Wolverhampton Wanderers 1980 team

                                      Wolverhampton Wanderers 1980 at Molineux 
   Top L to R : John Barnwell (Mgr), Kenny Hibbit (Winger), John Richards (Striker),                        Paul Bradshaw (Goalkeeper), Andy Gray (Striker), Richie Barker (Asst Mgr.)
    Front L to R :  Mel Eves, George Berry, Peter Daniel,                                                                                     Geoff Palmer, Willie Carr,Derek Parkin 


        This is the apex team of Wolverhampton Wanderers ; the boyhood and teenage team I followed fervently in the 70s till the late 80s.I know most of the players names by heart and they have fallen from the top flight (English Premier League) since 2011 or so. 

       During my primary school days and all the way till pre - University, I would spend 
S$ 1.20 (then a princely sum) to buy the SHOOT magazine from the mamak (Indian) shop along Middle Road and flip over fervently to read any news at all about My Team. Those pre internet and mobile smart phone days are a lifetime away, but the magazines arrived approximately 2 to 3 weeks after the print date, so I would buy the magazine after the big matches were done. I would pore over every inch of the magazine and look for any news or photo spread of the tea and if there was I would take the pullout and paste it up on my bedroom wall. 

     It was a simple pleasure those days, and I had great times debating our teams with fellow classmates and friends Eddie Cheng and Andrew Lee. Eddie supported Liverpool and Andrew supported Arsenal so we had numerous good times rooting for our respective teams. Those days, Wolves, Leeds, Arsenal and Liverpool were all playing in Division One
or the top flight of clubs. They were a striking team, with their colours old gold and black and had a very good strike rate, with top class strikers in John Richards and Andy Gray (who at that time was the most expensive signing in the League of GBP 1 million pounds). 

     Wolves never attained many cups in the 80s, the last time they won anything significant   was the League Cup in 1980 (against Nottingham Forest as I recall) but since then they have not won anything and were relegated and bobbed up and down from Premier League to Championship and below and back up again Back then, I had a soft spot for the team and even went to Molineux (in the Midlands) to view the stadium in 1987. Nowadays, I hardly check up their results and would not say I am 'hardcore Wolves fan' more like a 'fair weather' fan. 

     Those precocious years of teenage joys and angst I shall always remember.