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.
“Another take on it is that it will be the master and the apprentice,” said organiser Carl Falconer. “Budgie was into his 30s by the time he signed here in 1982 and then Tim replaced him in the first team a couple of years later when he was only 17.
“I’m looking forward to hearing what sort of advice and guidance was passed down between the two because they were both wonderful keepers who had outstanding careers in different ways.”
Burridge is famed for having had a tally of transfer-market moves reaching into the mid-30s and, at 72, is said by Wikipedia to be a goalkeeper consultant with Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters.
“In the chats we’ve had from his place in Oman, he has told me he is on the beach with the locals playing football every morning,” Carl added.
“He’s coming over for a few days in November and being shown round Molineux while he’s here. Wolves fans will remember what an amazing character he is and I can assure everyone he’s still bonkers!
“I can’t wait to get to know him more when he’s over. He was in goal the day Bully scored his four goals at Newcastle and I don’t think he has been back to Wolves since that era. He is in for quite a surprise.”
Flowers’s career has been much played out much closer to home and, after making around 200 appearances for Southampton, he amassed a similar number for Blackburn and was a key part of the side who won the Premier League under Kenny Dalglish in 1994-95.
He also collected 11 England caps, helping Glenn Hoddle’s team win La Tournoi in 1997, and was a League Cup winner in 1999-2000 with Leicester – the club with whom he played the last of his games in senior football in a 1-1 draw at Molineux in May, 2003.
The 57-year-old has since had a long career in non-League football and is currently manager of Southern League Premier Division Central club Redditch.
Tickets to see he and Burridge at the three-course meal on Thursday, November 14, with Steve Saul as MC, are understandably selling fast and only one or possibly two tables remain. Anyone interested should contact Carl Falconer on 07885-366799.