Familiar Faces Aiming For Final Glory

A trail of former Wolves men will be pacing the Wembley touchline this spring as the drama of the play-offs continues to unfold.

Following the heartbreak felt by Paul Cook (pictured tracksuited, right) and his Chesterfield squad in the race for a Football League place on Saturday, the spotlight has switched to several of the Liverpudlian’s one-time Molineux team-mates.

Darren Ferguson has every chance of walking out at the national stadium for the League One final after Peterborough’s spectacular 4-0 first-leg win over the Sheffield Wednesday side who finished three places and 19 points better off in the season proper.

That result was bad news for Jamie Smith, who remains as assistant manager to Darren Moore at Hillsborough, but another of the 48-year-old’s long-time Molineux colleagues, Mark Venus, will have much higher second-leg hopes.

Sunderland, with Tony Mowbray and Venus in charge, lead 2-1 after their home leg on Saturday, and Wolves are guaranteed ‘old-boy’ representation at Wembley at this level as the Wearsiders’ opponents, Luton, are managed by Rob Edwards.

Cook and Chesterfield were within three minutes of glory two days ago until Notts County equalised near the end of normal time and then hauled themselves level again in the second half of extra-time.

The Spireites manager was reportedly unable to watch the subsequent shoot-out and confined himself to the dressing room, the outcome proving disappointing to one of the Wolves players on duty at Manchester United on Saturday.

Nathan Collins’s uncle, Eamonn Collins, is Cook’s agent and in 1980 became the youngest player ever to appear in a Football League game in England when he appeared for Blackpool six weeks before his 15th birthday.

Another former Wolves man leading his club in the play-offs is Carlisle manager Paul Simpson, who remained upbeat after the Cumbrians’ 1-0 defeat at Bradford yesterday.

We wish all our ‘Wolves heroes’ good luck for their second legs and possibly beyond.