Dear Diary Entry 154

More Big Screen Exposure For Defender

Joleon Lescott the player.

Saturday, June 29: Caught up this evening on some Euro highlights showing Joleon Lescott on ITV pundit duty once more. He has become a familiar face among the experts on commercial TV but did anyone foresee his career branching out in this direction when, as a shy youngster, he was finding his feet in the professional game at Wolves more than 20 years ago?

Monday, July 1: So it seems Carl Robinson will not be linking up with Wayne Rooney during the former England forward’s posting at Plymouth. He has projected his far-reaching career in a different direction by taking up a role at Atlanta United after having previous stints in Canada, America and Australia. The late-1990s Wolves midfielder was part of Rooney’s backroom set-up at both DC United and much closer to home at Birmingham.

Wednesday, July 3: Much less surprising than the enduring TV career of one of Robinson’s Molineux colleagues from well over 20 years ago has been the smooth way in which Conor Coady has adapted to life in the broadcasting studio after being part of England squads at past tournaments. The long-time Molineux captain, who played only 17 times in Leicester’s promotion-winning 2023-24 Championship campaign, including the cups, is an outstanding talker and has been a big hit on BBC this summer, both at grounds and at the corporation’s specially constructed headquarters in Berlin.

Thursday, July 4: Was that Wolves’ Phil Hayward we saw among the reassembled Sir Andy Murray entourage in the coaches’ box at Wimbledon today? Phil was previously part of the Scottish legend’s physio team and there was clearly a major reunion on Wimbledon’s Centre Court today at the start of his countdown towards retirement as a player. It’s worth noting, too, that another man well known in the medical rooms at Molineux and Compton, Steve Kemp, has been part of the England backroom team in Germany. 

Wednesday, July 10: Nice to hear from Les Wilson and the pride he felt at Canada’s journey to the last four of the Copa America. The Vancouver-based former Wolves utility man has been absorbed in the tournament, as he has been with England’s progress in the Euros, and the performances of his adopted country provide encouragement for when the next World Cup is jointly hosted by them, America and Mexico. Les also informed us that the family garden has had another visit from bears, roaming for food after vacating the nearby woods.

Paul Bradshaw photographed by us at his home in the Greater Manchester area a decade and a half or so ago.

Monday, July 15: Lovely tributes to Paul Bradshaw, Gerry Summers and Billy Kellock have appeared in the latest issue of Backpass. This high-quality nostalgia magazine has an excellent obituarist on their books in Ivan Ponting, who has also had to record the death of Ally Shewan, the Aberdeen defender whose own goal finally provided Wolves with their winning goal in the marathon final of the 1967 tournament in Los Angeles. 

Sunday, July 21: Good to hear Mike Stowell is keeping busy while job-seeking. More than once in recent years, he has had to decline the offer of some youth coaching in Canada because of pre-season training. He departed to Calgary today, though, for a stay of just over a week, no doubt chuffed that his former Leicester charge, Kasper Schmeichel, has signed a one-year deal at Celtic.

Friday, July 26: This is being greedy but can we express a little disappointment at not having seen Tom Bennett as well as our good friends, Keith Downing and Gerry Farrell, on our visit to the Morecambe v Blackburn friendly tonight? As our regular readers will be aware, Tom has worked in the academy system at Rovers for more than a decade and a half and we had hoped that the fact there was largely a reserve side on view at the seaside might have led to him being present.

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