 1920, and initially pottered around with the likes of Dudley Old Boys and Cradley Heath.

He was duly discovered by Major Frank Buckley but The Complete Encyclopedia Of Manchester United records: “Somehow he escaped from the Molineux net.”

The teenage left-winger joined Bournemouth early in 1937, only to quickly be snapped up for £3,000 by United and, in his second game for them, to become their youngester ever hat-trick hero.

By hitting four goals against Swansea at 17 years, 58 days, he presumably made the Major – a master spotter and developer of young talent, don’t forget – swallow a little harder. That, however, was just the start of it.

Rowley was subsequently converted to a centre-forward and scored no fewer than 211 goals for United in 424 matches, earning the nickname The Gunner.

He remains their third highest scorer of all time behind Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, including netting twice in the 1948 FA Cup final against Blackpool.

Astonishing individual feats are strewn across the span of his playing career. One of his six England caps brought him four goals in a 9-2 mauling of Northern Ireland in 1949 and he hit seven of Tottenham’s eight when guesting for them against Luton during the war.

He also showed Wolves, as if they didn’t know already, what they had missed out on when he scored all eight for them against Derby in the Football League North in 1942.

And brother Arthur, who was also once on the Molineux books.

The Rowley tale grew even more uncomfortable for those in power at Molineux because Jack’s younger brother and fellow Wulfrunian Arthur, having also been on the books as a junior and reserve, went on to big things with Albion, Fulham, Leicester and Shrewsbury.

He, in fact, proceded to score an all-time record 434 Football League goals, although most of those were outside the First Division and were not, as in Jack’s case, for one of Wolves’ rival superpowers at the time.

Nevertheless, October 22, 1955, must have been a sobering day for Wolves beyond the pain of their 3-1 defeat at Newcastle. It was the afternoon Jack scored his 200th career League goal – he was by now player-manager at Plymouth and facing Barnsley. Incredibly, though, he was beaten to the landmark by 12 minutes by sibling Arthur, who was appearing for Leicester at Fulham in another Second Division game.

Alan Sunderland - golden moment.

Mick McCarthy has preceded Wolves’ lunchtime FA Cup clash at Birmingham by pinpointing Alan Sunderland’s 1979 winner against Manchester United as the highlight of his numerous visits to Wembley.

The Wolves boss and the 1970s Molineux utility man were born only a few miles apart in Barnsley and Mexborough respectively, although the age difference means their football paths have barely crossed.

But McCarthy has used third-round weekend to refer to his fellow South Yorkshireman’s impact in a dramatic 3-2 Arsenal victory while reflecting on his habit of going out of his way to attend football’s showpiece occasions as far back as the early 1970s.

As a youngster, he developed a love of Leeds as well as his home-town club and was present for the shock defeat of Don Revie’s side in 1973 by Second Division Sunderland.

“I used to go and watch at Wembley whenever I could,” McCarthy said. “I have been to quite a few cup finals and went to the Liverpool v Bruges European Cup final as well.

“What happened in cup finals forged feelings for a lot of people towards the clubs they supported. A team who won at Wembley had a big influence on people.

“My most memorable game would be the Arsenal-Manchester United final. I went with two mates who were United fans and was always keen to get tickets for Wembley games if I could.”

Sunderland, who is 60 next year, had also scored against Wolves in the 1979 FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park, less than 18 months after moving from Molineux to Highbury for £240,000.

He was born a few miles south-east of McCarthy’s home town and was developed at the famous Wath Wanderers nursery club. He has lived for many years in Malta.

Mick McCarthy and a young admirer.

Wolves’ manager said his team selection today was designed so as not to further dilute the competition’s status but his days as a spectator stirred by the magic of Cup final day appear to be over.

His side were playing and winning in the Premier League at Sunderland last year on the day Manchester City were getting the better of Stoke at Wembley while other recent finals have found him in foreign parts.

“I have not been around for too many finals in recent years,” he added. “I have tended to be off soon after the end of the season and have watched the games on TV with a beer in my hand.”