1974 League Cup Final ; Man City 1 Wolves 2

The entire match is here. Unbelievable they still have access to this memorable final. I guess it was around this period I decided to make an emotional decision to support Wolves for better or for worse. The time was when I was in Primary 6 (1974), and possibly just being fascinated about football and the Division 1 games which were showed on Channel 5's "Star Soccer" channel. 

Some of the names come back to me from my submerged memories (ROM) of the last 40 years and some images from "Shoot!" magazine from 1975 - 1978 spring to mind. The players who played in this key League Cup Final, must be in their late '60s or early '70s if they are still alive. Bill McGarry was the manager then and the 2 goalscorers, Kenny Hibbit, John Richards ,captain Mike Bailey and the goalie Gary Pierce all played an integral part in this memorable game. Other players to note Frank Munro, McCall, Derek Parkin, Alan Sunderland, Derek Dougan, Wagstaffe (?), Palmer (?), Powell all took the game by the scruff of the neck and while it was gritty at times, it reflected how a game must be played and won, true grit, passion, fighting spirit, quality and stamina. 

Man City were the clear favourites had Dennis Law, Colin Bell, Stan Lee, Rodney Marsh, Towers and Colin McRae in their team. All household names.

The games of those days were played completely using UK players, Welsh, Scotsmen, Irish and the English, almost predominatly white, while todays games shows totally different hues from all corners of the World. The level of the game has improved tremendously today, but England's football quality and level of competence is far from being considered 'world class' having won nothing since 1966 ; a long 52 barren years. 

I probably started to subconciously 'follow'  Wolves around the '74, '75 era when it was fashionable to 'follow' a football team. My brother John 'followed' Leeds United and I, Wolves. 

I was about 12 years of age, and then, in 1974, we just had colour TV introduced to households in Singapore. Back then we were considered 3rd world, so not many houses had TVs let alone colour TVs. The first match most of us watched must have been the World Cup Final between Germany and Holland in 1974.

For the most part of the 40 odd years, Wolves fortunes just went from bad to worse. Their fortunes went downhill after the 1980 League Cup final, they almost went bankrupt, rescued by Sir Derek Dougan and then Sir Jack Hayward, the club had plumbed the depths of dispair. I was embarrased to be their fan, and those were indeed bleak times.

Now, 44 years later, they are right at the top,with Chinese money, a shrewd management team and a brilliant coach in Nuno, I believe their time has finally come to show the world what they can achieve in the BPL as well as in Europe in the coming years.

The future has never looked brighter for the Wolverhampton Wanderers in my humble opinion.