Another One Bites The Dust

Monday, February 3: Mike Williamson has become the second former Wolves player, after Paul Simpson, to be sacked by Carlisle this season. The end of the line for the ex-defender came following a record of only five wins in 25 matches after his move north from MK Dons early in the season. The Cumbrians are bottom of the Football League and in danger of relegation for the second successive year.

Wednesday, February 12: This is definitely a first! Was asked by actor Ross Chillington, a keen Wolves fan from Wednesbuy, to let Carl Ikeme know he was going to be on TV this Friday. The two had met in a Walsall pub restaurant last year in the hours after Ross’s successful audition for the role as one of the chief suspects in an episode of The Good Ship Murder on Channel 5. 

Friday, February 21: Used Johnny Phillips to pass a best-wishes message to Keith Andrews tonight – and was happy to receive the same in return. The Sky Sports reporter was on duty at the Friday-night game at Leicester and reported that Keith looked happy enough after the game. No wonder….Brentford, where he now works as a set-piece coach, have won 4-0, which is good news for Wolves as well.

Tuesday, February 25: Fingers crossed for some damage limitation following Wolves’ narrow defeat at home to Fulham this evening. The game – attended by Dave Edwards, Andy Thompson and Lee Naylor in the media areas, along with former England man Danny Mills – need not be a major setback but we could do without Ipswich winning at Manchester United tomorrow or Leicester taking three points at West Ham the following evening.

Thursday, February 27: This may have been a desperately disappointing League One season for Peterborough but it will draw towards a close with Darren Ferguson attempting to become the first man ever to get his hands on the EFL Trophy (in its different guises) four times. The Posh boss saw his struggling side hit back for a 2-2 draw at Wrexham tonight and then prevail in a shoot-out that takes them into a Wembley final against Birmingham on April 13. A decade or so after his service as a Wolves player, Ferguson scored a terrific goal to help Wrexham win the competition at the Millennium Stadium and has twice inspired Peterborough to lift the same piece of silverware.

Saturday, March 1: The unkind coincidence created by Wolves’ visits to Bournemouth on successive Saturdays had me thinking back to even more inconvenience during my time as the Express & Star’s Walsall correspondent. We were at plain old Dean Court for a Third Division game on a mid-April Saturday and then back for a Freight Rover Trophy tie the following Thursday. As if those two long (and losing) excursions weren’t enough of a challenge, the Saddlers had a home match against Gillingham in between. A look back in the record books for the dates has reminded me that two former Wolves players scored at Bournemouth that week…..Ian Handysides in the League and David Kelly in the Trophy.

Monday, March 3: Good luck to Neill Collins for when his Sacramento Republic side kick off their 2025 programme at home to New Mexico on Saturday. The former Wolves defender left work at Colin Cameron’s side in the Raith Rovers dug-out in their native Scotland to return to the USL Championship’s second tier several weeks ago. He had previously impressed at Tampa Bay Rowdies by taking them to the 2022 Eastern Conference final and then had a promising spell in charge of Barnsley.