History Made – After A Major Scare

Intriguing Backcloth To Historic Transfer

It was the biggest day in his football career and it nearly brought his years in the big time to a shattering finish. So says the central character at a staging long ago of the massive fixture awaiting Wolves this Saturday. A Crystal Palace visit to these parts will still bring memories of a certain pre-match ceremony to the minds of many supporters and Andy Gray’s recollections of it remain highly readable. 

When Stats Can Be A Nightmare

Unhappy Look Back At Times Of Turmoil

Beware the record books, Wolves…..seasons that fall in the middle of a decade have a nasty habit of ending in disappointment. The club went down in 1984-85, lost in the play-offs in 1994-95, trod water back in the second tier in 2004-05 after relegation and were pipped to a top-six Championship finish in 2014-15.

A Heads-Up From Bob

Memories Of How City Were Held Way Back When

If only Wolves could have hung on against Manchester City for a repeat of the result that Bob Hazell helped bring about when the same club visited Molineux in his playing days. The giant centre-half was a guest of the club at the big game three days ago and watched from the press box as Gary O’Neil’s side produced the sort of defensive master-class he would have been proud to be part of.

Very Moving, Very Planty

Goodbye To A Rare Gem

Traditional it wasn’t. Any black clothing on view was largely accompanied, on request, by dashes or swathes of gold. There were no hymns and the only prayer was one written by his wife, Andrea, whose outfit of choice was a Wolves shirt from the Astropay era. The entrance music – a nod to the unrelated Robert Plant – was Stairway To Heaven. We exited to AC/DC’s Highway To Hell and, macabre though it may seem to those not in the loop, Living In A Box was played mid-way through. Steve Plant decided long ago that normal conventions weren’t for him.

Look What Cook Helped Rustle Up!

Caring Hands Behind England New Boy’s Meteoric Rise

Paul Cook has been name-checked as a mentor to a key member of the England backroom team being assembled by Thomas Tuchel. Anthony Barry spent three seasons in the Wigan dug-out with the ex-Wolves midfielder from 2017, the two having been colleagues at Accrington almost 20 years ago.

That Caps It All!

More Return From Rovers – And A Date On The Film Set

We hadn’t expected to be ‘revisiting’ the Gould family on this website quite so soon – but, hey, we have to go where the news is! Since we wrote about them at length just over a fortnight ago, they have created more headlines and talking points in hectic lives that quite literally stretch right across the world. 

A Source Of Great Pride

Familiar Stars Still Strutting Their Stuff At The Top

Have Wolves ever had so many former players dispersed in top-flight football – here and abroad – and making a major impact?
Tough though it has been to see the club manage such a meagre return from their opening run of matches this season, a look around the country and beyond provides a timely reminder of the riches we have enjoyed at Molineux in recent years.

Back On A Familiar Beat

Downing Down In Devon – Again

It was part reunion, part introduction and part celebration of longevity in the game. Keith Downing, a boyhood Wolves fan and then a hugely popular figure across 228 first-team games, has now been a coach for four times as long as he was a member of Graham Turner’s squad.

Budgie’s Back!

Flowers Set To Bloom Again, Too

What a night this will be….the old hand and the young pretender, the Clown Prince and the dream pro, the Peter Pan of goalkeepers and the Premier League title winner. John Burridge, unseen at Molineux for decades, is heading back from the Gulf to line up alongside Tim Flowers for a q&a session at a dinner at the Mount Hotel in Tettenhall Wood next month.

Dear Diary Entry 156

A-List Turn-Out On Sad Day

Tuesday, September 3: Caught up on the list of attendees at Craig Shakespeare’s funeral near Derby last week and was amazed to see all the star names…..Harry Maguire, Jack Grealish and Sam Allardyce from the England set-up, Steve Walsh, Nigel Pearson, Mike Stowell, Dean Smith and many others from Leicester, Carlton Palmer, and David Kelly and Peter Hart from Walsall to name but a few.