Derek Jefferson.....engaged in a a different kind of signing.

When Wolves lost at Ipswich on the opening day of the 1968-69 season, it was a peep into the future as far as those at Molineux were concerned.

And not just because the newly-promoted East Anglians had Bill McGarry and Sammy Chung heading up their managerial team.

Also bedded in at Portman Road were mercurial midfielder Danny Hegan and Derek Jefferson, the hard-man defender who, in 1972, followed his three former Suffolk colleagues to the West Midlands to link up with them again.

Jefferson broke through and became established in the Ipswich team in the 1967-68 season in which they pipped QPR to the Second Division title by a single point, with Blackpool narrowly missing out in those pre-play-off days in third place.

“It was good timing for me because I was just finding my feet,” he said. “I had been signed in 1966 by Jackie Milburn, who came and knocked on the door of my parents’ house in the north-east saying he wanted me.

“He was Ipswich’s manager when I joined them but was replaced soon after by Bill, who I got on well with. He didn’t stand any messing about, even in his early days there, but must have liked me as he then took me to Wolves.

“Ray Crawford, who had had a decent enough spell at Wolves earlier in the 1960s, was also at Ipswich with us and was a terrific goalscorer. He was brilliant for the club, an absolute legend. And Danny was a real talent, as everyone knows.”

Crawford remains Ipswich’s all-time leading scorer with 227 goals in 353 games across two spells and actually played his final game for them in a 1-1 draw in the return at Molineux in March, 1969.

By then, of course, the Wolves board had got their man, having made a more successful swoop for McGarry than when they tried to lure him as a permanent successor to Stan Cullis in 1965.

Jefferson, looking not unlike John Major, whoops it up with his Ipswich pals in May, 1968. On the left is Danny Hegan.

Jefferson is easily identifiable on a number of Ipswich celebration photos from the end of 1967-68. He wore horn-rimmed glasses!

“I was short-sighted from the age of 13 and never felt as comfortable under floodlights,” he added.

Now 63 and living near Solihull, he played only 52 games across four years at Wolves before moving on to Boston and Washington, then Sheffield Wednesday (on loan) and Hereford.

By Charlie Bamforth

I wonder how uncertain some of the younger players are feeling now at Molineux. Different managers come with different ideals, different opinions and there is a narrow window of opportunity in which to make an impression on a new gaffer. But imagine how hard that must be if you are on the injured list.

That is what happened to Grenville Riley when the (for some) notorious Bill McGarry took the Wolves reins from Ronnie Allen in 1968. Yet, as we shall see, that ailment paled into insignificance when judged against the nightmare that Riley had to face in later decades; a traumatic experience that puts life into perspective.

Alan Hinton....an inspiration to the young Riley.

Grenville Riley was born in December, 1950, at the Rosemary Ednam Hospital in Sedgley. The family home was by the canal in Tipton. As a youngster, he would be taken with his friend Jimmy Britain to Molineux, where they would stand on the South Bank.

“We would catch the train from Owen Street,” he said. “I remember one game played in the fog and we could just make out the pitch from the back of the terrace.  My heroes were the likes of Peter Broadbent, Terry Wharton and Alan Hinton.

“I went to Tipton Grammar (now Alexandra High) and played for the school teams at the various ages.  At under-13, we played Ounsdale from Wombourne, who were the Manchester United of the local school scene, and I scored twice in a 2-2 draw in a cup final, so we each had the trophy for six months.

“I was selected to play for Brierley Hill, Sedgley and Tipton area, then Staffordshire Boys and Birmingham District. I got to the last North v South international trial and then England versus The Rest.

“Our team’s front three were me, Charlie George and Bob Latchford. But when it came to the final England team selection, a lad called Steve Wilkinson from Stoke got in. He had played on the wing for Staffordshire but couldn’t get into the Birmingham district side. The chief selector was the football head of Stoke schools.”

Grenville Riley, though, had caught the eye of Wolves.  An offer was made and the youngster left school for Molineux in September, 1965.

“I had visited Manchester United and Spurs and my best friend’s dad was brother-in-law to Jimmy Dugdale and a scout for West Brom. They did everything they could to get me to the Baggies but my mind was made up. Also, my dad went to a reserve game at Wolves and came back with a brown envelope, so that clinched it.

“I was a centre-forward when I signed but, as I went through into the reserve team, I became more of a midfield player in a 4-2-4 set-up, alongside the likes of Frank Munro.  When Ronnie Allen was manager, things were going well for me. Gerry Summers and Ron Bradley were the coaches and I know Ron felt I could play.

“I remember one Central League game against the Villa. Most of the Wolves side were first-teamers but I scored with a great header in a 2-2 draw. I was man of the match, in a team with guys like Peter Knowles and Alun Evans, and thought I might have a chance to get into the first team on the Saturday.  When the teams went up on the Friday, I was in the third team!

“When I joined as an apprentice, it was for £4 7s 6d and, on Mondays, we had to sweep the South Bank terrace.  Jack Dowen was in charge of the apprentices and liked me, so he gave me the job of cleaning out the boardroom drinks cabinet.

The essential paperwork.

“There used to be a shed underneath the old Waterloo Road stand where the drinks were stored – the other lads popped round one at a time for refreshments! I had great times at the Wolves – even cleaning the boots, especially Ernie Hunt’s. He was size 8 like me and I used to wear his second or third pair whenever I could. My closest friend was the full-back Roger Grice, also from Tipton.

“You would sign full-time pro at 18 or even 17 if they really thought you could play. I signed a week after my 17th birthday for £15 a week, plus bonuses. I still have the contract. It shows the bonus structure right through to what we would get if we won the European Cup.

“My biggest claim to fame at Wolves was scoring the winner in double extra-time in the Birmingham Senior Cup final at Tamworth. It was Grand National Day – the year Foinavon won. I had it in the sweep on the coach. I remember taking a corner and the fans were all listening on the radio. I asked who had won but they said they didn’t know ‘cos most of the horses had fallen.

“In all, I must have played 70 or 80 times for the second team after making my debut as a 16-year-old.  But fate took a hand. Ronnie Allen got the sack and, on Bill McGarry’s first day, we were to play Stoke City in an FA Youth Cup game.

“We went to Castlecroft on the morning of the match for a light work-out. I went to the byline and put over a left-foot cross. As I turned to see where it was headed, Ron Bradley charged in to block and my head connected with his knee. My cheekbone was broken and my right eye closed. I was the first player McGarry saw as he came down the corridor and into the physio’s room and I was only half conscious on the table. When I got back six weeks later, I turned my ankle and hardly played before he chose to give me a free transfer at the end of the season.”

Derek Dougan was no McGarry devotee and took the young Riley to one side. “He told me to do nothing until I heard from him. Meanwhile, I had offers from South Africa and Australia, as well as lower-division clubs in the Football League.

“I fancied traveling but perhaps not too far, so I accepted an offer from Sligo Rovers in Ireland. Just after I signed, The Doog came through and told me that his friend Noel Cantwell was offering me six months with Coventry City. Too late.

“I was terribly homesick after two weeks but met Gertrude, who would become my wife. I stayed in Ireland for four months, got nowhere and decided to give up football. I joined my friends in the betting industry back in the Midlands. I ran a betting shop in Carter’s Green, West Bromwich, and became great friends with the likes of Jeff Astle, Len Cantello, Bobby Hope, Tony Brown and Asa Hartford, who would come into the shop.

“I lost touch with the Wolves and never went near Molineux for 25 years. I would be busiest on Saturday afternoons and sometimes would go to The Hawthorns when Jeff Astle gave me tickets.

“I only went back to Molineux when my son, also Grenville, urged me to go for the Honved game when the new ground was formally opened. Then we were there for a 2-0 win over the Baggies and I had got the bug!  We are now fervent fans and I have to give lot of credit to Mick McCarthy for what he achieved.

“Work-wise, I progressed from the shops to the racecourses and dog tracks. I would bump into Ronnie Allen and Jack Dowen at Wolverhampton Races and they always harped on about how unlucky I had been. In fact, I could not have been any happier.

“When satellite racing took over from Extel in 1987, I coordinated the first day of Satellite Information Services from Chester. I was at the top of the tree and had the offer to return to Ireland to head the show there. The job took me to Belgium and, after just two days, I was the front-seat passenger in a head-on smash in Brussels. It ripped my ankle apart and dislocated my hip, which pinched my bowel.

“I knew something was seriously wrong but the doctors were reluctant to do anything.  I was in intensive care for a week and then insisted on going back to England.  I came back on a scheduled flight in first-class with the drip over the luggage rack and with an interpreter who had forgotten his passport. He was kept on the plane while I was put into an ambulance on the tarmac.

“I was supposed to go to the BUPA hospital at Little Aston but insisted on going to Sandwell General.  I was put on traction in intensive care and, within a couple of hours, my stomach had blown up like a balloon.  They operated and found my bowel was full of gangrene.  I had acute renal failure and peritonitis. Had I gone to Little Aston where there was no intensive care, I am not sure I would have survived.”

Happily, Grenville Riley’s bowel could be restored but it was slow progress and, after returning to the job he dearly loved for two years, he finally had to take retirement on disability following major surgery on his ankle and foot.  So now he has more time to watch the Wolves, where he goes with daughter Kathleen (“married to a West Brom season ticket holder – it is possible”) and son Grenville.

“Grenville loved to play in charity matches at Molineux and scored six once.  That’s more than Bully ever got in one game! We have four beautiful granddaughters and I am so proud of all my family.

Grenville Riley, now in his early 60s, and his wife Gertrude.

“I do not regret for one minute that I didn’t make it at Wolves. When I think of the earning potential there was, it would have made me skint now. I would bump into Norman Deeley in the bookies at Wednesbury. He used to wear the same old trainers and only really went there for the company.  I’d give him a couple of quid for a bet. What a legacy – compare that to what players get today.

“My wife is a Jehovah’s Witness and I often talk to Peter Knowles. Perhaps he is the ideal man to talk to about luck. I got a cheque a while back for £300 after tidying up some PFA pensions and, when I told him he was then able to get £200, he was over the moon. Does that tell you something?

“As for me, I could not imagine being any happier if I had scored the winning goal in a World Cup final.”

Stephen Ward.....landmark in sight.

Stephen Ward is close to graduating to the Legends area of this website – but will have to wait until early next season to do so.

Wolves’ regular left-back has played every minute of their 2011-12 Barclays Premier League season, with only Sunday’s trip to Wigan to come.

And, assuming he lines up at the DW Stadium, his tally of senior competitive appearances for the club will stand at 198.

Ward, signed as a forward from Bohemians early in 2006-07, has played 40 games this season to overtake Republic of Ireland team-mate Kevin Foley in the Molineux all-time appearance list.

He is very much seen as the Mr Dependable of the squad, having also played in other roles and figured in 37 League and cup matches last term.

Not that his campaign is about to end. He has been named in Ireland’s provisional squad for the European Championships finals, having belatedly made his international debut last summer.  

He opened the scoring in that game in a 5–0 victory over Northern Ireland and, as well being on target three times for Wolves this season (against Blackburn on the opening day, Wigan and Chelsea), has netted again for his country – in the second leg of the Euro 2012 play-offs at home to Estonia in mid-November.

Jody Craddock - top 50 man.

The 26-year-old, whose partner India is the daughter of former Molineux apprentice Mike Lewis, is in line to become the third member of the current Wolves squad to join our Legends area.

Like Ward now, Karl Henry was on the brink of inclusion this time last year, the midfielder going through the 200-game barrier early this season. He has now played 230 games for the club to sit alongside Roy Swinbourne in equal 54th place in the all-time appearance list.

When Henry, hopefully, makes it into the top 50, he will join one of his predecessors as captain, Jody Craddock, whose match tally for the gold and black cause stands at 237 – the same as Norman Deeley.

Don Revie and Les Cocker (in the background) put Billy Bremner and David Harvey through their paces in Wolverhampton.

Ordinarily, we wouldn’t be back on line so soon after our weekend postings. But May 8 is no ordinary day in the Wolverhampton Wanderers story.

It was on this date four decades ago, in one of Molineux’s most notorious matches, that Bill McGarry’s side prevailed against a double-chasing Leeds side in front of an enthralled 50,000-plus crowd.

We’ll state from the outset that we have nothing new to add regarding the controversies that surfaced beforehand and exploded into the public domain some time later. The Frank Munro chapter of Peter Lansley’s outstanding Running With Wolves book provides a gripping enough account of what allegedly went on, so we will let sleeping dogs lie on that front.

But the game itself, plus the build-up and aftermath, are subjects that are worthy of a revisit on this 40th anniversary.

On match-day morning, the distinguished football correspondent Geoffrey Green wrote in The Times: “Leeds today stand within an arm’s length of becoming the third side in the 20th century to achieve the double. It may yet prove a long arm because of the existing tensions.”

Green had watched Don Revie’s team win the centenary FA Cup final against Arsenal on the Saturday and thus put themselves in sight of emulating the feat of Arsenal 12 months earlier and Tottenham ten years prior to that.

Preston and Aston Villa had done the double in 1889 and 1897 but the writer reminded his readers that the twin mission had ‘for so long been considered impossible under the pressures of the modern game.’

Leeds stayed over and trained in Wolverhampton before the match and The Times printed a photo of Jack Charlton, Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter and broken-leg victim Terry Cooper relaxing on the Sunday. Munro, among others, believed it wrong that they should have been expected to play two such challenging fixtures in the space of little over 50 hours.

The title race had the potential, like the 2011-12 version, to be settled by goal difference – or goal average as it then was. Derby’s players were already on holiday in Majorca, having finished their fixtures, and led the table from Leeds by one point, with Manchester City third and also at season’s end. Fourth were Liverpool, who could still emerge as champions if Leeds lost at Molineux and they won at Arsenal on the same night.   

Wolves, meanwhile, had an eye on another prize, having lost at home the previous week in their home leg of the UEFA Cup final against Tottenham. They had skipper Mike Bailey close to fitness following a long-term hamstring injury but the Yorkshiremen were somewhat more patched up, with Eddie Gray and Wembley match-winner Allan Clarke both having strapping to their thigh and Johnny Giles passing a fitness test shortly before kick-off.

Interest in the match was colossal and the 53,379 crowd – the biggest at the ground since the visit of Manchester United in 1967 – didn’t tell the whole story. Several thousand others got in free when a fence was pushed down.

The exchanges that followed on the field were described by Green as ‘fierce, exciting and nail-biting.’ Five players – Jim McCalliog, Bernard Shaw, Gerry Taylor, Clarke and Hunter – were booked and chances came thick and fast.

Phil Parkes made three excellent saves and John Richards had an effort disallowed as well as missing one reasonable opportunity.

Leeds initially had Bremner up front in place of Mick Jones, who had dislocated his shoulder in the dying moments at Wembley, but the firebrand skipper was quickly switched back to midfield alongside the recalled Mick Bates as Gray was pushed forward.

The breakthrough came when Dave Wagstaffe’s short right-wing corner was crossed diagonally by Shaw and diverted into the danger area by Giles. Munro connected well with his right foot and saw his shot just beat Paul Reaney at the near post.

Mid-way through the second half, Richards and Danny Hegan set up Derek Dougan to steer home the second on the break, only for Leeds to immediately pull one back when Paul Madeley crossed from the left following Giles’s pass and Bremner scooped a clolse-range shot into the roof of the South Bank End net.

Wagstaffe almost decided it with a shot Madeley headed off the line while Bremner fired just over the bar before being denied by Taylor near the line.

Leeds needed only a goal to be crowned champions but couldn’t find it despite a furious late onslaught. Wolves held on to win and, with Liverpool drawing at Highbury, saw to it that a new name went on the League Championship trophy in the same weekend that ‘Leeds United’ had been engraved on to the FA Cup for the first time.

Bremner goes close to the late equaliser that would have taken the title to Elland Road.

The mother of all parties kicked off in Majorca, to where Brian Clough sent a telegram of congratulations from his family holiday in the Scilly Isles. It wasn’t the last time he was to have reason to thank Wolves.

Revie, his bitter rival, was dejected. “Winning the FA Cup doesn’t soften the blow but I’m very proud of my team,” he said. “I don’t know where they got their energy from.”

Wolves were no great fans of the Leeds ways but their older supporters could imagine what the visitors’ heartbreak felt like. Their own side had missed the double by a point 12 years earlier.

Clive Ford on signing duty at the request of John Southall. On some computer systems, a click on the photos will enlarge them.

Some of them made it big, some had decent careers elsewhere and some drifted quickly into non-League. But these somebodys certainly had something about them.

For 50 years, they had been apart – at least in the group sense – but were reunited for several memorable hours yesterday to chew over old times.

They were nervous about meeting again and there were one or two puzzled frowns initially when it came to identification. Well, where CAN you find some decent name tags when you need them?

But the wine wasn’t the only thing to flow among these ‘last of the Cullis Cubs’. The conversation did, too.

“In quite a few cases, we hadn’t seen each other for 30, 40 or even 50 years,” said Terry Wharton in a corner of Billy’s Boot Room as Saturday night at Molineux turned into Sunday morning. “But you spend ten minutes with someone you were good mates with in your youth and their face comes back to you. So do a lot of the memories.”

Wharton, Phil Parkes, Graham Hawkins and Fred Kemp have been big enough parts of Wolverhampton’s football fabric to have stayed in touch and been invited back to the club on regular occasions. Others had drifted to the edges of the collective memory in these parts.

Freddie Goodwin played 47 times for Wolves at the start of a career of 400-plus games, Jim Barron remains a well-known face on the circuit as a scout for today’s Molineux visitors Everton, John Galley and Clive Ford had decent League careers and Gordon Roberts (with Bury), Terry Thompson (Notts County), Vic Povey (Notts County) and Graham Newton sampled life with the big 92 as well.

Not so John Southall, who trained only on Tuesday and Thursday nights at a time when Lofty was also an amateur, nor yesterday’s chief organiser John Doughty or Ray Aggio. They had to settle for non-League but, happily, are three of several in the group to have done well in business.

Doughty was a wonderful host, not only playing background music from their days as lads together around Wolverhampton but serving drinks and afternoon tea with his wife Jackie and also organising a display of memorabilia.

Express & Star coverage of the 3-0 thrashing of Chelsea that put Wolves into the 1962 FA Youth Cup final. Peter Knowles, Vic Povey and Freddie Goodwin scored and John Galley netted the side's only goal of the final.

Photos, newspaper reports and scrapbooks came from far and wide with the guests, who naturally wanted copies of the cherished bits they had mislaid. Southall had added his own nice touch by drafting 16 copies of a form, which everyone signed and then had one of.

The do was arranged for yesterday to coincide with the FA Youth Cup final Wolves contested with Newcastle 50 years ago this week, the side having thrashed 1960 and 1961 holders Chelsea in the semi-final.

A 1-1 draw at Molineux in the first leg in front of 13,916 left the Magpies with the edge and, watched by 20,688, they took advantage by winning at St James’ Park by the only goal, scored by one-time Molineux youngster Bobby Moncur. The Wolves team were Barron, Rickerby, Thomson, Goodwin, Woodfield (captain), Knighton, Povey, Kemp, Galley, Knowles, Calloway. In the home leg, Alan Attwood had played instead of Kemp.

Glasses were raised during the dinner in memory of those no longer still with us – Attwood, Paddy Rickerby and Bobby Thomson, plus Bob Knight, David Carrick and David Oliphant from just before or just after.

The main theme of the proceedings was to revisit old times. Galley, for example, hadn’t seen the Billy Wright statue before and the last time Thompson had been at the ground was when John McAlle had got tickets for he and his son for a game against Leicester around 30 years ago.

There was sadness that Ken Knighton had been prevented by family commitments from attending – he was close mates with Galley, Goodwin and Hawkins among others - while work duties at Marks and Sparks ruled Peter Knowles out; or so we assumed.

He is not thought to have been back to Molineux on football ‘business’ since playing in Ted Farmer’s testimonial game in 1990 but, 15 minutes after the scheduled sit-down time, he lit up the room even further by walking in wearing the trademark long coat which has been seen at a couple of funerals in recent years.

Opting only for water where others took something a little stronger, he was soon at the heart of the banter and displaying a remarkable recall considering he very rarely mixes in these circles.    

Decades away from the game did not prevent him from doing better than most at spotting faces from half a century ago. But he has a particular rapport with Parkes and Wharton – men with whom he played in a promotion-winning side in 1966-67 and then memorably and successfully toured America the same summer. “I’ve never seen him that relaxed and prepared to open up,” Terry added. “He looked like he really enjoyed himself.” It was high-quality fly-on-the-wall time.

Peter Knowles answers a photo request from Vic Povey (left). Graham Newton is on the right.

Inevitably, embraces conducted – especially by those who were not attending today’s game at Molineux – talk turned to the next time. “We have to do it again,” Aggio said. “We’ve had such a brilliant day.” 

With that, Goodwin pondered his flight back to France this lunchtime and Kemp looked ahead to resuming the break in Majorca that he had interrupted. “I’m so glad I came back for this,” Kemp said. ”Being at Wolves together was probably the best time of our lives – and we didn’t know it.”

* Please also read yesterday’s on-the-spot account of proceedings.

The way we were.....from left, John Galley, Ken Knighton, Peter Knowles and Freddie Goodwin on Wolves' tour of the USA and Canada in 1963, a year after all four had faced Newcastle in the FA Youth Cup final.

Football reunions are nothing new. Birmingham City’s promotion squad from ten years ago will reconvene this summer, members of Wolves’ two League Cup final winning sides were back together in March and even long-forgotten Third Lanark, Paddy Buckley and all, had a bash recently. But we think this one was extra special.

It wasn’t organised by commercial staff with the idea of giving corporate customers a night out. And there certainly won’t be any profit shown. The only paying guests at this one were the players themselves.

It was a private do, with no fans, and with a suggestion that name tags should be worn. No wonder……in some cases, this was a first meeting of old team-mates for half a century.

When John Doughty had the idea of reassembling his old team-mates, he wasn’t sure it would actually come off. So he counselled the opinions of Jim Barron and Fred Kemp and feelers were put out. The feedback encouraged him to go further.

And the enthusiasm for his ‘project’ was reflected today when the group – calling themselves the last of the Cullis Cubs – arrived at Doughty’s Codsall home for afternoon tea, prior to watching the FA Cup final there and then moving on to Molineux for dinner at the stylish Sir Jack’s restaurant.

Among those present, in addition to Barron and Kemp, were the likes of Freddie Goodwin, Graham Hawkins, Terry Wharton, John Galley and Clive Ford. Phil Parkes joined them later and there was a collective bated breath as to whether Peter Knowles would show.

Thanks to the wonders of Skype, Vancouver-based Les Wilson spoke to many of his former colleagues in turn and at length before the big game between Chelsea and Liverpool kicked off. So, too, did Laurie Calloway, from Des Moines in Iowa.

But this wasn’t an occasion to celebrate anything they achieved in their handsome first-team careers. It was marking an event from their fledgling years…….the club’s feat of reaching the 1962 FA Youth Cup final.

The take-up of places was almost unanimous, although David Woodfield didn’t make it and Ken Knighton was bitterly disappointed to have to cry off because of family commitments.

Such was the spirit of the group that Kemp flew back early from a stay in Majorca to be here and Goodwin, despite having been in Wolverhampton only five weeks ago, went to the trouble and expense of jumping on a plane from his home in France. Other journeys were hardly a breeze either. Ford lives in Cumbria, Vic Povey in Cornwall and Ray Aggio in Hertfordshire.

In his circular, Doughty – an inside-forward who played in the early rounds of the 1961-62 Youth Cup – wrote: “It is 50 years since the club played Newcastle United in the final and the plan was to meet at five on the fifth day of the fifth month exactly five decades on. Then, bugger it, I heard the FA Cup final was kicking off at 5.15pm, so I propose we convene instead at 3pm. But, hey, after 50 years, what’s a couple of hours between friends?”

Graham Hawkins during Wolves' trip to the Caribbean in 1964. Today's reunion was opened up to those who came through the system just before and after the 1962 FA Youth Cup final.

Gordon Roberts, John Southall, Graham Newton and Terry Thompson – lads who fell short of the Cullis first team - were also present for the reunion.

Having played a part in the organisation process, notably with finding players now scattered in various parts, we at Wolves Heroes were fortunate enough to be in attendance.

We will be bringing our readers a full account and photographs tomorrow. And talking a little about Peter Knowles……

Jinky in his days in Welsh football. Picture courtesy of Airbus FC.

Jamie Smith could be forgiven for breaking out in a cold sweat each time the play-offs come around.

Three times out of three in this tense end-of-season overtime – twice with Wolves and once with Brentford – he was left heartbroken. But there was also some consolation along the way.

The one goal the speedy Brummie-born full-back managed in 104 first-team appearances while at Molineux came in a semi-final first leg at Crystal Palace in 1997 and presumably played a part in his move to Selhurst Park soon after.

Smith, born in the year of the club’s first League Cup triumph and given his debut as a 19-year-old on the same day that Neil Emblen and Steve Froggatt were blooded for the first time by Graham Taylor, was on the sidelines at the end of 1994-95.

The last of his 28 appearances in that promising fledgling season came at Charlton in mid-April but he recovered from a less satisfying 1995-96 campaign to see off the challenge of Serge Romano and figure in 38 of the 46 League games the following year.

He was big news at the time. Not only was he the first player for a decade to come through the Molineux youth system and cement a regular first-team place, he was also selected for the England under-21 squad after only ten senior games and would join Dean Richards in the Football League under-21 side.

It was in the climax to the 1996-97 season that he impressed Palace by scoring against them. When Steve Coppell took him there in the following October, Wolves did well enough by receiving Kevin Muscat and Dougie Freedman in exchange.

“I played a lot of games for Palace (175) and would have played more but for a spell on the injury list with cartilage trouble,” said Smith, who initially found himself in the top flight with the Eagles.

They came straight down again and, by the time they next went up, in 2004, he had retreated to the fringes of their squad.

In the summer of that year, he moved as a free agent to Bristol City. “While I was on loan at Fulham, Palace were looking to reduce the wage bill and were offloading a lot of players,” he added. “I was on the verge of a permanent move to Craven Cottage when Kevin Keegan left and it fell through. When Bristol came in for me, I’d been training on my own and hadn’t had a proper pre-season training programme, so I was playing catch-up, fitness-wise.”

Smith made 43 appearances for Brian Tinnion’s Robins in that 2004-05 campaign, scoring two goals, and became a room-mate of Bradley Orr, who is currently fighting a survival battle with Blackburn.

In a throwback to his Molineux days, there was the disappointment of a promotion near miss in the form of a seventh place, just outside the play-offs, and the big things expected for the following term never materialised.

Only one win came in the opening six League games before Bristol suffered their biggest League defeat in living memory – a 7-1 humiliation at Swansea. Amazingly, it wasn’t even the biggest loss in Jinky’s career. With Palace in August, 1999, he had found himself on the end of the same scoreline at Huddersfield.

The young Jinky being interviewed for Clubcall by Mick Tranter.

Smith’s time at Ashton Gate came to an end after the arrival of Gary Johnson as Tinnion’s replacement and a loan spell at Brentford towards the end of the season took him down a familiar path.

“Martin Allen was the gaffer and we got to the play-offs, only to lose out,” he recalled. “When Martin moved on to MK Dons, I followed him.”

By now well into his 30s, Jamie retired at the end of 2006-07 after 314 League games. Insert his name in the search engine above right to see what he has been up to since.

Freddie Goodwin in his fresh-faced youth at Molineux.

Freddie Goodwin appeared for Wolves in an FA Youth Cup final, made his first-team debut against Albion in the FA Cup and was blooded in the League away to Arsenal.

But it was his final senior appearance for the club that was probably his most significant; at least historically.

It came more than a year after his penultimate outing and was the only one he made as a substitute. In fact, it was the first time anyone had gone on for Wolves from the bench in a competitive League or cup fixture.

October 16, 1965 was already a notable date as it was the afternoon on which Wolves overcame Middlesbrough in the Second Division to record what would be a fourth successive 3-0 victory that month. Goodwin’s entry in the 47th minute of his 47th first-team match made it even more newsworthy.

He had been playing at inside-left in the Central League team, most recently against Albion, but took over the substitute duties against Boro from Les Wilson, who went with the reserves to Newcastle that day instead and would – at Everton two seasons later – become the first Wolves ’12th man’ to go on and score.

Against Boro, Goodwin was sent on in place of Ernie Hunt, who had passed a fitness test on a facial injury and then succumbed just after half-time to a foot problem. “It’s a piece of history and I’m proud of it now,” the former wing-half says.

“I suppose I might have been an unused sub once or twice before that because that was the first season they were used in League matches. On other occasions, I would have gone up to the town centre with a few of the lads to the Woolpack or the Queens, where we went on Fridays after the teams were selected, and told them how miffed I was at not being picked!”

Goodwin, not to be confused with the former Birmingham and Brighton manager of the same name, has spent a decade and a half of his post-playing life in New Zealand and, at the age of 68, is now resident in contented retirement in France. In 1959, even coming down from Stockport to the West Midlands was a case of exchanging one world for another.

“I was spotted by Wolves playing for Stockport Boys and Cheshire Boys,” he added. “Another lad, Wayne Devonport, who had attended my school, went to Molineux with me but didn’t stay long and had a non-League career. He lives in Stockport but also has a place 20 minutes away from us in France.

“I signed as a 15-year-old and Billy Wright was just retiring. One of my early memories at the club is of him announcing his decision to everyone. He had a big do at the Civic Hall.

“There were two other dinners I went to…..one held to celebrate Wolves winning the League and another when they won the FA Cup. I also went to Wembley with a party from Molineux for that 1960 final against Blackburn.

“I have such fond recollections from my time at Molineux, like seeing that brilliant Barcelona side beat Wolves in the European Cup. But even my first day was special. I remember seeing the ground and thinking how magical it looked. It was such a famous place and I was in awe of it.

“I only really knew Edgeley Park (Stockport), although I had once gone with the father of Paul Warhurst, who had a terrific career playing with various northern clubs, to watch Stanley Matthews play for Blackpool at Manchester City. He didn’t have a kick!”

Like the object of their childhood eyes, Goodwin had also played on the wings in his schoolboy days and most of his early matches at Wolves were spent wide wide on the left in the Wolverhampton Amateur League.

He was right-footed, though, regarded himself as a midfielder and was switched to right-half. Unfortunately, that was an area in which Wolves were infamously powerful.

“Their main half-backs when I arrived were Ron Flowers, Bill Slater and Eddie Clamp. I was in digs with Barry Stobart and John Galley at Mrs Clamp’s. Alan Ball stayed there as well when he was on trial. I think his Dad was just touting him about.

First-team debut day....looking on as fellow newcomer Fred Davies gathers in the FA Cup derby at home to Albion in 1962.

“Johnny Kirkham then emerged and Ken Knighton was a good player as well – a bit unlucky not to play more because he had a lot of ability and a good reading of the game which helped him over a lack of pace. Goodwin, Woodfield, Knighton was a familiar half-back line in Wolves’ lower teams.”

We will be saying much more soon about the Wolves team, Goodwin included, who excelled in the Youth Cup in 1961-62. They lost by the only goal over two legs to Newcastle in the final but proof of what a talented crop it was came with the first-team careers that were spawned.

As well as the aforementioned threesome of Goodwin, Dave Woodfield and Knighton, keeper Jim Barron made it, so did Bobby Thomson, Galley, Fred Kemp and Peter Knowles. Of the others, Laurie Calloway and Vic Povey both had League careers elsewhere.

“We were all groundstaff boys,” Goodwin added. “We would have been called apprentices in more recent years. I was selected for an England youth international against West Germany with Bobby Thomson but we were playing Chelsea in the Youth Cup at the same time, so we had to put the club first. I still have the letter telling me of my selection. I was later tipped for a game in the under-23s but didn’t make it.”

Goodwin is affable company and leaves the Kiwi accent to his second wife Wendy, who he met 20 years ago and married in 2011. His own tones remain very much Greater Manchester.

Having settled back in Stockport in the mid-1990s so he could spend time with his mother in her final years, he partnered Wendy in a successful sports gear business that was based at various markets as far afield as Wales. The work ethic was strong.

Les Wilson recalls him as a consummate professional, ‘a great reader of the game, a wonderful passer of the ball and a player who worked his socks off and was always encouraging his team-mates.’

Goodwin (centre) covers as Dave Woodfield heads clear from Roy Stephenson in Wolves' 3-2 win at League champions Ipswich in September, 1962.

“I was very fit,” he added. “That was one of my strengths. My biggest disappointment was not scoring in Wolves’ first team because I had got goals in all the other sides at the club. But I was told to be more defensive when I played in the First Division and FA Cup as we had Ron Flowers at left-half.

“I had a good run from the start of 1962-63 when I kept my place for a couple of months or so. City weren’t a good side when we beat them 8-1 on the first day but they did have Bert Trautmann in goal.

“The win at Spurs soon afterwards was one of my big highlights because I marked Jimmy Greaves. We won there and, a week later, we played them at Molineux and were two up at half-time. Stan Cullis asked me to get forward a little bit more and I enjoyed that. Greaves let me go and, in no time, it was 2-2. He had scored both goals. It was a big lesson.

“Another decent game for me was at home to Blackpool, possibly the season after. I was injured and came back on playing on the right wing. I whizzed a shot just past the post and think it was the first time I got man of the match.”

Goodwin, having made his debut the previous January three weeks after his 18th birthday, played 15 matches in 1962-63 and 22 the season after. He had another promising start to 1964-65 but was named in the 11 only once in more than a year following Stan Cullis’s departure.  

His marginalising made his own Molineux exit predictable enough but why the big drop into the Fourth Division from a still-ambitious Wolves in the Second?

“I think Stoke, Rotherham and possibly Portsmouth were interested in me but I decided to go home to Stockport,” he revealed. “My parents had split up and I had no father figure in my life really.

“I had supported Stockport as a lad and my mum lived right opposite the ground and had various young lads staying with her, fixed up by the club. One was a centre-half called Dougie Griffiths, who had been at Wolves after me.”

Goodwin was taken to Edgeley Park by the legendary Trautmann, who had moved on by the time the player underlined his versatility by filling every position for County, including twice taking over during matches as an emergency goalkeeper.

Back recently where his love affair with football began.

He made 176 appearances and scored 20 goals for them before joining Blackburn, where he cemented his firm friendship with Ken Knighton. Then he went on to Macclesfield, Stockport again, Southport and Port Vale before doing the round of non-League clubs in the same area.

The life-changing decision to head for New Zealand came because that’s where the job offers came from. He coached and managed clubs around Wellington and Auckland and even had a spell of more than a year as assistant manager to the national team. Much more of his post-Molineux career will be featured in a special 1960s issue of the Backpass retro magazine this summer.

But keep your eyes on this website for news of why he and Wendy, who now live in a rural area near Limoges in central France, will shortly be back in the UK for the second time in a month.  

Freddie Goodwin pictured in front of the Wolves artefacts in The Wanderer pub next to Molineux.

By any stretch of the imagination, tracking down Freddie Goodwin is a prize ‘catch’ for this website.

For more than three years, we had been seeking information as to his whereabouts and had pursued him, through various forms of communication, literally across the world.

Les Wilson had an address and number for his 1960s Wolves team-mate in New Zealand from a scouting visit Down Under as manager of the Canadian national team, when he had surprised him with a catch-up phone call from his hotel room. But our attempts at establishing contact through the same means some two decades later met with failure.

Fred had not only emigrated to the furthest corner of the Earth, he had apparently dropped off the edge of it. Yorkshire-based David Thompson recently recalled a chance meeting with him at Manchester Airport around eight years ago but enquiries to their many mutual former Wolves colleagues drew a blank, as did approaches to a Kiwi club for whom Fred was known to have worked.

As is often the case, though, the trickiest of problems was solved by the most basic of solutions; not to mention a hefty slice of luck.

A match-day meeting I had on another subject with Wolves super-fan Tony Cowley in Wolverhampton city centre in mid-March brought the surprise disclosure: “I’ve been speaking to a former player this week – Freddie Goodwin.”

Tony, known to the owners of this site for well over 20 years, travels to Wolves games from the Isle of Man (that’s EVERY game, by the way) and wouldn’t, on the face of it, have appeared to offer much hope of leading us to a man in the Antipodes who played 47 matches for the club from 1962 to 1965.

But, at the same time as Tony was seeking the go-ahead to pass the relevant contact details on, we were receiving a flurry of phone calls in answer to the ‘PLEASE! Does anyone know Freddie Goodwin?’ letter we had just sent to Stockport’s weekly newspaper. Suddenly, well-meaning folk were queuing up to lead us to him and various members of his family.

Fred did more than quickly ring us on hearing of our interest and promise us all the time and help we needed for an article. He even revealed that he was about to visit England and drop in on Molineux for only the third time since being sold by Ronnie Allen in the middle of 1965-66. Result!

My first meeting with him was not long in coming. It took place on the morning of the March 31 Wolves v Bolton game as he and his mate Dave Hough, a North Wales-based fan who had been another valuable go-between in the connection process, tucked into one of Dawn’s hearty pre-match ‘full English’ breakfasts at The Wanderer pub.

Ready for action at first-team level 50 springs ago.

The second was almost a fortnight later at Edgeley Park. Well, where else would the one-time wing-half gravitate to on a trip back to England other than the very different homes of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Stockport County, his two favourite clubs?

Here was a surprise, though……he wasn’t living in New Zealand at all, nor had he for the last decade and a half. He was in France – and still is.

Goodwin certainly has his memories. He once played in an 8-1 Wolves win over Manchester City (what price on that result last weekend?), he was their first used substitute in the Football League, he played under Stan Cullis, tasted promotions and relegations and even worked as no 2 to the New Zealand national team. So we had a lot of ground to cover in our interview. We’ll be back with his story on Sunday.

Billy Rafferty during his Molineux stint.

Over and above the work that fills the pages of this website, we have much to do, on a regular basis, with the extended Wolves family. A round-up of our various meetings, communications and dealings with them continues here……. 

Sat, Mar 24: Wow, what a cross-over of players there has been over the years between Coventry and Wolves! Check out these names from the Sky Blues’ Former Players Association annual dinner today…..Billy Rafferty, Willie Carr, Ernie Hunt, Brian Roberts, Andy Blair, Barry Powell and Graham Newton. Only Newton, who was a youngster at Molineux, failed to make the Wanderers first team, although Blair was only on loan. The six of them totalled more than 550 senior matches when they were here. Hunt apparently became bored during the MC’s introduction of him, so he just grabbed the mic and crooned his way through Moon River!

Sun, Mar 25: Received a ‘group’ text from Neil Emblen as I was walking up to St Andrew’s for this afternoon’s Birmingham v Cardiff game and was thrilled to hear that he had succeeded in leading the New Zealand team to qualification for this summer’s Olympics. In the press room, met up again with Joe Gallagher, who was singing the praises of the Blues’ impressive manager Chris Hughton. Mmmmm, food for thought……

Mon, Mar 26: Did a telephone interview with Jason Forrest, one of the match-day PA announcers at Molineux, about the new When Football Was Football book. The publication has had an encouraging start and some of the early feedback has been extremely positive.

Sun, Apr 1: Had a chuckle when I heard Charles Ross bantering with Jason Roberts on the BBC’s 6.06 and calling him a Wolves legend. Charles rang the show with what he introduced as a ‘good news’ story – the sell-out of the 158th and final issue of A Load Of Bull and the fact that the surplus funds in the kitty were being directed, with subscribers’ full approval, into the charity projects supported by Wolves Community Trust. The ‘legend’ reference was nothing to do with the short spell Roberts had at Molineux in the late 1990s. It was because he was part of the Blackburn team who played at Molineux on Survival Sunday nearly 12 months ago. Wonder if Charles knows I’ve quoted he and Sir Matt Busby on the back of the WFWF Wolves book.

Tues, Apr 3: Had a surprise call as I was parking up outside Molineux this morning – from Mick McCarthy. It was nothing more than a thank-you for a thank-you. I sent Mick a long letter after his sacking, acknowledging not only the good times he brought the club over several seasons but also the great value he provided in all his press conferences. Since his departure, he has had a long holiday in Florida, vacated his house near Wolverhampton and moved back to Kent, so this was very much a signing-off chat. “Send my best wishes to everyone there – it was a brilliant five and a half years,” he said. Next time we see him, it will presumably be in the opposition dug-out.

Mon, Apr 9:  Carefully filed away a valued keep-sake today – a thank-you letter from Bill Slater. He and his daughter Barbara carefully answered my questions for an Olympics-orientated article in the match-day programme recently and someone must have been kind enough to send him a copy. He’s such a lovely, gentle man, with impeccable manners – but I still wouldn’t like to have faced him in his pomp!

Ernie Hunt (left) with Hughie McIlmoyle at a recent London Wolves get-together.

Sat, Apr 14: Was surprised to see Steve Froggatt at the Albion v QPR game this afternoon and learn that he’s now working for Radio London. He’ll be acquiring a new accent before we know it.

Thurs, Apr 19: Received an email today from a 1970s Doncaster player called Bob McLuckie who lives just round the corner in South Yorkshire from Maurice Setters, his manager at Belle Vue. Bob remembers Ernie Hunt being signed by his former Coventry colleague Maurice Setters on loan and wrote: “What a fantastic experience it was for a 16-year-old to play alongside such a great man. The reason for the communication is that I would love to get in touch with Ernie. I obviously would not want to invade Ernie’s privacy but he was such a warm, kind man and I have some personal memorabilia I would love him to sign.” We’ve promised to try to help.