Such Budgie At His Best On Long-Awaited Return

He walked into the room wearing a Superman top. Well, what else would he choose?

John Burridge, the man Andy Gray described as funny enough to have had an alternative career in stand-up, turned to his most famous Molineux prop to make sure of pulling off a dramatic entrance.

Remember Newcastle at home in the last home game of the 1982-83 promotion season? “I decided that day to entertain the fans a bit, so I popped to a fancy-dress shop in the town before kick-off,” he said.

“Graham Hawkins saw the outfit and asked if I was really going to wear it. The ref said I could keep it on as long as the top had a no 1 on the back and I didn’t wear the tights or cloak.

“Kevin Keegan was playing for them that afternoon and thought it was hilarious when I went out to warm up. He said he’d give me a hundred pounds if I stayed in it all match. We were entertainers after all. Imagine how the Wolves crowd would love Jose Sa if he did something like that at Molineux!

“The outfit actually came off before the kick-off. Although we were already up after drawing at Charlton the previous Saturday, it was still a game we wanted to win and I could be very serious at the right times. Whatever people think about me being daft, I was always totally dedicated. I didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and was usually in bed at 8pm or 9pm.”

Thursday night at The Mount Hotel this week wasn’t just the John Burridge Show. Tim Flowers was there, too, and was outstanding at the mic in his own, very different way. His League debut as a 17-year-old was for Wolves against Sheffield United in 1984 and his last appearance as a professional footballer was for Leicester at Molineux in 2003. “Walking round the pitch afterwards being clapped off by all four sides was something I will always take with me,” he said.

More shortly of the Premier League and Worthington Cup winner, who accepted he was going to struggle on this occasion to deflect the spotlight away from one of his Molineux mentors.

This, after all, was Burridge’s first visit to Wolverhampton for around 20 years and his first time in England since 2022. A visit to his daughter in London and to his sister in Workington provided the family element to his trip from Oman, the football side coming with a tour of Molineux and with humour in spades in front of a sell-out audience.

Tettenhall Wood is familiar territory. The 72-year-old lived four decades ago in nearby Ormes Lane, having initially lodged in these parts with Gray in the summer of 1982 rather than be alone in a hotel after moving here from QPR.

The two were good mates from when they signed for Villa a few days apart in 1975 and another member of Ron Saunders’s team of 1977 League Cup winners, Dennis Mortimer, was present as well two nights ago, along with Geoff Palmer, Mel Eves, Mick Matthews, Bob Coy, Dale Rudge and former Wolves director Doug Hope.

Wolves Heroes had a private audience with Burridge as well and learned, both in that early-morning chat and through his performance on stage, a bit more about what makes him tick. 

Flowers also learned much – in his case in his formative seasons more than 40 years ago. “I cleaned Budgie’s boots, and Mel Eves’s,” he said. “Later, Alan Shearer cleaned mine. Andy Gray and ‘Zico’ Palmer were other senior players at Wolves in my time – all good, proper lads who taught you right from wrong.

“These were days before goalkeeper coaches and Budgie was a fitness fanatic. Watching him train and prepare was a fantastic education for me.

“He was way ahead of his time in how he warmed up at 2pm when most others just ran out at five to three and had team-mates firing a few shots at them. He would also do his warm-downs afterwards and I know he did some training with Daley Thompson, which tells us a lot.”

Burridge told how he once climbed on to his crossbar to watch the final stages of a Palace home win against Ipswich. Another time, when prevented by a crusty groundsman from going on to the Old Trafford pitch to warm up early, he had an alternative loosener by walking round the penalty area on his hands.

As his Molineux star fell amid competition from Paul Bradshaw, he had a loan spell at Derby, where manager Arthur Cox locked him in his office while he prepared a permanent contract for him to sign. Burridge escaped through the window and committed himself instead to Sheffield United, where he became a team-mate of Mortimer and Eves.

Such flamboyance was definitely not the norm and there were none of these madcap antics about Flowers, who added: “In my first season, we were relegated. I conceded about 120 goals and won Player of the Year. That’s how bad we were.

“I used to get my gloves from Ron Flowers (no relation) at his sports shop in the town. They cost £12 but he used to invoice Wolves for £15, so he could give me £3.”

Burridge would later recommend to his Southampton boss, Chris Nicholl, that he should buy Flowers from Wolves. His ex-Villa team-mate followed his advice and the young pretender took the senior jersey from the established guard for a second time.

While the senior man continued a mind-blowing tour of duty that took in almost 30 clubs and ran until his mid-40s, Flowers became a title winner with Blackburn, a League Cup winner at Leicester and won 11 England caps. He was an unused back-up keeper in Euro 96 under Terry Venables, the man Burridge described as the best coach he served.

What with stories about reflex-testing oranges being thrown across lounges and hotel bedrooms, Kenny Dalglish perching on coach Ray Harford’s shoulders to attach the nets to the woodwork with string prior to Blackburn training sessions in the grounds of a crematorium and tales about Tommy Docherty, Ron Saunders and many others, it was terrific listening.

Flowers returns today to the day job – trying to develop the promising early promotion challenge he is overseeing as manager of Redditch United in the Southern League Premier Division Central. Burridge will soon be back on his favourite beach in the Gulf, playing football with the locals and no doubt barking a few instructions.

As loud applause broke out following compere Steve Saul’s announcement about the end of the keepers’ contributions, Budgie – still in the Superman gear – could be heard shouting: “More, more.” I took it that meant more questions rather than more clapping. He seemed to fully enjoy his time back in Wolverhampton.

*The evening, organised by Carl Falconer, was a fund-raiser for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Pancreatic Cancer UK.