As Wolves aim over the next week and a bit to make Brentford even more sick of the sight of them than they already are, a historical note of the sort that defines this website…..
The club’s two recent trips to the Gtech Community Stadium – one won handsomely, the other drawn with ten men – may feel almost back-to-back, separated as they have been by only nine days.
But a man who has just made an overdue return to Molineux might remember that he was once part of a Wolves side who went to the same away venue on successive Saturdays at this very time of year.
Watford had already been a significant presence in Derek Mountfield’s football past by providing the opposition when he was part of the Everton side who were victorious in the 1984 FA Cup final.
Andy Gray scored one of the goals at Wembley that day and Graham Taylor was the Hornets’ manager, so there were plenty of Wolves connections, too.
But does the long-time former centre-half remember going to Vicarage Road with Wolves for an FA Cup tie in 1993 and then returning there in the League seven days later?
The two visits could hardly have been more contrasting, with Wolves winning 4-1 in the Cup thanks to Keith Downing, Andy Mutch, Steve Bull and an own goal and then going down 3-1 in the Second Division despite a goal by Mountfield himself.
Here’s a sobering reminder, though, of how things were…..while the impending seventh anniversary of Graham Taylor’s death helped attract a near-16,000 attendance when Watford beat Paul Cook’s Chesterfield 2-1 in the Cup two days ago, there were only 12,363 for Wolves’ third-round visit in 1993 and then a paltry 6,845 were present for the follow-up the following weekend.
In between Wolves’ two successful trips to Brentford, Mountfield was on corporate duty at the resounding home victory over the club with whom he is most closely associated, Everton.
“It was lovely to be back and it was great going round the museum and some of the guest rooms on the microphone but I didn’t enjoy Everton’s performance,” he said.
“I had seen them play well when they lost to Manchester City at Goodison a few days earlier and thought they would be more competitive against Wolves, who did impress me.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well in the second half and we left for home early. I contracted meningitis a couple of months ago while on a rail trip in Europe and spent nearly six days in hospital in Munich.
“I was brilliantly looked after and feel much better again now but it has been a difficult few weeks and I’d love to get back to Molineux much sooner and see one or two of the players I knew there.
“I don’t get back to Walsall anything like often enough either considering I go to Villa quite regularly and see plenty of my team-mates from there. I’ll be looking out for the chance to return to Wolves when I can.”
Mountfield, who spent the best part of three seasons at Molineux before being released by Graham Taylor in 1994, left his Merseyside roots a couple of years ago to live in Huddersfield and will no doubt have been alerted to the possibility of a Black Country showdown in round four later this month.