And The Parting Message Is: Let’s Do It Again Soon

A far-flung group of 1970s Wolves heroes are planning to reconvene early next year after a successful first online catch-up.

John Richards, Kenny Hibbitt, John Holsgrove and Les Wilson used modern technology to link up and hope their group might be expanded to include one or two more next time.

“We had talked for a while about having a conversation like this on Zoom, especially to stay connected with guys like John, who lives in the south-east, and Les in Canada,” Richards said.

“Obviously we would rather be meeting in person but this is an opportunity that has come into our lives in the last 18 months or so and it all worked well.

“It was particularly good to chat to John and Les, who we tend to see a lot less of. There are others who we had hoped would take part and we hope they can join us at the next one early in the new year.

“In some cases, some technical help from those around them might be required to get them involved but we will coax them along and I’m sure they would enjoy being present as much as the rest of us did.”

Richards is now chairman of the Wolves Former Players Association and is less of a newcomer to virtual meetings.

We at Wolves Heroes also had the pleasure of a chat on this partciular platform with Vancouver-based Wilson earlier in the year, as well as one around the same time with Alan Hinton and the co-writer of his autobiographer, Charles Bamforth.

Wilson, whose last two visits to England were for the funerals of Derek Dougan and Dave Burnside two and a half years apart, relished this reunion with a difference with team-mates from decades ago.

“We all had such special times at the world-famous Wolves and you can’t put a price on conversations like this,” he said.

“We learned in the school of hard knocks but from coaches of the highers order. They were really memorable times and it was lovely to see a few of the lads again to talk over the years we had together.”

Wilson and Holsgrove had last met at Burnside’s funeral in the autumn of 2009, the three of them and The Doog having been part of the club’s well-known ‘Tea Set’ along with Bobby Thomson.