Moving Tribute To Former Colleague

Tuesday, August 6: Was touched to read that two former Wolves men had played very public roles in paying tribute to a team-mate they both had at Blackpool. Steve Harrison and Alan Ainscow were among a quartet of former Seasiders players – Dylan Kerr and Eamonn O’Keefe being the others – who laid flowers behind the Kop goal at Bloomfield Road in memory of striker Kevin Stonehouse, who has died aged 59. The ceremony took place at last Saturday’s season-opening home game against Bristol Rovers.

Thursday, August 8: Received an approach from Wolves fan Gus Iliff, asking for an interview that will go towards a work project he is doing as part of his course at St Peter’s College, Oxford. His chosen subject: How Fosun’s investment has changed the experience of following the club. Glad to oblige, of course.

Monday, August 12: Caught up on the news that Michael Kightly had retired at the age of 33 despite having a year left on his Southend contract. “It’s frustrating when your legs can’t do what they used to do,” he was quoted as saying on the BBC website. “I probably could play on for another year, or a couple of years, but I don’t see the point to be honest. I was lucky enough to fulfil my dream of playing in the Premier League, so I’m really proud of all that I achieved.” Expect to see and hear this chirpy chappie on our TVs and radios soon.

Monday, August 19: Nice to see Terry Connor on the stairs at Wolves’ home draw against Manchester United tonight – he’s still resident in Sutton Coldfield despite being part of a Republic of Ireland management team headed by Mick McCarthy and also containing Robbie Keane. Hopefully Terry bumped into Carl Ikeme, who was also there after returning from a holiday in California.

Sunday, August 25: This afternoon, we saw the first clue that Wolves are facing fresh challenges through competing in the Europa League this season. They were fortunate to escape with a point from the Premier League visit of Burnley and looked off the pace following their heroics in Italy barely two and a half days earlier. One for the management to ponder….

Tuesday, August 27: Was surprised to receive a call from long-time friend Ian Winter, asking for ideas on how BBC Midlands Today might capture an Italian flavour in their preview of Wolves’ return against Torino later this week. Mention of a specific Italian restaurant he knew in the city seemed to do the trick.

Thursday, August 29: Paul Butler was a busy man at the exciting second leg against difficult Serie A opponents at Molineux tonight, undertaking radio summarising duties and then vacating his seat among us to be interviewed on the pitch at half-time. Mel Eves was doing a similar job for BBC WM on the row behind.

Sunday, September 1: Was delighted to read that Malmo had won handsomely at Kalmar this afternoon and, with a favourable result elsewhere, given Uwe Rosler and Rob Kelly renewed hope that they might end their first full season in Swedish football by getting their hands on the title. Malmo are also through in style to the group stages of the Europa League, where they will be up against Dynamo Kiev, Lugano and Stale Solbakken’s Copenhagen.