Global Reach Of Archives Like No Other

Oh yes, of course, it was a 44th minute equaliser by Albert Pape in front of a 6,000 crowd and the game wasn’t played at Brisbane Road but Millfields Road. You probably know this next bit by heart but reserve forward Jack Harris had put Wolves in front after 22 minutes.

For these and what must be a million other facts, we thank a lifelong Molineux devotee who has joined forces with another of the same ilk to produce what can only be described as two truly remarkable Wolverhampton Wanderers archives.

Scott Pritchard and Mark Povah have never met. They live 12,000 miles apart but have the strongest common bond in their different worlds – and the online achievements to prove it.

We have given oxygen before to Scott’s https://www.wolvescompletehistory.co.uk project and are happy to do so again now he has used the last three years to add another 12,000-plus pages to the unique content he had previously published.

He describes his site as ‘the most complete and correct piece of work on our world-famous club’, adding: “No stone has been left unturned in the research. So far, every Wolves first and second-team match from the 1870s to the present day has been uploaded, with full details of all first-team fixtures, and Wolves details given for reserve games.”

So, did even Colin Brazier know that he played 146 Central League games for Wolves? At the same level, Steve Bull’s 14 appearances were decorated with just the 16 goals and Ron Flowers amassed a surprisingly high total of 95 reserve outings. Want to know how many Central League games Billy Wright played? Answer: One.

Bridgnorth-born Scott now lives in the Blackpool area after a decade and a half in Sussex and has every Wolves home programme since 1945, having been a frequent former contributor to the match-day publication.

Who, though, is Mark Povah and how did the two join forces? “I grew up living in Codsall and still look back at my times going to Molineux as a child as some of the best of my life,” Mark tells us. “My dad was a lifelong Liverpool supporter but Wolves were his second club and he would religiously go to games at Molineux with a couple of neighbours in tow.

“We emigrated to New Zealand in 1973 because my parents believed the opportunities for them and my sister and me would be far better overseas. The last game I went to was the FA Cup quarter-final win over Coventry, which I watched from the enclosure.

“It was very hard for me as a teenager leaving the UK. I missed the football greatly, although TV coverage was pretty good in NZ, with Star Soccer and The Big Match available a week later.

“It’s a totally different game now with better pitches and stadiums, smarter fitness management, referees/VAR and money which has led to a clique of six or seven clubs who are so financially advantaged that competing for a major trophy is almost an impossibility for many. I much prefer the game from yesteryear.”

Mark, a retired senior IT manager who now lives in Melbourne, has made only one return to England in more than 50 years; one in 2023 which took in QPR v Leicester in the company of his wife but no Wolves game.

He embarked last year, though, on a mammoth project aimed at hosting every single available match highlight featuring Wolves. “I want it to be the one-stop shop for Wolves video match highlights,” he said.

“My research on YouTube revealed that there is only one other channel that has done something similar – it’s called the Charlton Athletic Museum. Amazingly, there is nothing like this for Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal.

“The Wolves Archive channel currently hosts highlights from more than 2,000 Wolves matches and videos (1,726 created by me) from 1904 to the present day. The channel also features 21 compilations of goals by some of Wolves’ finest players – The Doog, King John, Kenny, Andy Gray, Bully (5 videos), Andy Mutch, Paul Birch, Don Goodman, Robbie Keane, Dean Sturridge, Kenny Miller and SEB – with more to come.”

The channel is structured in sections by decade with a play-list for every season from 1969-70 to 2024-25. Prior to the 1970s, the play-lists appear only by decade because match highlights were sparse compared with more recent times.

“In one of the videos on my YouTube channel (Wolves 5 Norwich 1 in the FA Cup in 1971), you can see me waving to Kenny Hibbitt at around 4.40,” Mark adds. “I’m the kid with the scarf and beanie hat on the right, sitting next to my Dad, who is smoking a pipe. I made this the thumbnail for the video.”

Mark made online contact with Scott for the first time through the Derek Dougan Appreciation Society group on Facebook and started work on his own YouTube channel, The Wolves Archive (https://www.youtube.com/@WolvesArchive) about eight months ago.

They have now ‘linked up’ in more ways than one to their mutual benefit. “Scott links the match highlights from my YouTube channel to the respective match on his site and I reciprocate by adding a link to Scott’s match details in my video description,” Mark added.

“I am also soon starting work in creating my own website to host the videos in addition to them being on the YouTube channel. I should make it clear as well that these projects have no financial benefit to either of us. They are just passions for two slightly obsessed Wolves fans.

“And they detail the history of the club in ways which I don’t think the supporters of any other club have access to.”

Scott, who started writing about Wolves’ history when he was 15, might be interested to hear a snippet about the Orient player we referred to at the start of this article.

A week after the friendly in East London, Albert Pape was sitting in his Orient kit in the away dressing room at Old Trafford on February 7, 1924, when informed that Manchester United had agreed to buy him. What’s more, they wanted him to play for them that afternoon, so he changed kits and dressing rooms and, typically, scored in United’s 4-2 win.