New Season, New Jobs

Monday, July 6: Am indebted to Vince Bartram for updating me on a snippet of news that had passed me by – namely that our good friend Rob Kelly is back in work, this time as assistant head coach to Leeds. Made a mental note to send Rob, who turned 50 just before last Christmas, a good-luck text before the start of the season, although not one that applies to December 15 or April 19!

Thursday, July 9: Enjoyed looking, from a safe distance, at the photos Les Wilson has emailed us from his home in British Columbia. We have seen in the past how close he and his wife Lois live to nature……scary nature, that is. Now they have shared pictures of some bears that were seen in their neighbourhood looking for food. Fortunately, the Wilsons’ loveable golden doodle Scholzey (named after Paul Scholes) is still nimble enough on his feet to give chase and apparently let them know they couldn’t have the run of the place.

Sunday, July 12: Thoughts of Wolves’ recent trip to France under Kenny Jackett prompted me to think how the club did it when the mentor of their present head coach was in charge 20 summers ago. Graham Taylor, possibly tired of all the foreign travel after his time in international football, opted for a somewhat different kind of pre-season tour that took in the south-east of England and matches against Amersham and Tonbridge.

Thursday, July 16: Dropped by at Molineux to set about photographing some keepsakes out of the always-impressive showcases for Thomas Publications’ forthcoming Wolves All Over The World book and realised it was a month today until Hull arrive here for the first home Championship game of 2015-16. Even since most of the club’s precious artefacts went into the museum in the Stan Cullis Stand, there is still much to pore over in the main reception area.

Wednesday, July 22: Heard from Barry Stobart’s widow Maureen in an exchange of emails surrounding the sad passing-away of Des Horne about another migration. Loy Stobart, his wife and their kids have not been back in England too long after a substantial spell in Antigua followed earlier stays in Kentucky and the Bahamas but are off next week to start new lives in Thailand, where mum and dad have happily both secured good jobs. “I think I gave birth to a gypsy,” Maureen told us. “They’re forever on the move.”

Saturday, July 25: Enjoyed watching a match for the first time this pre-season, even if the 1-1 draw with Shrewsbury was fairly mundane. It was my first trip with Wolves to the Greenhous Meadow – my previous visits had been to see Port Vale and to attend a charity dinner organised by Graham Hawkins at which Graham Turner was the main speaker.

Tuesday, July 28: Never an interview seems to go by – even ones with characters from well outside this area – without some local common ground being established. Had the pleasure this teatime of speaking at length to Sky cricket commentator David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd for a Backpass article and was pleasantly surprised to discover he’s a friend of former Wolves director Kevin Threlfall and goes to Portugal on a golf trip with him each spring.

Thursday, July 30: Bumped into Rob Edwards on a quick visit to Molineux and congratulated him on his recent promotion to first-team duties. We remarked that it didn’t seem five minutes since we had met while he was waiting in the foyer last summer before his interview for the job in the club’s academy.