Entering Phase 3

I am getting used to this Premier lark now. You play four games then you take two weeks off. Then you check what day and time the next 4 games are on and wonder where the next points are coming from.

Phase 3 for Wolves comprises of games against Everton away, Villa at home, Stoke away and Arsenal at home. All the games are on Saturdays.  Villa game is on Sky so is 12:45 kick off and Arsenal is on ESPN so that means 5:30. The away games are at the old fashioned time of 3:00.

Everton comes first which will doubtless mean getting a request from a young scouser to give them a couple of quid to watch the car while the game is on. I have never given them the money, and my car has always been intact after the game, and the kids who have been paid by some to be on guard  are nowhere to be seen after the game. Bet I regret saying that next Saturday! My main Everton v Wolves memory was 8/9/79 when Andy Gray made his debut for Wolves and scored in a 3-2 win. That was a very positive time to be a Wolves fan as it looked like we were building a team that could beat anyone. It did take us to League Cup success and into Europe. But as we know now that was to be the last Wolves team to be competitive in the top half of the top division.

The following week sees Villa come to Molineux. These two teams used to be great rivals back in the sixties but nowadays it doesn’t  carry the intense rivalry that we see in the Black Country derby or even against Blues. That’s not to say that beating the team from Spaghetti Junction wouldn’t go down well. The last time the teams met saw Villa win 4-0 at Molineux so we could do without a repeat of that. The Wolves v Villa game that  probably most depicted the rivalry back in the sixties was when the two teams met in the FA Cup in the 64/65 season. The teams drew 1-1 at Villa Park then 0-0 in the Molineux replay. In those days it then went to a third game on a neutral pitch. So the decider was in front of a packed Hawthorns and a Hughie McIlmoyle hat trick saw Wolves through.

Then we take the short trip up to Junction 15 of the M6 to play Stoke for the long throw Olympics. Delap or Halford, who you betting on? Strange that this game is at 3 on Saturday given that the return fixture next April is already scheduled for a Sunday at 12 on police advice. No particular game at Stoke sticks in my mind but I do remember a night game there when John Richards, during his time as one of the hottest strikers in England missed with a free header from two yards out – it can happen to anyone. The worst miss I can ever remember seeing live.

Phase 3 ends with the Arsenal coming to try to outplay us. The last time they came to Molineux was in my mind one of the highlights of our last season in the top flight. In the first half Wolves were superb and lead through a Vio Ganea goal. Arsenal and Thierry Henry in particular stepped up a gear in the 2^nd half and won the game but the first 45 minutes was the best Wolves played all season. Plenty of memories of Arsenal games of the past. But all those that were there on 20^th November 1971 will never forget that game. Arsenal came with the team that had won the League and FA cup double the previous season and had a half time lead through a Ray Kennedy goal that finished second in the Match of the Day goal of the month. But in the second half with snow coming down Dave Wagstaffe (photo above) equalised with the winner of goal of the month and Wolves went on to record an unforgettable 5-1 win with Hibbitt’s goal getting third in goal of the month.

Here’s hoping for a successful phase 3. The points won’t be easy to come by and we could be in the bottom 3 at the end of this phase. But then nobody expected to see Wolves score 5 against Arsenal in 1971 so you never know….

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