Wolves v Liverpool – The Dramatic Staging

It has long been felt that Wolves 1 Liverpool 3 in May, 1976 was the game that had everything; colossal stakes for both clubs, a huge crowd swelled dangerously beyond Molineux’s capacity, early hope for Bill McGarry’s Wanderers and then the crushing of it beneath the red tide that carried the visitors to the League title that night.

What it didn’t have, though, was a trophy presentation, which is where, on stage in Liverpool city centre this week, Steve Kindon came in.

Fifty years earlier to the very evening, Kindon had lit the touch-paper on a momentous occasion with his excellent early goal. He was also the man to spark a standing ovation in the final act of the Dancing At Wolves production at the Epstein Theatre when handing over a replica trophy to Phil Thompson.

Liverpool did not get their hands on the silverware at Molineux, the League preferring not to take it on ‘maybe’ journeys and instead wait until they knew who the champions were. So it arrived, low-key, at Anfield some weeks later and was shown off at the Charity Shield game against Southampton. There was a certain pertinence, therefore, to the ‘crowning’ moment this week….

“Kindo stole the show in act two when we brought him on stage,” said the show’s script-writer, Hyder Jawad. “I am so grateful he was one of our surprise guests.

“He was amazing and he’s such a nice man. We must have spoken on the phone a dozen times over the last month but there were no rehearsals for the players. They were free to say what they wanted in their own way.”

We were delighted to connect the show’s organisers with the bustling forward, who has been utterly at home for decades with a microphone in his hand and an audience in his sights.

He was only too happy the morning after the night before to reflect on his appearance and said: “It was great to see those guys again and to be part of a quality production.

“As well as Phil Thompson, I had David Fairclough and John Aldridge alongside me on the sofa. Phil tried to argue that I hadn’t skinned him when I raced away to put us into the lead. When he asked me how I could remember that, I got a good laugh from the audience by saying: ‘Because Emlyn Hughes told me.’

“It was a massive game and I made the point on stage that Bill McGarry had told us to get there an hour earlier than usual because he knew the roads would be grid-locked. And I only lived three miles away!

“We were very disappointed to lose, of course, having still led until about 75 minutes. But when I realised Birmingham had taken a point at Sheffield United and we would have gone down even with a victory, I was pleased Liverpool had won the League. 

“I am a Lancastrian from Warrington and was much happier to see Liverpool or Manchester United – or even a team from Yorkshire or the north-east – be champions than a side from London.”

All of which might not have made the best listening for the other surprise guest – another man with a Wolves past. Dave Thomas is well known on Merseyside because of his outstanding pre-Molineux spell at Everton and also happens to be a best mate of Kindon’s.

On stage, he lent a QPR angle on proceedings, Dave Sexton’s men having finished their fixtures on April 24 and sat top for 11 days before Liverpool caught up on games and points. 

Thomas, who is now totally blind because of the eye condition we have written about on this site before, said under questioning from MC Elton Welsby that the QPR players were all expecting Liverpool to win.

They didn’t allow themselves to become too optimistic even when Wolves led deep in the second half and their cauttion eventually proved justified. The Merseysiders hit back to win 3-1 on the night to take the title by a point.

Thompson was Liverpool’s captain at the time and Fairclough went on at Molineux as a substitute for Jimmy Case. Aldridge was a teenage fan but played for Liverpool later in his career and shared in further League Championship and FA Cup glory while at Anfield.

Defeat ended Wolves’ nine-year stay in the top flight but they were back again, as champions, within a year.