A Chance Missed With Doug

Sunday, July 3: Was disappointed to learn that I had failed to spot former Wolves reserve Doug Griffiths at the packed funeral of Albion legend Bobby Hope a few days ago. The one-time England schoolboy was a player for the Scottish international inside-forward and then his assistant manager at Bromsgrove and was one of a number of non-League figures in the huge gathering at Shenstone, near Lichfield.

Wednesday, July 6: Good luck to Keith Downing in his new posting at Birmingham. The former Wolves midfielder left Plymouth at the end of last season, citing geographical difficulties as the main reason, and hasn’t been out of work for long. He joins up with new St Andrew’s boss John Eustace in time for the pre-season trip to Portugal and finds himself back at the club he moved to Wolves from in 1993.

Monday, July 11: Interesting to hear that Kenny Hibbitt and John Richards have, separately, been helping out through personal appearances and answering visitors’ questions on Molineux stadium tours. It’s no surprise at all to learn that both were apparently outstanding in the role, even if they were probably taken aback at the quality of the dressing rooms, players’ lounge and tunnel compared with the facilities they knew.

Sunday, July 17: Loving the new issue of Backpass, as ever, in particular the Ray Clarke interview that contains several fascinating references to Wolves and, in particular, Bill McGarry. On the same theme in a separate piece is the disclosure that there was once interest from Molineux in Bobby Roberts, the wing-half best known for his long service at Leicester in the 1960s. An extended look at the late 1970s success of Shrewsbury under Graham Turner is also very much worth a read in an edition that has Howard Wilkinson on the front cover.

Wednesday, July 20: Don’t know why it happened today and not before I presented my tribute to Paul Darby on this site on Monday but another story has come to mind about him….of how he obtained tickets (presumably through the participating Peter Baker) for he and Graham Turner for the last day of the Ryder Cup at The Belfry in 1993. I recall us crossing paths on about the fifth hole as Baker performed brilliantly in helping Europe regain the trophy.

Saturday, July 23: Spoke to Paul Blades for the first time in several years to inform him about the deaths of Paul Darby and Keith Pearson. He hadn’t heard the sad news, although his son is a Wolves fan. We also vowed to look out for each other next weekend as we are both going for a day at the Legends Tour golf tournament near Uttoxeter, a few miles from where he lives on the road towards Derby

Monday, July 25: Received a lovely photo showing that the tables had been turned between Peter Crump, from the Wolves Museum, and Jim McCalliog. The former Molineux favourite and his wife Debbie have found Peter a huge help on their recent visits to the West Midlands and were delighted to return the favour when he and his partner headed north to stay at their Langside bed and breakfast establishment near the Ayrshire coast.

Sunday, July 31: What can we say that hasn’t been said by others about those fabulous Lionesses? How good was it tuning into their defeat of Germany at Wembley tonight? Just brilliant….now we wait for the boom at grassroots level and hopefully the sharp increase in attendance at matches – especially those played by Wolves Women.