Final Hurrah For Legs Crying Out For Mercy

Dean Edwards has set his sights on dragging his weary limbs through one more game – in order to rack up a personal landmark.

The Devon-based Wolves fan was heading for a 1980s music gig when we reached him this morning but didn’t fare as well recently when turning the clock back to his goal-scoring days.

“I played in that Reconomy charity game at Molineux a few weeks back and my knee blew up big time after it,” he said.

“It was great to see lads like Jon Purdie and Neil Edwards again – although we played in a bad era for the club, it was still a part of Wolves’ history.

“Jody Craddock, Mel Eves and Simon Osborn were also there and I loved being out on the pitch again. But my body is telling me I really shouldn’t keep doing it.

“I have passed Stanley Matthews by playing into my late 50s! If I play one more game, I would like it to be after my 60th birthday because I remember seeing Bobby Thomson turn out when he was 61.

“I think I was the oldest one on the pitch and I felt it. Mel was with us – everyone loves a great trier like him, don’t they? – but he didn’t step on the pitch this time.

“My dad lives in Wolverhampton and is suffering from dementia, so I am getting up there quite a lot to check on him. And I was delighted to stick him in a 1974 Wolves tracksuit and set him up to score on the pitch when it was all quiet. Now he can say that he and his son have netted at the South Bank end!”

Edwards, who was disappointed that there was no 30th anniversary reunion this spring of Torquay’s Sherpa Van Trophy journey to Wembley at the expense of holders Wolves, has done some more work in the game since we last wrote at length about him.

He carried out six weeks of coaching duties at Gallivare Malmbergets in Swedish Lapland around 18 months ago, having made a name for himself – and caught the eye of Sammy Chapman’s son, Sammy in the process – while with Vaasa in Finland before moving to Molineux in the mid-1980s.

“I had a couple of summers over there and managed to score a few goals,” he added. “I was hoping they would qualify for the Europa League and draw Wolves.

“I did receive an invitation to a reunion at Vaasa that Jussi Jaaskelainen went to and I unfortunately had to miss it.

“Now I am in the market for a Molineux season ticket or two – so I can watch a few games but also because I would like to donate the seats for most of the games to disadvantaged fans when I am not there.

“I look back at the old photos with 36,000 and 40,000 in the ground but it was different then. You could usually pay on the door to get in.”