Putting The Early-Season Record Straight

Talk of Mo Salah setting a Premier League record with his explosive goal-scoring starts to seasons has had us diving to the record books – to comfirm that he still lags comfortably behind Steve Bull!

The Anfield hero, who netted the killer second in Sunday’s home victory over Brentford, has nine opening-day goals to his credit for the club after joining Diogo Jota on the score-sheet at Ipswich ten days ago.

But Bull, admittedly at lower levels, totalled a remarkable 11 on the first day, including a hat-trick in the win at Grimsby on August 17, 1996. That’s what you call an instant impact.

There were also curtain-raiser braces at home to Oldham in 1990 and Bristol City in 1993 and we wonder whether others can tell us how many players in the main four divisions have ever flown out of the traps more dynamically and consistently than he did.

Award yourself a gold (and black) badge if you can recall that Scarborough, Watford, Brentford and Tranmere were the other opponents Bully hurt in his time-honoured fashion on the first day.

With Sunday’s ultimately sobering experience against Chelsea still burning a hole in the collective psyche, his record in the first home game of a campaign – whether that was on kick-off afternoon or next time out – is also worthy of appraisal.

He struck no fewer than eight times when Molineux filled up for the first time in a season, with Bradford suffering at the feet of his destructiveness in two August visits seven years apart.

So, across the decades, which other famous Wolves strikers have been repeatedly on the money and on the mark right from the off?

Behind Bully, who had a reunion with Mike Stowell at Sunday’s game, Jimmy Murray leads the rest with eight first-day goals, all of them in the First Division.

Deserving of honourable mentions are Derek Dougan (6), Roy Swinbourne (5), Jesse Pye (4), Ted Farmer (4), Bobby Mason (4), Jimmy Mullen (4) and Robbie Keane (4).

*We at Wolves Heroes were saddened to hear about the death of Scot Bobby Thomson at the age of 87 earlier this month. The inside-forward played one League game while at Molineux – a 2-0 home win over Newcastle in Apeil, 1957, in which he scored – and became much better known as a player at Birmingham and Villa.