A Rhapsody Across The Decades

Bohemian Connection A Vital Link Across The Sea

By Charles Bamforth

Stephen Ward.

There it was, proudly displayed on the wall, immediately drawing my attention. It was unmistakably a Wolves jersey and, on closer inspection, one worn with pride by Stephen Ward.

In my professional life, I have spoken around the globe for the best part of half a century about beer but can honestly say that no venue at which I have taken to the stage has given me more delight than Dalymount Park, home of the famous Bohemian FC in Dublin.

Knowing that my two worlds of beer and football were colliding, my hosts GrandCru Beers did me the honour of introducing me to Gerry Farrell – not the erstwhile Wolves reserve full-back, but a hugely knowledgeable Bohs historian, whose extensive knowledge has been so valuable in the writing of this piece.

I could have chatted to Gerry all night but there was a speaking gig to attend to, discussing the brewing company that I am associated with here in California, Sierra Nevada. Their beers are proudly served in the various bars of Bohs’ stadium in the Phibsborough suburb of the wonderful Irish capital.

I didn’t know, for instance, that famed Scottish architect Archibald Leitch, who was brought in by Wolves to sort out Molineux in the early 1920s, would not long afterwards be the guy who designed the stand in which I was now speaking.

And as Gerry and I were chatting, I had certainly forgotten some of the other player connections between the clubs and not remembered that there have been several friendlies between Bohemian and Wolves over the decades, all at Dalymount.

The first was on April 26, 1937, a 7-2 win for the Wanderers, in which four of the goals came from David Jordan, a Belfast-man who would play only three League games for the club.

That Monday evening game came two days after Wolves’ closing Division One game of the season, a 1-0 defeat at Birmingham. The Wolves team for the friendly read: Billy GOLD, Frank PERFECT, John TAYLOR, Bill COLEY, Stan CULLIS, Joe GARDINER, Joe DAVIES, Bryn JONES, David JORDAN, Harry THOMPSON, Eric JONES.

Eric Jones, Davies and Thompson scored the other Wolves goals, with only Cullis, Gardiner, Jordan and Thompson named from the side who faced Birmingham.

Fast forward to Friday, May 13, 1949, less than a month after Cullis’s Wolves had lifted the FA Cup at Wembley and a week on from them finishing their First Division campaign with a 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Molineux.

There were several changes in the Wanderers team for the game with Bohemian but they still fielded this very strong line-up: Dennis PARSONS, Angus McLEAN, Roy PRITCHARD, Eddie RUSSELL, Bill SHORTHOUSE, Bill CROOK, Les SMITH, Johnny WALKER, Sammy SMYTH, Jimmy DUNN, Malcolm CLEWS.

Leslie Smith….a scorer for Wolves in Ireland.

Smith stepped in on the wing for Johnny Hancocks, a notoriously poor traveller, and scored his side’s goal in a 1-1 draw that generated receipts of around £1,300.

Perhaps the most curious name in that team is Malcolm ‘Maxie’ Clews. He was from Ocker Hill in Tipton and signed for Wolves aged 15 in 1946-47. Two seasons later, he was mostly in the third and fourth teams but made his Central League debut at Molineux on March 5, 1949 in a 1-0 defeat against Newcastle.

Clews managed a few more reserves appearances but was very much an A and B team player up to when he got on the ferry to Ireland.

The next season, he was still as likely to be found in the third and fourth teams and had only six games in the second team. The year after, he didn’t play much at all because of National Service. And so to 1951-1952…..

Clews kicked that off in the fourth team but, by the end of August, finally embarked on a lengthy spell as the reserve left-winger. Twenty-one games later, his dream came true and he made his first-team debut at Liverpool in a 1-1 draw. Jimmy Mullen was back, though, on the following Saturday.

Only a few weeks later, Clews was again in the third team. For the first time, he was given a game for the Whites in the pre-season friendly in 1952 but again he spent a goodly amount of time in the Birmingham League.

The same scenario occurred in 1953-54 until the February, when he signed for Lincoln approaching his 23rd birthday and played for them in the old Second Division.

Clews had received one of the loyalty cheques handed out at Molineux to long-serving players. And he had demonstrated his versatility in November, 1953 after being named as 12th man for the second team. The referee arrived late, so a linesman went into the middle, handing Clews the flag for five minutes!

After only seven games at Lincoln, he declined new terms, retired and became a policeman in September, 1955, enrolling at the training college near Newcastle-under-Lyme. He was still turning out for police football teams in 1965.

Gerry Farrell drew my attention to a couple of relevant news snippets about Stan Cullis from 1949. The first speaks of Cullis receiving various congratulatory messages following the FA Cup final triumph. One was from the Croydon Young Esperantists Club (Cullis being into Esperanto, the ‘international language’) and another from the Irish dramatist, Brendan Behan.

Stan Cullis – had some surprise well-wishers and admirers.

Indeed, the other snippet featured Behan waxing lyrical about his various friends in the sporting world, including Cullis. On the face of it, the stern manager, who never swore and who drank little, seems a strange buddy for the hard-drinking, colourful and controversial Dubliner to have.

Returning to Bohs-Wolves games, the Irish club recorded their first victory in the head-to-head series on August 17, 1983. Just ten days before Wolves marked their return to the top division with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool, Graham Hawkins took this side to Dalymount Park and saw them lose 1-0 in front of a crowd of 904: Paul BRADSHAW, John HUMPHREY, Peter DANIEL, Gordon SMITH, John PENDER, Geoff PALMER, Kenny HIBBITT (Alan DODD 49), Wayne CLARKE, Mel EVES, Dale RUDGE, Tony TOWNER.

Wolves visited Dalymount Park again on July 17, 2010 and won 3-0 after Mick McCarthy sent out this team: Wayne HENNESSEY (Aaron McCAREY 81), Ronald ZUBAR (Richard STEARMAN 21), Jelle VAN DAMME (Stephen WARD 72), David JONES (Dave EDWARDS 72), Jody CRADDOCK (George ELOKOBI 72), Christophe BERRA (Kevin FOLEY 72), Andy KEOGH, Karl HENRY (Greg HALFORD 72), Kevin DOYLE (Ethan EBANKS-BLAKE 72), Steven FLETCHER (Sam VOKES 72), Matt JARVIS (Geoffrey MUJANGI BIA 72).

Irishman McCarey had been signed from his hometown club, Monaghan United, and the Bohemians’ right-back that night was an 18-year-old we would get to know well. In less than an hour on the pitch before being replaced by Haro, Matt Doherty clearly did enough to impress McCarthy, who would later, of course, go on to manage Ireland for a second time.

Doherty, in the Republic squad for Saturday’s home game against England, signed for Wanderers on August 22, 2010 on a two-year contract. Here are snippets from the reports at the time, starting with one quoting the player himself:

“When I was 15 and 16, I’d been away at a few clubs for trials…Portsmouth, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Derby and Charlton. But it never worked out. I’ve since stayed at home working and got some experience for a year with my dad’s carpet and upholstery cleaning business.”

Matt Doherty…..loyal servant.

“Doherty has represented the Republic of Ireland at various junior levels and played for Belvedere as a youngster prior to joining Bohs 18 months ago.”

Remarkably, as he explained, the pre-season friendly with Wolves, which set the wheels in motion for his subsequent trial and signing, was his first senior appearance for the club.

“When I knew I was playing against Wolves, I knew it would be a chance to impress. Bohs had played a game the night before, so a few of us came into the team and I got a chance. I only played 55 minutes and was marking Matt Jarvis. I thought I did okay against him because he’s very quick and can go on both sides of you. Now I’m here at Wolves, and hopefully I can get into the reserve team and, if I do, try and kick on from there.”

Doherty has an illustrious predecessor as regards making the very same switch from Dalymount Park to Molineux, Stephen Ward.

“I knew Stephen was here and had played for Bohs but I wasn’t at the club when he was there.  He’s doing really well at Wolves and while I’ve got a long way to go, trying to get as far as he has done is a good challenge. Following in his footsteps certainly gives me something to aim for.”

Doherty’s debut for Wolves was in the Premier Under-21 League on the opening day of the season, a 2-0 defeat at Everton. Wolves fielded: Aaron McCAREY, Matt DOHERTY, Scott MALONE, Matthew HILL, Danny BATTH, Ethan EBANKS-LANDELL, Ashley HEMMINGS, Nathan ROONEY, James SPRAY, Sam WINNALL, David DAVIS. The substitutes were Andre CARVALHO-LANDELL, David EAST and Kristian KOSTRNA. Doherty played his first game for the senior side in the 2-2 draw at Doncaster in the FA Cup in January, 2011.And so to the final friendly between Bohemian and Wolves, this one on August 12, 2014 in front of 1,672 spectators. Wanderers fielded completely different sides in the two halves but managed a 3-1 win thanks to goals from Leon Clarke (2) and Nouha Dicko. For the first 45 minutes, it was Jon FLATT, Matt DOHERTY, Scott GOLBOURNE, Jack PRICE, Danny BATTH, Richard STEARMAN, Rajiv VAN LA PARRA, Kevin McDONALD, Leon CLARKE, Michael JACOBS, Bakary SAKO.

Stephen Ward pictured by and with Wolves fanatic Gwilym Machin.

On duty in the second half were Aaron McCAREY, Kevin FOLEY, Kortney HAUSE, Lee EVANS, Ethan EBANKS-LANDELL, Sam RICKETTS, James HENRY, Dave EDWARDS, Liam McALINDEN, Nouha DICKO, Declan WEEKS. The one player not to get a look-in was Eusebio Bancessi.

Both Ward and Doherty have proved to be great servants to the Wanderers, with Doherty now on his second ‘tour of duty’ in the West Midlands. Ward signed here for £150,000 in January, 2007, the difference being that he was an established first-teamer at Bohemian.

The first player to transfer from Dalymount Park to Molineux was left-back Paddy Ratcliffe, who played for Bohs for two seasons before joining the RAF in 1941. The Lancaster in which he was a rear gunner was shot down over Germany and he became a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft Three for two years.

Upon release, he went back to Dalymount Park at the start of 1945-46 before joining Notts County. He didn’t play in their first team and signed for Wolves in June, 1946. Ratcliffe began in the second team but made his senior debut in a 3-0 defeat at Villa in the September, when the team was: Bert WILLIAMS, Bill MORRIS, Paddy RATCLIFFE, Jim ALDERTON, Angus McLEAN, Tom GALLEY, Bobby KING, Billy CROOK, Dennis WESTCOTT, Fred RAMSCAR, Jimmy MULLEN.

Paddy played just one more game (the 2-0 defeat of Grimsby later that month) before being offloaded to Plymouth  in June, 1947. He spent nine seasons there, playing in more than 300 first-team games and hitting ten goals. After he retired, he and his wife Olive emigrated with their four children to Los Angeles, where he worked in the printing industry, did some writing about soccer, coached and played on for a local club until 1962.

There are four more player links between Bohemian and Wolves. Let’s begin with Mick Martin. The Irish international started off at Dalymount before being acquired by Manchester United in 1973. He served them with distinction, as he did West Brom and Newcastle, before Graham Hawkins decided he was worth a shot.

Martin had just been freed on Tyneside and arrived on a month’s loan on September 4, 1983. Four days later, he was in this Central League side for a goalless draw at Manchester City: Paul BRADSHAW, David WINTERSGILL, Mark BROMLEY, Mick BENNETT, Graham RODGER, Martin BAYLY, Hugh ATKINSON, Wayne CLARKE, Steve MARDENBOROUGH, Richard SMITH, Mick MARTIN. Sub: Derek RYAN.

Mick played twice more in the reserves but, before the month was out, was released and on his way to try the indoor game in Canada. There was more mileage in the tank, though, and he played later for Vancouver Whitecaps, Cardiff, Peterborough, Rotherham and Preston.

Dominic Foley and Glen Crowe were youngsters together at Wolves, both later to sign at Dalymount Park in overlapping stints.

Dominic Foley on the front cover in 1995-96.

Foley, a native of Cork, signed for Graham Taylor at Wolves in August, 1995 after three reserve games on trial the previous season. He started just four first-team games for the club, scoring a spectacular late volleyed winner at Swindon in one of 25 other appearances from off the bench.

He also served Notts County, Watford, QPR, Swindon, Southend and Oxford before heading, via Braga, to Bohemian. He scored seven times in 30 games for them but left in controversial circumstances over a bonus payment issue and headed to Gent.

Foley was good enough to earn Irish international recognition (six senior caps, two goals) and Crowe, a Dubliner, played twice for his country, both while playing for Bohemian. As a kid, Crowe had three separate trials at Wolves, with his first appearance in the second team coming as a substitute for Steve Piearce in the Pontins League game at Stoke on April 6, 1995. By coincidence, the only goal of the game was hit by Foley.

For much of the following season, Crowe was a youth-teamer with only a handful of second-team games. So, it was a surprise when he was blooded in the first team as a substitute for Darren Ferguson at Reading in the penultimate game of the season.

Imagine the thrill for him when, in the final game at Charlton, he spectacularly scored Wolves’ equaliser in a 1-1 draw. This came just a month after his first full appearance in the second team. The side at The Valley read: Mike STOWELL, Andy THOMPSON, Jamie SMITH, Mark VENUS, Eric YOUNG, Dean RICHARDS (Dennis PEARCE 51), Steve CORICA (Darren FERGUSON 70), Glen CROWE, Steve BULL, Mark RANKINE (Mark ATKINS 70), Simon OSBORN.

After six full first-team games and a further four as substitute, plus loan spells at Exeter and Cardiff, Crowe was another who headed to Plymouth before, in the summer of 1999, signing for Bohs.

He went on to hit 110 goals in 180 appearances for them – a record which caught the eye of Irish manager Don Givens. He duly became the first League of Ireland player to be capped by the country for 16 years. Although he left for Shelbourne, he was back at Dalymount Park two seasons later.

There is one other playing link between Bohemians and Wolves: Luke Matheson, who had a loan spell in Dublin last season. The baby-faced Matheson attracted much attention when making his debut for the Rochdale first team as a 15-year-old in September, 2018 and scoring against Manchester United.

On January 21, 2020, Wolves roared in, wrote a cheque for £1m and immediately loaned him back to Spotland.

The England youth international failed to thrive at Wolves, thanks largely to the abundance of young hopefuls coming through the system and terrible injury misfortune. He did get first-team football in loans at Ipswich, Hamilton and Scunthorpe but never at Molineux.

Matheson was freed in the summer of 2023 and went to Bolton. He has yet to appear in their senior side but featured ten times for the Bohs on loan last season.

George Lax….a managerial link between Wolves and Bohemian.

Which leaves us with a manager connection: George Lax. The 24-year-old Yorkshireman from Dodworth, near Barnsley, was brought to Wolves from Frickley Colliery by Major Buckley in 1929, the ex-miner quickly getting into the first team and earning rave reviews.

Sixty-plus games later, he went home to South Yorkshire and finished his League career with Bournemouth.

After some non-League appearances at Evesham and Worcester, Lax was picked up by the Bohs as their manager in 1938. Among his playing staff was Paddy Ratcliffe. In 1942, even though he could be excused service as he lived in a neutral territory, Lax enlisted (like Ratcliffe) in the RAF and served until demobilisation in February, 1946.

He also had off-field roles at Scunthorpe, Hull, Goole and Cork Hibernians (he started a physiotherapy business in the city) before returning to Bohemian in 1960 and holding the reins for four seasons.

As was said at the time, Lax embodied the three golden rules of Bohemian FC: “Never say die, keep the ball on the floor and the best defence is attack”.

George went on to manage St. Patrick’s Athletic for a season before taking a physio role at Dundalk and then Shelbourne. He ran a private physiotherapy practice in Phibsborough, close to Dalymount Park.

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