Reflecting On Danny’s Posthumous Award

Wednesday, April 6: Have been alerted by a contact in East Anglia to the fact that Danny Hegan (and another former Wolves player, Ray Crawford, for that matter) has a place in Ipswich’s hall of fame. The high-maintenance midfielder was inducted to this elite Portman Road group in 2016, along with Tony Mowbray and others, the year after he passed away.

Monday, April 11: Interesting to hear that the Wolves All Stars are off on their travels in a week or two. Raising money for good causes close to home is the usual way of doing things for these likely lads but they are destined for a weekend in Marbella before the month is out. We trust the football won’t get in the way of the necessary refuelling!

Saturday, April 16: Thank-you to Chicago-based Wolves supporter Daniel Gaichas for telling us in an email: “Interesting coincidence in the Asian Champions League. Two teams in the same group are managed by ex-Wolves players. Kevin Muscat is with the Yokohama F. Marinos and Steve Corica is in charge of Sydney FC. Due to COVID, all games in the group are being played in Ho Chi Minh City. There is a Vietnamese side as well as a South Korean side in the group.” Muscat and Corica were big friends at Molineux in the late 1990s.

Wednesday, April 20: Want a reminder of what nervousness looks like? Kevin Thelwell, formerly director of football at Wolves and more recently head of sport at New York Red Bulls, was picked up by the cameras while watching his new employers, Everton, in action at home to Leicester tonight. Joe Royle was sat at his side offering some thoughts as the lens was pointed at them with their side one down. But they were both no doubt cheered by the late goal that rescued a point.

Friday, April 22: Nice words from Stephen Ward after announcing his retirement from professional football at the age of 36. It’s already nine years since the Dubliner played the last of his 239 Wolves games and he has amassed a similar total since across spells with Brighton, Burnley, Stoke, Ipswich and, most recently, Walsall. Not forgetting exactly 50 appearances for the Republic of Ireland. That’s some career, for which we should once more extend thanks to Mick McCarthy as he was the one to take the plunge on bringing the then youngster across the Irish Sea in 2006.

Saturday, April 23: Relished the chance of going with John Lalley to the Wigan v Plymouth promotion clash in League One and meeting up again with Rob Kelly and Keith Downing. The two best mates have senior coaching positions in support of Leam Richardson and Steven Schumacher respectively and found it honours even after a 1-1 draw today that kept Wigan a point from securing automatic promotion. Included in their reconstructed squad is 30-year-old West Midlander Curtis Tilt, a Jamaica international defender who includes Hednesford, Halesowen and AFC Telford among his previous clubs.

Wednesday, April 27: Made a brief teatime appearance on BBC WM’s regular week-day phone-in to talk to Daz Hale about life on the long-discontinued but still much-missed Sporting Star. For many decades, it was part of the football fabric around here and listening to how many fans seem to lament its disappearance makes you sad all over again.

Saturday, April 30: Wolves v Brighton. What a shocker…..what more can we say? Among the ex-players in attendance in the media areas were Andy Thompson, Lee Naylor, Mel Eves and Paul Jones, the latter of whom gave us a brief update on the All Stars trip that he had been part of to Spain.