Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC is a professional football formed in 1877 who are from the former industrial city of Wolverhampton in the Black Country area of the West Midlands. The club was originally named St Lukes FC playing at Goldthorn Hill in Blakenhall under manager George Worrall.

A couple of years later St Lukes moved to John Harper's Field on Lower Villiers Street merging with the football section of local cricket club Blakenhall Wanderers, to take on their present title.

‘Wolves’ relocated to Dudley Road in 1881 before the club became founder members of the Football League in 1888-89 with Jack Addenbrooke in charge of the team, as well as reaching the FA Cup final where they went down 3-0 to double winners Preston North End at The Oval.

Wolves moved into their new Molineux ground for the following season as the team began a run of top six league finishes. Wanderers lifted the FA Cup in 1892-93 when Everton were defeated 1-0 with a Harry Allen goal at Fallowfield in Manchester.

The Wednesday defeated Wolves 2-1 in the 1895-96 FA Cup final at Crystal Palace before the sides fortune dipped before they were relegated in 1905-06. Wanderers lifted their second FA Cup, while a second tier side in 1907-08 as goals from Kenneth Hunt, George Hedley and Billy Harrison helped the team to a 3-1 win against Newcastle United.

Wolves reached another FA Cup final in 1920-21, losing 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge before George Jobey replaced stalwart Addenbrooke in 1922, seeing his first season end in relegation to Division Three North.

However, the team regrouped to win promotion as champions in 1923-24. Albert Hoskins and then Fred Scotchbrook had spells as manager before the appointment of Major Frank Buckley in July 1927. He led Wolves to the Division Two title in 1931-32, before the side ended as runners-up of the First Division in 1937-38.

The 1938-39 season would end in disappointment. Again, Wolves were league runners-up as well as being defeated 4-1 in the final of the FA Cup by Portsmouth as Stan Cullis captained the team. It also marked the last official action before World War Two.

Once peace returned, Ted Vizard took over as manager before Cullis was appointed in the role in June 1948. His team won the FA Cup in 1948-49 as the team led by skipper Billy Wright defeated Leicester City 3-1 with two goals from Jesse Pye and another from Sammy Smyth. Wolves also ended the season as league runners-up.

Wanderers were crowned as league champions in 1953-54 to mark the beginning of a golden era. Wolverhampton went on to further league titles in 1957-58 and 1958-59 as the club became globally renowned.

Floodlit friendlies against the cream of Europe's top teams had given Wolves further prominence as Cullis 'kick and rush' football took hold. Stars of the day were goalkeeper Bert Williams, Wright and the wing play of Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen.

The matches under the Molineux lights enthused many new fans as the club entertained a South African XI, Borussia Dortmund, Valencia, Real Madrid, Racing Club of Argentina, Spartak Moskow and a Ferenc Puskas led Honved all in front of the BBC cameras. Wolves innovations helped to lead to the formation of the European Cup in 1955.

In 1959-60 Wanderers just missed out on a hat trick of League titles, but they went on to win the FA Cup when Blackburn Rovers who were seen off 3-0 with an own goal and a brace from Norman Deeley. Wolves also reached the last eight of the European Cup, going out to FC Barcelona.

However, the glory days were coming to an end. Cullis was sacked in September 1964, with the team being relegated at the end of the season. Ronnie Allen helped his side to promotion in 1966-67 as Division Two runners-up.

A new era under manager Bill McGarry with the likes of Derek Dougan, Peter Knowles, before his early retirement, and Kenny Hibbitt saw a new spell of success. Wolves reached the 1971-72 UEFA Cup Final against Tottenham Hotspur, losing 3-2 on aggregate.See them at their peak by clicking here:

Wolverhampton went on to lift the League Cup in 1973-74 with a 2-1 win against Manchester City as John Richards banged in the goals regularly. Sammy Chung took over as manager as the side were relegated in 1975-76. Wolves went straight back up as champions in 1976-77.

John Barnwell came in as manager in November 1978, adding the experience of Emlyn Hughes and record signing Andy Gray to a fine side who lifted the League Cup in 1979-80 with a Gray goal defeating Nottingham Forest. See the win here.

Sadly, the club then hit a dramatic slump. Poor management saw poor accountancy as the club payed out huge transfer fees at the same time as the redevelopment Molineux. Bad form on the pitch led to near disaster with the club existence in danger.

Wolves were relegated in 1981-82 as the club was bought by the Bhatti brothers with the help of former player Dougan in 1982. Barnwell left owing to ill health to be replaced by Ian Greaves for a short spell.

Graham Hawkins took the team straight back up at the first attempt after his appointment in August 1982. However, Wolves went straight back down again in 1983-84 as Gray was sold to Everton and gates plummeted.

The 1984-85 season saw another relegation to the League's third tier under the tutelage of Tommy Docherty. Just 4,422 fans attended the game where the demotion was confirmed. The terrible run continued as the stadium was in a state of disrepair, with only the new East Stand was open for a while.

The returning McGarry couldn’t halt the slide before he was replaced by Sammy Chaman as Wolves were relegated for a third consecutive season in 1985-86. The Bhatti's left in July 1986 as the official receivers were called in to the club with Wanderers future once again in severe doubt.

Fortunately, they were saved from extinction as the local council bought Molineux and its surrounding land, while Gallagher Estates Ltd and Asda agreed to pay of the clubs debts in return for permission for a new superstore to be built next to the stadium.

Graham Turner’s appointment s manager in October 1986, proved to be an inspired choice by Jack Harris and Dick Homden who led the new board. The clubs on the field nadir was reached in the FA Cup First Round 2nd replay defeat by 3-0 to non-league Chorley in 1986.

The team struggled in Division Four, but Turner gradually went about the task of rebuilding the playing squad, under tight financial controls. The signing of twenty one year old Steve Bull for £64,000 from bitter rivals West Bromwich Albion on the 20th November proved to be a brilliant piece of business.

His partnership with Andy Mutch flourished as the team reached the 1986-87 play-offs, but lost out to Aldershot in the semi-finals. However, they weren't to be denied in the 1987-88 season as they lifted the Division Four title and also won the Football League Trophy against Burnley in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley.

Wolves won the Division Three title in 1988-89 as Bull scored fifty goals in all competitions with one of them coming on his England debut as a substitute at Hampden Park. The club just missed out on a third consecutive promotion as Bull continued to terrify defences.

In May 1990, lifelong fan Jack Hayward bought the club and immediately went about rebuilding the dilapidated stadium. Over the following three years three new stands were built to complete an impressive new stadium, which was re-opened with a friendly against Honved. 

The team had carried on in the second tier without challenging for promotion too much. In March 1994, Turner resigned to be replaced by Graham Taylor. In 1994-95 he led Wolves to the play offs where they were beaten in the semi-finals by Bolton Wanderers.

In November 1995 Taylor left owing to fans protests, with Mark McGhee coming in. McGhee took Wolves to an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, but left soon after. Colin Lee had a spell at the helm before Dave Jones was appointed in January 2001.

In 2001-02 Wolverhampton once again reached the semi-finals of the play-offs, going out to Norwich City. The team went one better in 2002-03 as Reading were defeated before Sheffield United were beaten 3-0 in the Millennium Stadium final with goals from Mark Kennedy, Nathan Blake and Kenny Miller as Wolves finally reached the Premier League.

Hayward decided on a prudent approach, relying on youngsters such as Matt Murray and Joleon Lescott. The team were relegated after just one season, with Jones leaving in November 2004, with former England boss Glenn Hoddle was named as the new boss.

Hoddle couldn't get the team promoted and didn't help his popularity with the fans as he refused to move to the area. He eventually resigned pre-season in 2006 to be replaced by Mick McCarthy. In his debut season the team reached the play-off semi-finals, with a squad made up of youth and bargain signings losing out to West Bromwich Albion.

Hayward had looked for outside investment for some time to push the club forward, and in August 2007 businessman Steve Morgan had bought the club from 'Sir Jack' who became Life President, for just £10 but with the pledge of investing £30M.

After a mid-table finish McCarthy led the team to the Championship title in 2008-09 to herald a return to the Premier League. In their first season back, McCarthy brought in many new players as the side consolidated.

Wolves also stayed up at the end of the 2010-11 season and after the final game of the season, the North Bank was demolished to make way for a new huge structure which began a major overhaul of the stadium. Unfortunately for Wolves, and not for the first time, the ground development was met by a terrible dip of form on the pitch.

McCarthy's team performed poorly, which led to his dismissal in February 2012. Coach Terry Connor took charge but couldn’t prevent the team being relegated. Former Norwegian international Stale Solbakken was appointed in May 2012 with the task of restoring the club’s status, as the rest of the stadium redevelopment was put on hold.

Solbakken's appointment proved to be a disaster and he was replaced by Dean Saunders within six months. Saunders failed just as badly as the team plummeted to relegation to the third tier in 2012-13 leading to his own dismissal.

Kenny Jackett was appointed with the task of sorting out the terrible mess at Molineux. He was aided as several big earners at the club ended their contracts, so he had the benefit of a relatively blank canvas to play with.

Jackett restored pride quickly with some clever signings. He led the team to the League One title at the first attempt as Wanderers amassed a record 103 points total. An amazing gate of 30,110 headed to Molineux to see Wolves celebrate promotion against Rotherham United with an incredible 6-4 victory.

Wolves first season back in the second tier went well as the team continued to improve as they ended in seventh place. Chinese Investment Group, Fosun International bought the club in June 2016 with Jackett being replaced by former Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga.

After just fourteen league matches Zenga was sacked and replaced by Paul Lambert who led the side to a disappointing fifteenth place before he was replaced by former FC Porto boss Nuno Espirito Santo.

The team received investment as Portuguese stars Ivan Cavaleiro, Rúben Neves, Hélder Costa, Diogo Jota were added to home grown talent Matt Doherty and Conor Coady to form a mixture that took Wolves to the EFL Championship title and promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2017-18 season.

Further signings in the shape of Rui Patrício, Pedro Gonçalves, João Moutinho and Rúben Vinagre were added for Wanderers return to the top flight where they finished seventh in 2018-19 as well as reaching the FA Cup semi-final which ended in heartbreak against Watford.

Another seventh place followed in the Coronavirus disrupted 2019-20 campaign as well as Wolves going out to Sevilla in the last eight of the Europa League. After a midtable finish in 2020-21 Espírito Santo was replaced by Bruno Lage who took Wolves to tenth place.

Julen Lopetegui arrived as the new manager of the Molineux club in October 2022 who oversaw another thirteenth place before departing over a disagreement regarding the playing budget. Gary O’Neill was appointed in his place.

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC will play in the Premier League in the 2023-24 season.

My visits

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Scarborough 0 (Friday 19th February 1988) Division Four (att: 11,391)

In season 1987-88 Wolverhampton Wanderers had slipped all the way down to Division 4, League 2 to you youngsters!, in a mountain of debt. My team, Scarborough were playing in their first ever season in the Football League. 

Wolves had "christened" the Athletic Ground (as it was then known) in Boro's first ever league game when the game ended 2-2. The main story though was the hooliganism that day. Many structures and fittings had been smashed to pieces by some of the 4,000 visiting Wolves fans.

On the way to Hereford to watch Boro in a midweek game our car had stopped at Molineux to see if we could sneak a look inside. Unfortunately the club staff would not allow this but at least we had a clue of what we were to encounter later in the season.

The match took place on a Friday night in March owing to a political march taking part in Wolverhampton the next day. I travelled in a car with future BBC journalist Howard Nurse and a couple of others, and all was well as we had a couple of pints outside town and we parked by the visiting supporters coach. 

The walk down to the ground in the escort was drama free but we got a fair bit of abuse when queueing to get in. Our seats were in the lower deck of the old, new stand if you know what I mean! This was the only seated stand open. The home fans were above us. To our left was the imposing South Bank. 

This was a huge terracing with a roof at the back. In its prime it was also home to a section of away fans. It seemed a mile away from our seats because there was enough space between us and the touchline to fit in another narrow pitch.

Times were still hard at the club. The old Main Stand stood empty opposite in the distance because it was deemed unsafe. The same applied to the large terraced North Bank to our right. It was a strange place to watch football.

On the night Boro put in a magnificent performance and were unlucky to go down to a late goal. Stewart Mell missed a sitter for Boro although in hindsight this probably did us a favour from a personal safety aspect. 

One of my mates was thrown out during the game for refusing to be intimidated and giving as much back (much to our worries!) and in an act of defiance, paid again and stood among the Wolves on the South Bank. Happily the getaway from the ground was completely trouble free.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Portsmouth 1 (Sunday 4th May 1997) Division One (att: 26,031)

I was happily sleeping off a hangover before going to open up the Gas Club when my Dad woke me to say my good mate and Wolves fan Karl was on the phone. He had a spare ticket for the match and they would pick me up in half an hour.

Before I knew it we were parking up and walking down to Molineux. My seat was above where I'd sat before as a Scarborough fan. The ground had changed massively. A replica of the stand I was sat in had been replicated opposite. The South Bank was now a huge single tier of seats. The North Stand was similar only a bit smaller. Two of the gaps in the corners had been filled in with scoreboards.

The facilities were first class. Each stand was name after club heroes: Steve Bull, Billy Wright, Jack Harris and Stan Cullis. The stadium looked a picture in gold seemed to be gleaming when I first see it. The statues of Billy Wright and Stan Cullis behind the stands bearing their name were a lovely touch. 

There were plenty of pubs around the ground with one being reserved for the away fans. However, one I wouldn't advise is The Croft on the way out to the motorway, north of the stadium if our experience was anything to go by. We went in full of thirst after the Sunday lunchtime game after a goal from Paul Hall ten minutes from time had won the game for Pompey.

I was the eldest in our group and was explaining to the others of how intimidating it used to be going to Molineux. The Croft gave an instant flashback. It was one of the very rare occasions I wasn't interested in another pint, at least in there!

To round off an interesting day, Shaun's car broke down near Cannock and we spent the ride home in the back of a breakdown truck with the car behind us!

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Port Vale 1 (Saturday 13th February 1999) Division One (att: 20,952)

I travelled down to this game in the car with Karl. We got there early enough to go into The Goalpost pub pre match and then to a pub at the far end of the ground as my seat was in the South Bank. There was a decent atmosphere as the Port Vale fans were next to us for this local derby.

Wolves came out winners thanks mainly to the brilliance of a young Robbie Keane before he moved on. He scored one of the goals with Paul Simpson and Keith Curle adding the others while Ian Bogie replied for Vale. We went back to the pub much to my approval to allow the traffic to die down.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Nottingham Forest 0 (Saturday 26th February 2000) Division One (att: 24,444)

By now I lived in London so I arranged to meet Karl and Baz in Wolverhampton and go to the game. I took the train to Birmingham and then jumped on board the Midland Metro, which was a new tram service between the two cities which went past a designated Hawthorns stop for West Brom fans.

I found the Varsity pub and awaited my comrades before we had a very jolly drink before heading to the match. Wolves blew Forest away, going three up in twenty five minutes with goals from Ludovic Pollet, Darren Bazeley and Michael Branch.

Both sides were down to ten men after seven minutes after an altercation between Ade Akinbiyi and Tony Vaughan before ref Stephen Lodge sent off David Prutton for a second yellow on half time to reduce Forest's numbers further.

We tried out a couple of the pubs surrounding the ground after the match before I headed back down south after a very enjoyable afternoon.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Gillingham 1 (Saturday 3rd February 2001) Division One (att: 26,627)

In an attempt to get a big crowd the Wolves board decided to offer discount tickets for this game, and it worked. I met an exasperated Karl after my train and tram journey in The Varsity before we headed to the game to sat in the North Stand and witness a disappointing Wanderers performance.

As ever I took the cheap option and went via Birmingham to allow me some drinking time. Wanderers were left waiting for their first win under new boss Dave Jones as Marlon King put Gills ahead before the hosts levelled up through Michael Branch.

The visitors came closest to taking all through points as Mark Saunders, Nicky Southall and Carl Asaba went close despite Kevin Muscat seeing a late effort saved by Vince Bartram.

Friday 16^th July 2023

The Covid restrictions that strangled life out of any fun were gradually being loosened and I decided to make full use of a week off work. I knew that I would be moving to live in Thailand within the next few months, so I decided to catch up with friends and visit a few places, maybe for the last time. 

I had promised Karl I would visit Wolverhampton with him at some point, so this was a good excuse to meet up with him having made my way to York to stay with family the previous evening having enjoyed the beauty of the North Yorkshire Moors that day.

We arrived in the Black Country by train via Manchester which saw a taxi take us in the nick of time from Victoria to Piccadilly before we could relax on the journey down and check into the Premier Inn near the station.

We wandered to Molineaux so that I could get some snaps from outside. There was no hope of finding an open gate. It had grown since my last visit with the second tier of the Stan Cullis Stand on the old North Bank.  After that we had a wander around the city centre, which was about the same as I thought it would be and had some beers.

 

Karl had done well checking out which places would be open and easy to get served in with the ongoing restrictions. They were earthy for friendly enough, which allowed for a decent Friday out. It was a shame the Great Western was closed for refurbishment mind.

The older pictures of Molineux have been taken from the internet to add to those from my personal collection.