It’s not often on Wolves Heroes that we make the unearthing of a new photo or two the primary reason for posting a story.
But a couple of well-hidden gems have come to light in recent weeks, so it would be a shame not to share them with our loyal readers.
Both were stored away in the Johnny Kirkham collection – a little treasure trove of keepsakes that the player’s son Darrell kindly sent to us before Christmas.
We will be writing more on this subject very soon but, for now, we have pleasure in revealing these two team shots, the one on the right being taken on the long 1963 tour of America and Canada.
It has never, as far as we are aware, been seen by Wolves eyes before, having been taken before the 5-0 victory over an American Soccer League XI in Randalls Island, New York on June 2, the small matter of 62 years ago.
The goals in this fourth game of the month-long adventure came from Ted Farmer (2), Gerry Harris, Chris Crowe and Barry Stobart, Stan Cullis’s side also having beaten Schalke (4-2) in the Big Apple a few days before.
And the effects of New York’s notorious summer heat and humidity are apparent on the picture, with sweat forming on the faces of the players even before kick-off.
There were no such problems below left in the other photo, which was taken on an overcast day at Molineux a few weeks after Wolves had gone agonisingly close to becoming the first club in the 20th century to win the English double.
The presence of the FA Cup in front of manager Stan Cullis is a giveaway as to the summer in which it was taken and we set young winger Alan Hinton and California-based fan-writer Charles Bamforth the task of naming those back-up players we were struggling to recognise.
The players we think we have identified – and please let us know if you suspect we might have made any mistakes – are as follows:
Back row (from left): Eddie Stuart, Eddie Clamp, John Harris, Ron Flowers, Bill Shorthouse (coach), George Palmer (physio), Gerry Mannion, Gwyn Jones, Vic Cockcroft, Graham Jones, Gerry Harris. Second row from back: Des Horne, Tommy McMullan, Johnny Kirkham, Ted Farmer, Fred Davies, Geoff Sidebottom, Malcolm Finlayson, David Oliphant, Alan Hinton, Ken Sill, George Showell. Seated: Joe Gardiner (coach), Frank Morris (fitness expert), Cliff Durandt, Barry Stobart, Jimmy Murray, Stan Cullis (manager), Bill Slater, Peter Broadbent, Bobby Mason, Jack Howley (secretary), Jack Dowen (coach). Front: Phil Kelly, Terry Wharton, David ‘Slipper’ Read, Norman Deeley.