The Biter Bit!

On Fire – Then Done Up Like Turkeys

Major Frank Buckley – we can only guess whether he was Christmas shopping here. But he would have been hard pushed to explain some of those festive results he oversaw.

We’ve written in Christmases past about the double-header fixtures that were prevalent in the game decades ago.

But interesting stories lurk beneath the scorelines of those games, in particular how meetings between the same two clubs barely 24 hours apart could produce such contrasting results.

Imagine, for example, if Gary O’Neil’s were now preparing to play at Stamford Bridge tomorrow in search of a memorable seasonal double.

Our eye was drawn to an article by Midlands-based former Independent sports-writer Phil Shaw in the latest issue of Backpass; one in which he revealed that an unidentified ex-player had once told him it was frequent for bragging rights to switch so quickly from one team to their opponents because rival players sort of saw to it that they collected at least one win bonus over the festive holiday.

We will leave that slightly uncomfortable thought for now while concentrating on the turnarounds in fortunes, some in Wolves’ favour, some to their dismay.

Villa have been at the heart of the trend, largely because they were often festive opponents here and across the patch in the distant past.

In 1932-33, Major Frank Buckley’s Wolves won 3-1 at Villa Park on Boxing Day and then went under 4-2 to the same side the next day. It was even more dramatic 12 months later, with Villa enjoying a memorable Christmas Day by recording a 6-2 derby home win, only to then lose 4-3 at Molineux the next day.

There was a spectacular swing in 1948-49 as well, with Stan Cullis’s men running out 4-0 Molineux winners on Christmas Day and then losing 5-1 at Villa Park on Boxing Day some four months before their FA Cup glory.

Home advantage meant nothing the season after when Wolves recovered brilliantly from a 3-2 Boxing Day defeat by winning 4-1 in the Second City the day after.

And anyone wondering whether having two derbies so close together at this time of year was detrimental to the attendances can think again. The combined crowd figure at all of those festive double-headers was over 100,000, with around 123,000 there across the two clashes in 1948-49.

Not that the trend was confined only to meetings with Villa. Recent Molineux visitors Nottingham Forest were on the menu in 1927-28, when a 3-2 Boxing Day defeat in the East Midlands was followed in double-quick time by a 1-0 home win at Molineux the next day.

Billy Hartill – scored two of the seven against Manchester United more than 90 years ago.

In 1930-31, Wolves lost 2-0 at Oldham on Christmas Day but then roasted them 3-0 on Boxing Day on the way to finishing fourth in the Second Division.

And it was at that level that mid-table Manchester United were on the receiving end of a startling revenge mission in 1931-32. Victorious at Old Trafford by a 3-2 scoreline on Christmas Day, they then caved in to a 7-0 trouncing at Molineux the very next day.

But the most eye-opening transfer of festive power in Wolves’ history came way back in 1919-20, the season they beat Hull 4-2 at home on December 20. Okay, there were seven days before the re-match but that brought a shattering 10-3 defeat on Humberside for the struggling Division Two side who were still under the management of Jack Addenbrooke. How would you explain that?

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