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First County Visit:	Saturday 7th February 1987
Competition:	Today League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 – 1 Stockport County
Attendance:	3,238
Away Trip:	43
Away Day:	139
County Line-up	1 Andy Gorton; 2 Clive Evans; 3 Ian McKenzie; 4 Levi Edwards; 5 Trevor Matthewson; 6 Bill Williams; 7 Andy Hodkinson; 8 Ernie Moss; 9 Vernon Allatt; 10 Les Robinson; 11 Phil Brown
Scorer:	Ernie Moss
Manager:	Colin Murphy
County Visits:	6

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A FALLEN GIANT AND A STADIUM GONE TO SEED

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As I write they are in the Premier League, playing at a ground which is about as far as it could be from the one we went to back then.   From being on the same level there are now 4 divisions between us … and in terms of cash it would stretch an accountants spreadsheet to calculate the chasm.  But we did operate at the same level 31 years ago and over the years we have played, and beaten, some of the teams who now populate the Greedy League

In alphabetic order the rich and cossetted clubs who have had to slum it at EP and now garner a minimum of £100m for just competing in the Premier League this year comprise Bournemouth; Brighton; Burnley; Cardiff; Crystal Palace; Fulham; Huddersfield; Leicester; Manchester City; Southampton; Watford; Wolves.  12 of the 20.  Some have risen from the lower reaches, so well done to them, but some had tumbled onto hard times – when we met them they were indeed fallen giants.

Wolves in 1986/87 were in the Football League’s lowest tier for the first time in their history.  Their descent had been swift.  Ten years previously I had been at a 6^th Round FA Cup replay involving Manchester United.  The stadium then was imposing, and a crowd of 44,373 saw a pulsating game won by United who went onto play, and lose, in the FA Cup final.  They were then in the top Division, but destined for relegation at the end of the campaign.  But it wasn’t only on the field that things were going awry.

The multi-million pound rebuilding of the Molineux Street Stand in 1979 was to be the catalyst for the club’s near-financial ruin during the next decade as difficulties in repaying the loans taken out to fund it led to receivership and relegation in 1982. The club was “saved” from liquidation at the last minute with a takeover financed by the Bhatti brothers but their failure to invest led to three consecutive relegations.  It’s a common tale – a lack of the appropriate infrastructure off the field can have nigh on terminal effects on the field.  By 1987 there was a ground but only 25% of it was in use.  The remainder was in tumbledown state.

The journey down to Molineux was improved by reflecting on the continuation of the improvement that Colin Murphy had effected.  Since the trip to Lincoln it was another 4 unbeaten and since his return he had put together a team which had gathered 15 points from 8 games, and had, after being resident at the bottom of the table for half the season, actually climbed a couple of places.  Hopes of avoiding the drop were rising!

Getting to the ground there was no choice about where to go.  Only the replacement for the Molineux Street Stand was in use.  Named after former chairman John Ireland it had obviously been located behind the edifice it replaced.  It held around 9,500 and the pitch, still in its original place must have been 30 yards away. I suppose that the other planned changes to the ground would see the Waterloo Road stand on the far side being demolished and something far grander being erected with the pitch then moving.  It did happen, but not for many years after the original intention.

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So the John Ireland Stand it had to be.  Its capacity wasn’t stretched that afternoon, with a paltry 3,238 being enticed out on what was a pretty foggy afternoon.  I sat there pondering on the fact that the last time I had been to Molineux there were 41,035 more present, with all four sides of the ground tested.  Not that February afternoon though.

The huge South Bank still stood, but was in a state of severe decay.  The crush barriers certainly wouldn’t have been able to deal with a crush of any description and even in the days when there was less attention paid to H&S the whole area had been as good as condemned.

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It was no different on the Waterloo Road side.  Using a wooden construction was simply out of the question, this being not so long after the Bradford fire.  The North Bank, a smaller version of the South Bank was also out of use.  It was in many ways a surreal experience.  Peering though the mist to see the game taking place at times well over 100 yards away, with three sides totally void.  It would have been easy to imagine the spirits of Wolves greats of the past drifting through these ghostly remains and sighing in despair…..

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The picture of the South Bank takes me forward 14 years.  Nothing to do with football this time.  By 2001 I was working for a large Housing Association and had arranged a meeting with a (what was then) small construction firm called Carillion to talk about a development we were potentially interested in.  By that time the ground had been developed and on a plot of land just outside, near where the floodlight pylon is in the picture, stood Carillion’s head office.  The meeting was fruitless, and on reflection I’m more than glad.  It was many years later but the collapse of Carillion is one of the great corporate scandals of our time.  A lesson for those outfits who reach for the skies; over-extend themselves and then fall to earth Icarus like.  And we’ve seen a fair few of that type of rise and fall in the football world as well…..

Without reference to any record I recalled that we were beaten that afternoon, but the only other memory I have is that the County consolation was a brilliant diving header from Ernie Moss which nestled into the back of the net at the empty North Bank end.

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The next trip was 11 years later and how things had changed.  Both teams in the Championship; a crowd over 5 times as many; and a ground changed almost out of recognition. For a couple of years it was a happy hunting ground and there were always goals. We competed on a level playing field.   But after a visit in September 2001 that was it.  A period of shuttling between the Premier League and Championship for Wolves and an almost inexorable slide for County. 

Right at this moment, with the football industry shut down due to coronavirus, Wolves stand 6^th in the Premier League whilst County are 7^th in the National League.  A gap of 93 places in the hierarchy – it hardly bears thinking about.  But what it does show is that a fallen giant can get back on its feet.  That’s the crumb of comfort, (and maybe hope), that the Hatters faithful can cling to.

April 2020

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Sat	07/02/87	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	L	1	3	3,238	139
Sat	25/04/98 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	W	4	3	22,452	385
Mon	31/08/98 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	D	2	2	22,217	389
Sat	25/03/00 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	D	2	2	25,065	424
Sat	30/12/00 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	L	2	3	16,667	437
Sat	15/09/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	D	2	2	20,742	450

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – SINCIL BANK Next stop – CANAL STREET