Coach Now A Master Of New Art

Far from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, a long-standing former Wolves coach is still buzzing after his own success in the pool. Brian Garvey has just included Molineux in a visit back to the West Midlands but it was in one of the further corners of the Commonwealth - in Australia - that he found himself causing a major splash.

How Gary Let Success Go To His Head

There will surely never be another landmark date in Gary Pierce's life to match the one that reminds us how his stunning performance against Manchester City in the 1974 League Cup final came on his 23rd birthday. The fact that tomorrow marks 35 years to the day since he left Molineux for Barnsley, though, encourages us to now air some of present-day Wolves scout Les Green's memories of a keeper he was delighted to have as a good pal.

Extraordinary Rise Of Wolves 'Forward'

Can you name the player who started the 1969-70 season playing inside-left for Wolves' third team and ended it playing in the European Cup final? Our eyes widened a little the moment we received the question. Maybe yours have, too. The first reaction here, knowing that Richards, Doog and Co played in a UEFA Cup final rather than its grander brethren - and that was two years later - was to scratch our heads for the name of some prodigious kid who for whatever reason didn't make it at Molineux but moved on to hit the jackpot with Ajax or Benfica.

Kenny Still Nicely On Course

We wouldn't dare have rung Kenny Hibbitt for this piece while play was actually taking place in this weekend's Open Championship. His love of golf guaranteed that courtesy from us. But it's not only events at Hoylake that have recently occupied the thoughts he gives to his second sporting love.

So Where Did We Go Wrong?

Monday, June 8: Others seeking to interview Nicky Clarke are one up on us after we acted as intermediaries in setting up a chat between him and the author of a separate forthcoming project. The 1980s defender is one of precious few players to have declined an interview on Wolves Heroes and shuns reunions, preferring to look forward in his life and insisting that the past is just that. He did agree, though, to be contacted by our acquaintance after we were asked to put the two parties in touch.

Shamrock In Opposition - Then And Now

The Monkees and Tommy Steele weren't the only celebrities Wolves encountered during their long hot summer in the United States in 1967. As regular long-time readers of this site might remember, they also had a brief meeting with screen star Maureen O'Hara before their game in Los Angeles against Shamrock Rovers mid-way through their victorious campaign 47 years ago.

Flowers' Fringe Role In Ultimate Glory

We kicked off our month of World Cup-themed posts by talking about Ron Flowers and now sign off with a happy story surrounding the brilliant Wolves wing-half. How else could we close this particular chapter in our output other than by harking back to 1966 and all that for some memories to put us in the mood for Sunday's final between Germany and Argentina.

A CBE For Billy - While He Was In Brazil

Going home from the World Cup finals can't be much fun for anyone but the tournament winners. Even Costa Rica this summer must have had some regrets. Three times in his illustrious career - in Brazil in 1950, Switzerland in 1954 and Sweden in 1958 - Billy Wright tasted the disappointment of an early exit. He also found a 1959 summer tour that took in Brazil a sobering experience.

Some Links Worth Noting

Okay, we admit there are some tenuous connections - or at least links from different periods - but there was a gold and black flavour to England's 1970 World Cup squad. It could, some would say should, have been the tournament at which Peter Knowles announced himself to the global audience had he not chosen to take an alternative life path that could not have been more contrasting.

Unlucky Munro Missed Out On World Cup At His Peak

A substantial case for Frank Munro having deserved a trip to the 1974 World Cup finals is made in Dave Wagstaffe's revealing forthcoming biography of his long-time Molineux pal. Many saw the elegant centre-half's performance in that year's League Cup final triumph as the pinnacle of a Wolves career stretching across 371 competitive first-team games and all but ten years.