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Wolves’ stay in the basement division was somewhat shorter than ours but after climbing two divisions they came to a standstill despite all their efforts to get back up. Finally this season they kicked off in the Premiership, their first action in the top division since 1984 when they slid from top to bottom in consecutive years.
Last season just had to be their big chance, with most other clubs badly hit financially Wolves were able to carry on, were not pushed into selling players and finally made it albeit via the play off lottery where they saw off Reading (with Glen Little and Luke Chadwick) and then Sheffield United. And that after they had ended the season behind both these clubs.
They set about strengthening their squad and brought in six new players before the season started, some for fees and others on frees, but spent less than £5 million in total in those transfer fees.
The first to arrive was Nigerian defender Isaac Okoronkwo who arrived from Ukranian club Shakhtar Donetsk in early July and a day later he was followed by midfielder Silas from Uniao Leiria in Portugal.
The Wolves fans were getting frustrated at the lack of signings, they were being linked with a lot of players but the moves all seemed to be breaking down. Then in late July they signed Oleg Luzhny from Arsenal and Sunderland’s Jody Craddock and on the first day of August two more players arrived, Senegal forward Henri Camara from Sedan and Steffen Iversen from Spurs.
Since the big kick off there have been two further additions with the loan signings of Joey Gudjonsson from Real Betis (previously of Villa) and Hassan Kachloul of Villa.
The soon found themselves bottom of the Premiership and some of the defeats were heavy. They conceded five at Ewood Park in their first match and followed that up with a 4-0 home defeat against Charlton in the next fixture.
Chelsea then hit them for five at Molineux and that left them with just one point from six games and they appeared to be claiming bottom place all for themselves.
But they have lifted themselves off the bottom, in fact right now there are five clubs below them and bottom club, cheating Leicester, find themselves four points behind Wolves.
This is due to the fact that they have won two and lost two of their last four matches and they can also add their Carling Cup First Round tie against Darlington to that.
The latest of these victories last Saturday must be the most remarkable. It was at Molineux against those Walkers Stadium cheats but when the players left the field at half time the most optimistic of Wolves fans must have given it up. In front of their own supporters they trailed 3-0 to the bottom team.
The most dramatic of comebacks started seven minutes into the second half with a goal from Colin Cameron and it was the same player who got it back to 3-2 on the hour from the penalty spot.
Alex Rae, rumoured in pre-season to be Turf Moor bound, got the equaliser eight minutes later and the comeback was complete four minutes from time when Henri Camara scored the winner to give them a most unlikely 4-3 win.
Manager Dave Jones said after the game, "Obviously I think it was a fantastic performance to come back like that but if I am honest I am more down about the first half than I am up about the second.
"That’s because we wouldn’t be able to come back from that situation if we were playing one of the top teams in the division."
The Wolves team was: Michael Oakes, Denis Irwin, Lee Naylor, Colin Cameron, Jody Craddock, Paul Butler, Alex Rae, Nathan Blake, Kenny Miller (Hassan Kachloul 45), Joey Gudjonsson (Shaun Newton 22), Henri Camara. Subs not used: Matt Murray, Steffen Iversen, Oleg Luzhny.
Click HERE to see all Wolves results this season.
Past Results in the last 20 years
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
a | |||||
1986/87 | 4 | a | 1-0 | 5,786 | Grewcock |
h | 2-5 | 2,947 | Grewcock James | ||
1987/88 | 4 | a | 0-3 | 10,002 | |
h | 0-3 | 10,386 | |||
1994/95 | 1 | h | 0-1 | 17,766 | |
a | 0-2 | 25,703 | |||
2000/01 | 1 | a | 0-1 | 20,156 | |
h | 1-2 | 15,483 | Branch | ||
2001/02 | 1 | a | 0-3 | 24,893 | |
h | 2-3 | 21,823 | I Moore Johnson | ||
2002/03 | 1 | a | 0-3 | 25,031 | |
h | 2-1 | 18,641 | Taylor West |
Click HERE
to see more results against Wolves.One from the past
A win at last
Burnley 3 (Dobson Casper O'Neil) Wolves 0
FA Cup Round Three – Saturday 3rd January 1970
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New Year celebrations were somewhat subdued for Clarets fans with the last game of the previous decade ending in a 5-1 home defeat against Liverpool that saw us in 17th place in the First Division.
But for those looking for new wheels then Skippers, the local Ford dealers, were offering the new look top of the range Cortina car for less than £1,000. Most of the money was going on admission to the cup tie though where stand tickets were priced at 12s 6d (62.5 pence).
Would Burnley be able to recover from that dreadful Boxing Day defeat? That was the question that needed answering and all news from the club was in trying to give us that lift we needed.
"Our chances are good," said manager Harry Potts. "We aim to play at least as well as we did at Molineux in this season’s league match where we won a fully deserved away point."
Not everyone agreed with Potts though and one irate supporter wrote to the Burnley Express complaining that we had too many skilful players in the side. And he added that Burnley didn’t have a better supporter than him. Surprisingly he refused permission to make his name public.
It wasn’t just the Liverpool game though, the Clarets had gone eleven weeks without a single victory and hopes were not high but the disappointments of recent weeks were all forgotten when we scored three goals in ten minutes late in the game.
The pitch was passed fit by referee Kevin Howley, the best referee I have ever seen, and there were no complaints from either side. Funny then that at the end of the game and with the Clarets firmly in the hat for the 4th round the Wolves manager Bill McGarry stormed out shouting, "It was a disgrace," when asked about the pitch.
It was described at the time by Burnley Express Sports Editor Keith McNee as being hard as iron but sanded down the middle, undeniably soft down one wing and reasonably good on the other.
For 73 minutes Burnley held the upper hand but could not find the breakthrough but when it finally came the floodgates opened. That first goal came from a right-wing corner which Brian O’Neil floated over to the far post where Martin Dobson, up from his defensive duties, soared above the Wolves defence to head home.
Five minutes later and David Wilson played a sweeping ball out to the left wing and Steve Kindon. the left winger got past his man and hit a rocket of a cross over that Frank Casper got to with a diving header to hit home number two.
Wilson, a striker who never scored a goal for the Clarets, tried a shot at goal but Man of the Match Brian O’Neil deflected it in and claimed the goal.
It was Burnley’s match now, there was no comeback for Wolves who left with their tails between their legs and the whinging of McGarry.
His centre-forward Derek Dougan, playing his first game after completing an eight week suspension just said of the pitch, "It didn’t suit my style".
The teams were,
Burnley: Peter Mellor, Fred Smith, Jim Thomson, Brian O’Neil, Martin Dobson, Dave Merrington, Frank Casper, Ralph Coates, Dave Wilson, Arthur Bellamy, Steve Kindon, Sub not used: Dave Thomas.
Wolves: Phil Parkes, Gerry Taylor, Derek Parkin, Mike Bailey, John Holsgrove, David Woodfield, Jim McCalliog, Mike O’Grady, Derek Dougan, Ian Wilson, David Wagstaffe, Sub not used: Paul Walker.
Referee: Kevin Howley (Billingham-on-Tees).
Attendance: 19,397.