Ward Visit Shows He’s Still Going Strong

Saturday, November 6: Received a photo from a good friend showing him with Stephen Ward in South London after Walsall’s League Two win at Sutton. Glasgow-based Gwilym Machin enjoys his ground-hopping, hence his appearance several hundred miles from home at this fixture. Well past his 36th birthday, Wardy has already racked up more than 20 Saddlers appearances this season to take his career tally to around 470.

Monday, November 8: For the second time in a few weeks, was pleased to say a quick hello to Sammy Chung’s wife, Heather, after bumping into her in Tettenhall. She was presumably off to the local care home where the long-time former Wolves no 2 has lived for much of the time since they returned from their years away residing in North Devon.

Wednesday, November 10: Sent a Facebook message to Neil Emblen after spotting a familiar face in the crowd on the Sky Sports coverage of the England v New Zealand Twenty20 semi-final in the United Arab Emirates. The answer soon came back: Yes, it WAS Darren Bazeley, who was over there with the Kiwi footballers and happy to drop in to see his adopted country’s cricketers in action for a few hours.

Friday, November 12: Was flattered to be asked on to BBC 5Live’s teatime show to talk to presenter Tony Livesey about the life and times of Ron Flowers – a man I was lucky enough to see play only a couple of times. Wolves Heroes co-owner, John Richards, was also in demand and was on our TV screens an hour later to chat about his own memories of one of his fellow Molineux greats.

Monday, November 15: Belatedly caught up with the highlights of the bizarre match in East London between Hartlepool and Kenny Jackett’s Leyton Orient. Just when the former Wolves manager must have thought he had seen everything, along came this astonishing League Two game, in which the referee owned up to forgetting to play four minutes of stoppage time in the first half. He therefore resumed after half-time by ordering four more minutes before the teams changed ends. And, wouldn’t you just know it, Orient scored one of their five goals in that unique interlude.

Saturday, November 20: A performance and result that would have made Ron Flowers proud as Wolves beat West Ham this afternoon in a stirring atmosphere a couple of hours on from the remembrance service for him at St Peter’s Collegiate. Talk about a day full of emotion…..

Sunday, November 21: Is there anything Conor Coady isn’t good at? A first glimpse of the inspirational Wolves captain on Match of the Day 2 this evening confirmed the feeling that he talks a brilliant game, as well as plays one. His performance in the studio as a pundit was highly impressive, with Tottenham’s home victory over Leeds the main subject of his focus.

Wednesday, November 24: Little surprise to hear that Oldham and Keith Curle had parted company following the defeat at his former club, Northampton. The ex-Wolves skipper’s eight-month reign had not been smooth and such is the seriously troubled nature of life at Boundary Park these days that results have been poor.

Saturday, November 27: Great to hear that Mike Bailey was present with wife Barbara and son Andy this afternoon at Wolves’ draw at Norwich – a venue not far from his roots in the Fens. The long-time skipper played in a few tight games at Carrow Road in his time and it sounds like this was another one for the present generation.