Johnny Phillips - Bitten By Wolves: Stories from the Soul of Molineux

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2019

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Johnny Phillips, 2019

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Print ISBN 978-1-78531-614-2

eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-623-4

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For Mum and Dad, and Daniel

THAT FIRST memory of Wolves is still a vivid one. After alighting at Rock Ferry railway station following a short journey from my home city, Liverpool, a British Rail football special train pulled up alongside the next platform and hordes of Wolves supporters disembarked. It was the crowds, the noise and the excitement in the air, walking down the platform, that left an indelible mark. We were off to an FA Cup third round match at Tranmere Rovers. It was January 1983, and a small child was hooked forever.

Writing this book has perhaps been a long time coming, then, but it needed the help of many people. All those who have spoken to me, not just the interviewees in these pages, have shed light on the Wolves story and I really appreciate their time. The many supporters, staff and former players and managers who I have chatted to down the years have helped paint a picture of this unique club too. Meeting other fans and listening to their stories is never a chore. Wolves has given me many lasting friendships down the years, I am thankful to every one of them, they know who they are.

At the Express and Star, Id like to thank my sports editor Russell Youll for offering me the opportunity to write a weekly column three years ago, which reinvigorated a passion for writing, and deputy sports editor Derek Bish who helped facilitate access to the newspapers archive. I first wrote about the club as a student in the pages of A Loadof Bull, the much-loved Wolves fanzine. To that end I owe founding editor Dave Worton and his successor Charles Ross my gratitude for the opportunity. Daves good friend Simon Smith was great company during the many lifts he gave me to Molineux whilst living in Leeds throughout much of the 90s. Paul Berry, another former contributor to its pages and a brilliant Wolves writer, has been a source of advice over the past year.

The management and players of the Wolves All Stars, the clubs former players charity team, have welcomed me into their fold. Apart from enjoying an occasional appearance as a ringer, it has been great to chat to so many ex-players from different eras.

I chose Matt Murray to write the foreword because, in many ways, his career is classic Wolves, marked by such highs and lows. In the space of two successive games in 2003 he went from the unadulterated elation of the playoff final success in Cardiff to a 5-1 defeat on his Premier League debut. There is nobody better placed to talk about the contrasting emotions of professional football at this club. Since his early retirement he has become a good friend and trusted colleague on Soccer Saturday.

Id like to thank my employer, Sky Sports, for giving me the creative freedom to cover the club so extensively. My interviews in this book with current Wolves players and management are extracts from original Sky Sports features and documentaries.

The Lych Gate pub kindly hosted our interviews with some of the stars of Airwolf 90 many thanks to Dave and Hayley for their hospitality.

Mike Watkins is a long-standing family friend and Wolves fan who drove Dad and I to many a game in my youth, and he helped build a picture of the rich history of the club on those long car journeys from Liverpool to Molineux. As a kid, the Wolves talk over a (soft) drink in pubs pre-match with his friends Richard Preston, Bob Munn and George Murray was always a highlight of a matchday.

Closest to home, my parents, John and Terry, continue to be a fantastic support. Their proof-reading and editorial advice as each chapter was written was invaluable. My wife, Michelle, had to bear the brunt of the many evenings I was sat tapping away on the laptop neglecting family duties. I will be forever grateful for her sacrifices and patience.

WOLVES IS a special club and Molineux is an amazing place. Every now and then, there has been a reminder of this when I least expected it. I remember one occasion a few years ago when I was on holiday with Robbie Keane, who was the superstar at the time playing for Liverpool. We were chatting to some football fans at a bar. They all knew who he was and which club he played for. One fan asked where I was playing, and his mate said, He only plays for Wolves. And the other fan replied, Only? Wolves is massive. That drummed it in really. I knew anyway, but it brought it home to me just how important this club is.

I was nine years old when Wolves came into my life. I was training with Lichfield Colts. My manager, Don Astle, was a big Wolves fan who had experienced the worst times, the moments you wouldnt wish on any supporter. He donated his wages when Wolves almost went bust in the 1980s. He worked in a factory, he loved the club and he made donations of his wages to help save Wolves.

In 1990 a few of us were invited down to training one day, when Graham Turner was manager at the club. There was no centre of excellence then, it was before the academy had started. My friends at school were impressed, they were saying, Wolves are famous! We went down to a place called East Park and trained on the artificial turf. It was a four-week trial. I remember at training on the Monday nights you could hear sounds of the speedway from Monmore Green in the background. People like Rob Kelly and Tony Painter were developing the youth system, but it was just schoolboy stuff then. I got taken on for a year, and then each year after that I would be kept on again. There was myself and a boy called Claudio Coleman who stayed right to the end. He was a brilliant player of Italian heritage, a real talent.

Once we got taken on full time, we used to get two tickets left for us on a matchday, so I saw all the redevelopments happen in the early 90s. I remember the old standing terrace behind the goal, the South Bank, and the John Ireland Stand, as it was then, was such a long way from the pitch. Gradually they redeveloped the place. While they were building the Billy Wright Stand, there were Portakabins in the corner where the players would get changed, so my mate Gaz Astle and I would wait by the fence and if we were there at the right time wed see Stowelly [goalkeeper Mike Stowell] go out to do his warm-ups. We used to love watching him run out with all his goalkeeper gear. All I ever wanted to do was be a footballer.

I was lucky that the youth side I grew up with were a special bunch of lads. I was only 11 years old when I met Lee Naylor; he always had a hammer of a left foot even back then. Joleon Lescott came in a bit later; he was the year below me. We had Adam Proudlock and Keith Andrews too, they were really good prospects at the time. It was when we first went over to a tournament in Holland that I first met Robbie Keane. It was my GCSE year, Keano had just won the golden boot for the youth team and he was doing stuff in training that made us realise he was really special. He won player of the tournament; he tore up Ajax and Sampdoria on that trip. That was the last we saw of him as kids, he went straight into the first team the season after that.