Evidence That Hushed-Up Friendly DID Take Place 

It’s there in black and white in the history books as having taken place but seems to be the fixture Wolves wanted to draw a veil of secrecy around.

Their 5-2 friendly victory at Wealdstone 50 years ago this week doesn’t appear to have rated a single mention in the Express & Star or Sporting Star, either in the form of a preview, a match report or even an appearance among the previous night’s results.

And that remains all the more surprising given the certain showbiz status the match was given.

Jimmy Greaves appeared in the home line-up as a guest in a game that served as a testimonial for home defender Eric Burgess….surely an excellent reason for Wolves to try to tempt at least a few of their supporters to attend.

Furthermore, there was a rare photograph opportunity during the trip to the Southern Premier League club’s Lower Mead ground. The kick-off was performed by Bruce Forsyth and his wife, Anthea Redfern, whose sister married Burgess. Both were fully kitted out for their tasks.

So did Bill McGarry ask the paper not to mention the trip to North London four days before they played at Carlisle in their final away fixture of 1974-75 and at a time when his side had gone six months without a victory on the road?

Or had the somewhat combustible manager had one of his occasional fall-outs with the paper and decided to withhold the information? I can think of no other reasons for the game – played on Tuesday, April 15, 1975 – to have gone unrecorded in these parts, a briefer online search in the various Birmingham Post & Mail titles also having thrown up no information.

The North London press were fulsome in their praise of Wolves’ performance, though, especially the contributions of Mike Bailey and the emerging Don Gardner.

The gulf between the clubs brought McGarry’s men a 4-1 half-time lead despite Geoff Palmer’s concession of a penalty. The non-Leaguers pulled a second goal back before Kenny Hibbitt rounded off the scoring with his second goal of the night, Wolves’ others having come from John Farley, Peter Withe and home defender Chris Kinnear.

Wolves were without John Richards, Derek Dougan and Dave Wagstaffe and fielded this team: Phil PARKES, Geoff PALMER, Derek PARKIN, Mike BAILEY (Nigel WILLIAMS), Derek JEFFERSON, John McALLE, Kenny HIBBITT, Willie CARR, Peter WITHE, Don GARDNER, John FARLEY. Other sub: Steve DALEY.

Wealdstone, whose two entries on the score-sheet came from their 251-goal all-time record marksman, George Duck, finished eighth in the Southern Premier that season, one place above Telford and 12 points adrift of champions Wimbledon.

Greaves was readily available as a guest as he was with nearby Barnet at the time and was photographed by the local press jogging on to the pitch. Wealdstone also called on occasions on ex-Tottenham forward Terry Dyson and had former Molineux and QPR winger Mark Lazarus – by then well into his long service at Folkestone – in their line-up against Wolves.

Edgware-born Burgess, who is now 80, also played for Watford (under McGarry), Torquay, Plymouth and Colchester, being part of the latter’s squad who famously defeated Leeds in the FA Cup and playing in their 1971 Watney Cup final success over Albion at The Hawthorns.

Wolves’ high-scoring victory in his testimonial did not mark the turning of any corner. They were beaten 1-0 on the following Saturday at already-relegated Carlisle and had to wait until going to Burnley in the November of their relegation season to end a win-less away League run that had by then stretched to almost 14 months.

Our thanks go to California-based Charles Bamforth and Wealdstone historian Martin O’Shea for their help in the compiling of this post.