Who better than Charles Bamforth, an enthusiastic last line of defence in his youth, to take this highly detailed look at all the back-up goalkeepers Wolves have had in the last 40 years? There are some well-known names on his list and the depressing common thread is that they have often been left seriously underwhelmed by their Molineux experience.
It seems that Tom King is perfectly content with his lot. He has been at Molineux since July, 2023, has yet to make a first-team appearance (other than the odd friendly) and knows there is no regular reserve team spot for him.
It’s all about the academy system these days, so, at best, he might be given a rare appearance as an over-age player. Above him in the pecking order at Wolves are Jose Sa, Sam Johnstone and Dan Bentley. Yet King signed a new two-year contract in February.
It is the norm these days for clubs to be loaded up with keepers. There is a sort of glamour in being the number three – look at Scott Carson at Manchester City. He is 39 and probably getting as much attention as he ever has, apart from when he earned few England caps in his Albion days.
But fourth choice as King is? And he has proved himself good enough to earn a first cap for Wales in June, going on as a substitute in Gibraltar. Ironically, it is there that he spent several years in his youth and therefore qualified to play for them.
He is far from being the first established keeper to sign for Wolves and then denied first-team game-time. A few of the shorter-staying keepers (some on loan) did actually get games. Think Dave Beasant, Graham Stack, Andy Marshall and, the cream of that particular crop, Emi Martinez.
But let’s go back to 1982 for our first example of a keeper who never made it on to the Molineux pitch as a first-teamer.
Andy Poole was born in the town that is as famous for keepers as is Newcastle for centre-forwards: Chesterfield. He was a youngster at Mansfield but it was at Northampton that he thrived and was the player of the season at the County Ground in 1979-80. But, after a struggle in 1981-82, the Cobblers released him and he signed for Wolves on a free transfer on August 18, 1982, with the club looking for cover for John Burridge as Paul Bradshaw was ailing.
Poole made his debut in the second team in the Pontins League on the first day of the season, The team in a 3-1 defeat to Villa at Molineux was: POOLE, David BEATTIE, Gordon SMITH, Ian CARTWRIGHT, Joe GALLAGHER, Graham QUINN, Gordon MILLER, Jonathan LAWS (1), Anthony KERNAN, Stephen PUGH, Paul BUTLER. Sub: Paul SHIPLEY.
Poole was an ever present for the first seven games before a certain Tim Flowers stepped up for a reserves debut in the 4-0 home tanking by Blackpool. Poole came back for another nine games but was left out of the next match, a goalless home fixture with West Brom. The first team didn’t have a game, and the irrepressible Burridge must have persuaded manager Graham Hawkins to let him play. And, after that, Bradshaw came back and Poole left on a free transfer to John Rudge’s Port Vale. He played two first-team games there, none at his last League club, Gillingham, then it was off to non-League, including a player-manager role at Brackley.
The next keeper in the story is one of the great characters of the game. David Felgate was not exactly sylph-like but was a proven keeper with more than 200 games for Bolton between 1987 and 1993; a time when they generally laboured in the lower divisions.
But they gained promotion in his last season with the club. Alas, he did not appear in any first-team games for the them that term, including their victory at Molineux in the FA Cup (a match in which Dave Beasant was in goal for Wolves).
Felgate was duly given a free transfer, signed for Bury, did not feature in their senior side and thus came to Wolverhampton on a free on August 12, 1993 to back up Mike Stowell while Paul Jones was injured.
The burly Felgate, who comes from Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales and was already 33, started in the second team and a 3-2 home win over Everton. The team read: FELGATE, Andy THOMPSON, Paul EDWARDS, Mark TURNER, Jonathan HOWARD, Danny COLLIER, Darren ROBERTS, Lee MILLS, Cyrille REGIS (1), Mark BURKE (2), Robbie DENNISON. Subs: Jamie SMITH, Shaun BRADBURY.
Young Andy De Bont came in for the next game but Felgate played in the next two, by which time Jones was fit. Felgate was off again at the start of October and a placement with Chester. All told, he played more than 700 games for League clubs, the others being Rochdale, Crewe, Lincoln, Cardiff, Grimsby and Wigan.
Then it was off to non-League haunts such as Bacup Borough and Rossendale. Perhaps his most publicised stint was at Leigh RMI, where, aged 38, he kept Fulham at bay in an FA Cup 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage. His performance prompted Kevin Keegan to say it was ‘the best I’ve ever seen at any level’. The Bolton Evening News made colourful commentary that week, saying: “It’s common knowledge that the 6ft 2in goalie is not built like your usual footballer. He’s large, he’s tall, but it’s his sheer size that’s the current talking point. Dave admits to loving his food and rarely says no to anything his wife Lynn dishes up. His love of pies is legendary and he usually has one during lunch hour with his work-mates at Axfords Wood Yard in Farnworth.”
Like Tom King, Felgate earned a solitary Wales cap and, after retiring from playing, became academy goalkeeping coach at Manchester City and even registered with them as a player.
He also started his own goalkeeper school and said: “I never had a goalkeeping coach until I worked with Eric Steele at Wolves and I benefited from it unbelievably. I wonder how much better I could have been if I had had it all my career.”
Next up in this goalkeeper saga is Jorgen Nielsen. The Dane was 27 when he signed in April, 1999 for Wolves on loan from Liverpool, where he had been since 1997. He signed at Anfield for £400,000 after approaching 200 games in his homeland but never made a first-team appearance while on Merseyside, either in his time there before his loan to Wolves or in the ensuing three years before returning to Denmark.
Indeed, at the time he came to Molineux, he was Liverpool’s fourth choice, but we assume learning plenty from the club’s keeper coach, Joe Corrigan.
Stowell was still very much the Wanderers number one and Nielsen shared second-team duties with Matt Murray. Justin Bray, an England youth triallist, was the other promising kid on the books.
Nielsen’s Pontins League debut came in a 4-0 victory at Port Vale as part of this side: NIELSEN, Adam PROUDLOCK, Lee NAYLOR, Ryan GREEN, Gordon SIMMS, Joleon LESCOTT, Robert NIESTROJ, Darren FERGUSON, David CONNOLLY (1), Mark JONES (1), Paul SIMPSON (1). Subs: Keith ANDREWS, Dominic FOLEY, Colin LARKIN (1).
Fate denied Nielsen a Liverpool appearance six months after he was in Wolves Reserves – and in the Merseyside derby at that. After 77 minutes, Sander Westerveld exchanged fisticuffs with Everton’s Francis Jeffers and both were sent off. But Liverpool had used all of their subs, so Steve Staunton borrowed Nielsen’s shirt to finish the game between the posts. I guess some players are just born unlucky.
We now turn to an apparent obsession Wolves had at the time with picking up Australian goalkeepers. The first was Steve Mautone, who was born some 175 miles north-east of Melbourne in wine country. After a lot of experience Down Under, he joined Harry Redknapp’s West Ham in the spring of 1996 as an understudy to Ludek Miklosko and Les Sealey.
He went on loan to Crewe but was summoned back for his solitary Premier League appearance in a win over Nottingham Forest.
While at West Ham, Mautone benefitted from training alongside Peter Shilton. A youngster on trial at the club at the same time was future Wolf Marcus Hahnemann, who was over from Seattle.
It was some years before Hahnemann became a big hit at Reading but Mautone graced Elm Park before him, going there first on loan and then permanently for a £250,000 fee. But he had serious knee problems including reconstruction surgery, alhough that didn’t deter Wolves from signing him on a six-month contract in 1999.
His reserve-team debut came in a goalless draw with Albion at Molineux in this side: MAUTONE, Ryan GREEN, Paul LOUGHLIN, Keith ANDREWS, Gordon SIMMS, Adie WILLIAMS, Robert NIESTROJ, Steve CORICA, Mark JONES, Colin LARKIN, Paul SIMPSON. Subs Shane TUDOR, Jermaine EASTER, Joleon LESCOTT.
In an interview for a London website a decade and a half ago, Mautone said about his time at Molineux: “I never got a look-in. I was on the bench most of the time and that’s the nature of being a goalkeeper. You can’t come on for the last 20 minutes and impress, and then start the following week. It was unfortunate I didn’t play any games and it just felt like I was on a big trial. I probably needed another few months for my knee to recover properly but, because I didn’t want to show the people at Wolves that it was still not right, I was probably playing and training through stuff that I shouldn’t have done to try and secure a longer-term deal. I broke down a couple of times towards the end. They realised that maybe my knee wasn’t right and basically said ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ and I was stuck then. I didn’t really know what to do and Crystal Palace at the time were going through some real financial problems. They couldn’t sign anybody on proper contracts, so I ended up signing a week-to-week contract there.”
Mautone managed two first-team games back at Palace, got one shout at Gillingham and finished with Slough before heading back to Oz.
Next up was Andy Petterson, who hailed from Fremantle, Western Australia. In 1988, he crossed the world to sign for Luton and, as well as playing more than 20 games for them, had loan spells with Swindon and Ipswich.
Then Alan Curbishley came calling and Petterson was transferred to Charlton for £85,000. Although featuring 85 times in the first team there, he also had loan spells at Bradford, Ipswich, Plymouth, Colchester and Portsmouth before making a permanent transfer to Fratton Park in 1998.
Once again it wasn’t long before he packed up his boots for a short-term loan and this time it was February, 2000 and a gig with Wolves. Mike Stowell was injured, so Petterson was added to the squad as understudy to Michael Oakes. Fifteen times he warmed the bench and 15 times he got changed back into his civvies without having broken sweat. And he managed eight second-team appearances, the only other keeper available being youth-teamer Aaron Kerr.
Petterson’s reserve debut was in a 2-1 defeat against Birmingham at St Andrew’s, where the line-up read: PETTERSON, Ryan GREEN, Paul LOUGHLIN, Keith ANDREWS, Mark CLYDE, Joleon LESCOTT, Adam PROUDLOCK, Carl ROBINSON, Haavard FLO, Colin LARKIN, Paul SIMPSON (1). Subs: Seamus CROWE, Shane TUDOR, Jermaine EASTER, Conor HAGAN, Aaron KERR.
Petterson would secure another loan the following season, to Torquay, and then had permanent stints with barely 20 first-team games in total spread between West Brom, Brighton, Derry, Bournemouth, Southend, Walsall and Notts County before he headed back to Oz, where he coached, as well as having gigs in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Another Aussie popped up next. Frank Talia, from Melbourne, first arrived on these shores at Blackburn. He didn’t get past the bench with their first team but did understudy star performers like Tim Flowers. He had game-time on loan at Hartlepool before transferring to Swindon.
Good enough to win their player of the year award in 1999-2000, he was replaced at the relegated Wiltshire club with Bart Griemink and Talia was allowed to come to Molineux on a month’s loan at the start of 2000-01. Mike Stowell was injured, so Talia was on the bench or playing in the second team.
His first appearance for the second string was in a 4-2 victory at Oldham. In the gold shirts were: TALIA, Ryan GREEN, Mohammed CAMARA (1), Carl ROBINSON, Steeve Epesse TITI, Steve SEDGLEY, Shane TUDOR, Scott TAYLOR, Colin LARKIN (2), Gerard LEONARD (1), Seamus CROWE. Subs: Keith ANDREWS, Aaron KERR, Gordon SIMMS, Scott McQUADE.
The legendary Stowell soon returned to the second team, so Talia found himself on the bench for the Central League side and the First Division side on successive days. In the September, he signed a permanent deal at Sheffield United, before going on to play for Royal Antwerp, Reading and, most productively, Wycombe.<
Wolves were still having keeper problems and, although Kerr and Lewis Solly had some second-team games, the club turned again to the loan market to bring in experience. This time it was Carlo Nash. The Bolton lad first caught the eye when playing for Clitheroe in the Wembley final of the FA Vase in 1996. He was duly snapped up by Crystal Palace for £35,000 and played a starring role in their promotion to the Premiership the following season.
In the June, he joined Stockport on a free and, to encourage him, a local Indian restaurant offered a free curry for every clean sheet he kept. But, in December, 2000, he came to Molineux on a brief loan as the latest cover for Michael Oakes.
His second-team debut was at Huddersfield in a 1-1 draw for this team: NASH, Ryan GREEN, Mohammed CAMARA (1), Seamus CROWE, Steeve EPESSE TITI, Joleon LESCOTT, Shane TUDOR, Sami AL JABER, Adam PROUDLOCK, Michael BRANCH, Robert TAYLOR. Subs Gerard LEONARD, Aaron KERR, Gordon SIMMS, Conor HAGAN, John MELLIGAN.
There were no first-team games for him (other than sitting on the bench, of course) but he was attractive enough to his former Stockport boss, Gary Megson, to try to sign him for Albion for £100,000. But Nash’s contract demands were too much, it seems, so he went to Manchester City instead for the same fee.
Then it was on to Middlesbrough, Preston, Wigan and Stoke before a surprise move to Everton to back up Tim Howard. Nash went on to be a keeper coach at Oldham, Salford and Port Vale as the roller-coaster of back-up Wolves goalkeeper imports continued in July, 2001.
This time it was another Lancashire lad, 20-year-old Stephen Bywater, on loan from West Ham, where Harry Redknapp had recruited him as a youngster from Rochdale for £250,000. At Wolves, he shared the goalkeeping duties with Oakes in pre-season, starting for the first time at Espinho in a 2-2 draw in Portugal, with Dave Jones fielding this side: BYWATER (Michael OAKES HT), Darren BAZELEY (Sean CONNELLY HT), Mark CLYDE (Paul BUTLER HT), Ludovic POLLET (Joleon LESCOTT HT), Andy SINTON (Lee NAYLOR HT), Michael BRANCH (Temuri KETSBAIA 77), Dejan MARKOVIC (Tony DINNING 59), Keith ANDREWS (Carl ROBINSON HT (1)), John MELLIGAN (Mark KENNEDY HT), Temuri KETSBAIA (Adam PROUDLOCK HT), Cedric ROUSSEL (1).
Bywater was on the bench for the opening Division One game of the season against Portsmouth and that was it. Back to the Boleyn Ground, recalled. Although he had been a member of the Hammers’ FA Youth Cup winning side of 1999, alongside Michael Carrick and Joe Cole, his fate consisted of loans to Wycombe and Hull before Wolves and then Coventry, Cardiff and Derby afterwards.
He managed 60 or so games in West Ham’s first team but, in 2006, the England under-21 international was transferred to Derby for £225,000. He wore number 43 as a tribute to his mentor at West Ham, Les Sealey, and was considered close to selection for the full England side. The loans continued – Ipswich, Cardiff (again) and Sheffield Wednesday before the Owls signed him permanently. The word ‘permanent’ might be misleading because he was soon off to Millwall, Gillingham (loan), Doncaster and Burton after a spell in India.
Bywater had no sooner walked out of the door at Molineux than Marlon Beresford strolled in, on loan from Middlesbrough. The first reserve team game of the season, against Birmingham, had featured trialist Ian McAldon between the posts, replacing Bywater, who was on England under-21 duty. (Lost to history is the fact that Nicky Summerbee was also on trial for Wolves in that game).
The 6ft 5in McAldon had been playing for Livingston in the Scottish League for several seasons and was replaced in the next reserve game by Beresford. Clearly Marlon’s parent club did not want him cup tied, so 17-year-old Solly was on the bench for the League Cup tie with Swindon. Ironically, Beresford played his initial second-team game at Burnley, where he had enjoyed his best years from 1992-98.
The Wanderers line-up that lost 1-0 read: BERESFORD, Kenny COLEMAN, Mohammed CAMARA, Keith ANDREWS, Ludovic POLLET, Nathan TALBOTT, Shane TUDOR, John MELLIGAN, Colin LARKIN, George NDAH, Graham WARD. Subs Sammy CLINGAN, Scott McQUADE, Mark DANKS, Marlon WALTERS.
After three reserve games and six ‘non-appearances’ on the first-team bench, Beresford was off, with Matt Murray replacing him. The Lincoln lad had permanent spells at his first club Sheffield Wednesday, then Burnley, York, Bradford and Luton as well as other loans at Bury, Northampton, Crewe and Oldham. These days, he is goalkeeper coach at Stevenage.
Paul Harrison was from a Liverpool-supporting family. His father was one of those who tragically lost their lives at Hillsborough. Harrison signed for the Reds but never made it past the first-team bench. After a loan spell at Leeds, he was released from Anfield and, following a short stint at Accrington, was offered a trial for the Wolves second team at Blackburn and was rewarded with a two-month contract in November, 2005.
Oakes was injured and Harrison was needed as substitute as cover for Stefan Postma. The team who played out a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park was HARRISON, Mark LITTLE, Lee COLLINS, Stephen GLEESON (1), Martin RILEY, Conor RAFFERTY, Lewis GOBERN, Kevin O’CONNOR, Tommy STEWART, Jordan FITZPTRICK (1), Elliott BENNETT. Subs Jonathan TAYLOR, Mark SALMON, Joshua FERRAN, Tom SPALDING.
In January, Harrison was let go and went to Chester. After a handful of games there and at Hereford and Southport, he went on to enjoy more than 500 games for The New Saints, the Oswestry-based club who have had great success in Welsh football.
So, keepers a-plenty from Australia and Lancashire. But we turn now to Brazil and Adriano Basso, who arrived in January, 2011. Unlike the other loanees, Basso never got on the bench at Molineux and was confined by the pre-eminence of Wayne Hennessey and Marcus Hahnemann to the second team, who also featured the likes of Aaron McCarey, Carl Ikeme, David East and Jon Flatt that season.
Basso’s opener in the second team came in a 2-0 home defeat against Albion in this line-up: Basso, John Dunleavy, Jamie Reckord, George Elokobi, Jody Craddock, Steven Mouyokolo, Dave Edwards, Nathan Rooney, James Spray, Sam Vokes, Zeli Ismail. Subs: Aaron McCarey, Anthony Forde, Louis Harris, Jake Cassidy, Michael Ihiekwe.
Basso had come from a highly successful stint with Bristol City, but variously he represented Woking, Hull, Truro and FC United of Manchester. Yet he had arrived in this country for a five-month trial at Arsenal, a signing only stymied by visa problems. After retiring as a player, he coached the keepers at Hartlepool, Nuneaton, Grantham, Sheffield Wednesday and now Huddersfield.
Just one more keeper…..Marián Kello. He came to Wolves from Romanian club Astra Giurgiu on March 13, 2013, when Hennessey and Ikeme were both injured. But Dorus DeVries was ensconced as the first choice and McCarey warmed the bench. So Kello had to content himself with second-team appearances, the first of the only two he featured in being against the Baggies in a 1-1 home draw for this side: KELLO, Sam WHITTALL, Ben O’HANLON, Lee EVANS (1), Jamie TANK, Michael IHIEKWE, Robbie PARRY, Tim JAKOBSSON, Sam WINNALL, Jack PRICE, Jordan CRANSTON. Subs Aljaz COTMAN, David MOLI, Dominic IORFA.
The other keepers that season including young Slovenian Cotman, who had three seasons at Molineux but never made the first team. Kello, meanwhile, a Slovak international, headed to St Mirren, having previously been with Hearts.