Head Coach Has Taken That Well-Trodden Path North

It isn’t compulsory for those with their eyes on being at the Molineux helm to be former Watford managers, coaches or players – but it seems it helps!

A look at the Managers section on this website reveals the firm connection between the dug-outs at Wolves and Vicarage Road, exemplified by the case of Kenny Jackett.

The former Welsh international has this season become the 11th longest-serving boss in Wanderers history – in terms of games overseen – after taking his tally of matches with the club close to the 120 mark.

And the man the head coach and Hornets playing veteran leapfrogged in September is Sammy Chung, who played the small matter of almost 250 League and cup games for the same Hertfordshire club, as well as moving into the coaching side while still there in the first half of the 1960s.

And it was while at Vicarage Road that Chung joined forces with Bill McGarry – the man in their hot seat immediately before Ken Furphy and someone who the faithful assistamt was subsequently to follow to Ipswich and, with continued success, to Wolves.

Colin Lee also had a spell in charge of Watford in 1990 and, most obviously, the link is underpinned by Graham Taylor – seen as a big enough legend at that club as to have last year had the Rous Stand renamed in his honour.

Soon after the arrival of the former England manager in the West Midlands in 1994 came the appointment in these parts of Bobby Downes and Steve Harrison, both of whom had played for the Hornets.

Harrison had had a stint as the Hornets boss as well and the conections don’t end there, with three more of their popular former players, Brian Garvey, Brian Owen and John Ward, having worked at Wolves in coaching capacities, the latter during the Lee era at the tail end of the 1990s.

Jackett, a one-club man as a player and sixth in the Watford appearance lists, is currently 31 matches – the exact bare minimum that are left for Wolves this season – behind the man immediately above him in the list. That is Ronnie Allen, who was in control for exactly 150 Wolves games.

Please visit the Managers area of this site to see the 12 longest-serving bosses in Wolves history, Mick McCarthy included, complete with the breakdown of their first and last games in charge, their other clubs and other details.

There are also changes afoot in the Legends section this weekend, with David Edwards in line to stand outright in the club’s top 50 appearance-makers of all time if he faces McCarthy’s Ipswich at Portman Road.