Huddersfield Town welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to the John Smith's Stadium on Tuesday evening for the only remaining hope of us doing the double over a team this season. We beat them on November the 25th and in doing so, looked to have turned the corner of a terrible start to the season. However, it was a turn of the corner into disaster. Since then, we have only earned one more point. Anybody who saw that game, simply would not believe that. We were 14th in the Premier League then, only 6 points behind Wolves. Now we have both feet planted firmly in the Championship. We all know it's over. Let's just have some entertainment before the axe finally falls.

A brief history of Wolverhampton Wanderers: formed in 1877 as St Luke's FC, they later merged with a local cricket club to become Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in 1879. They played their first FA Cup match in 1874 and soon turned professional and as such were one of the 12 clubs invited to form the first ever Football League in 1888. They finished 3rd in that inaugural FL season and reached their first FA Cup Final, losing 0-3 to double winners Preston North End. At the start of the next season, they played the first of their matches at their new home ground, Molineux. And have been there ever since.

They won their first FA Cup in 1893, beating Everton 1-0 with a goal from Harry Allen. And added a 2nd in 1908, beating Newcastle Utd 3-1, remarkable for the fact that in this season they had dropped a league and finished that season in 9th place in the 2nd Division. They lost another Cup Final (1-2 to Spurs) in 1921 and despite this cup success, they dropped another league, to the 3rd Division (North) in 1923. Only one season at that level, as they beat Rochdale to the title by one point. And then, under the management of Major Frank Buckley, a war hero who had been badly injured at the Battle of the Somme, they finally won promotion back to the 1st Division in 1932, after an absence of 25 years. The Major stayed at the club until 1944 in which time they had finished as runners up twice in the league and once in the FA Cup (1939, 1-4 v Portsmouth).

After the war, they finished runners up again. Stan Cullis hung up his boots at the end of that season to take over the manager's hot seat and gained instant success by winning the FA Cup again. This was in 1949 and they beat Leicester City 3-1 with goals from Jesse Pye (2) and Sammy Smyth. The next season they finished runners up in the league again, beaten on goal average by Portsmouth.

The 1950s though would bring major trophies to the club. They won their first ever league title in 1954, captained by Billy Wright and twice more in 1958 and 1959. They then became the first English club to compete in the newly formed European Cup (now known as the Champions League). The 1960s began with another FA Cup triumph, beating Blackburn Rovers this time 3-0, with two goals from Norman Deeley and an own goal. They also finished that season as runners up in the league, beaten by a point by Burnley.

That was the end of the success though and following Cullis leaving in 1964, the club got relegated. Only to bounce back again after a couple of years. They were now managed by Huddersfield Town legend Bill McGarry and back in the 1st Division they finished high enough to qualify for the new UEFA Cup and in 1972 they reached the Final. This was a two legged final and played against another English club, Tottenham Hotspur. Jim McCalliog scored for Wolves in the 1st leg at Molineux, but Spurs took  2-1 lead back to White Hart Lane. David Wagstaffe scored for them, but Spurs had earlier gone 3-1 up on aggregate and held out for the win.

They won silverware again in 1974, winning the League Cup for the first time when they beat Manchester City 2-1 at Wembley. Goals that day came from Kenny Hibbitt and John Richards. They were relegated and promoted again and then won the League Cup for the second time, beating current European champions Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the 1980 Final with a goal from future Sky Sports dinosaur, Andy Gray.

That win at the start of the 80s though gave their followers false hope as financial ruin took over the club and by 1986 they had fallen all the way down to the 4th Division. They reached the final of the first ever Play Offs in that first season in the FL basement, but got beaten 0-3 on aggregate by Aldershot. The Wolves team had amongst it's ranks now the likes of ex Town men Steve Stoutt and Micky Holmes as well as future England player Steve Bull. But that failure sparked off more success as the Wolves won the 4th Division in the next season and followed that up with not only the 3rd Division title, but also the Sherpa Van Trophy (now known as the Checkatrade Trophy). In that 1988 Final at Wembley, they beat Burnley 2-0 with goals from Andy Mutch and Robbie Dennison.

Local businessman and lifelong fan Jack Hayward bought the club in 1990 and started the redevelopment of the dilapidated Molineux and set about the task of reaching the newly formed Premier League. It wouldn't be reached until 2003, despite twice making the Play Offs. Promotion came under the management of Dave Jones and it was through the Play Offs, beating Sheffield Utd 3-0 in the final in Cardiff. They dropped back down again straight away and came back up again in 2009 after winning the Championship title under the management of Mick McCarthy. They avoided relegation for a couple of seasons then went down in the third. This was followed by another relegation down to the 3rd tier (now League One) and back straight up again with Kenny Jackett in charge. Then last season they won the Championship again to return to the Premier league after a 6 year absence.

Head to Head



Town lead in the overall head to head with 37 wins to Wolverhampton's 32, with 14 draws.

I think we can quite safely say that we, over the last few seasons, have been a bit of a bogey side for Wolves. Of the last 13 matches that we have met, Town have won 11 of them. The only two defeats in that sequence coming in back to back seasons, with both matches being played in 2015. Of the victories, there have been some crackers. The last match played being particularly memorable and slightly poignant as it was the last win we had before going on our terrible run over December. It was of course, Aaron Mooy who scored both goals that day in a match where we could quite easily have put five or six past them, we were that good. So how did it all go so horribly wrong?!  

The previous meetings before this season were in our promotion season and both finished with 1-0 victories for the mighty Terriers. Ex Wolverine, Rajiv van La Parra scored the goal early on in the home game and celebrated in front of the Wolves fans. Nice! And then the win at Molineux was won with an Izzy Brown long range goal that secured our place in the Play Offs.

Another great win for us came in April 2013, the day Jermaine Beckford scored twice in a 3-1 win, to secure our place in the Championship for another season, but also send Wolves closer to the relegation that eventually came their way to drop down to League 1.

Before that, back in the late 90s/early 2000s there were some more great wins over Wolves. Famous Town attackers such as Delroy Facey, Peter Ndlovu, Martin Smith and Marcus Stewart all scored goals in wins over the Old Gold. And another cracker came in September 1998 when much fancied Wolves came to the MacAlpine Stadium. Paul Dalton scored in the first half as Town led all the way to injury time when a young Robbie Keane scored the equaliser for them. All over we thought as they snatched an undeserved point. No chance. This was the Town managed by Peter Jackson and they never gave up. With almost the last kick of the game, ooh Ben Thornley belted home the winner to send the crowd wild.

Way back in time though, well back to the sixties, Wolves were the first visitors to play under the Denis Law floodlights, so named as they were paid for with the money from his transfer to Manchester City. This was an FA Cup replay. Wolves were top of Division 1 at the time, and were champions and runners up in the two seasons before, and we were bottom of Division 2. After an unlikey 1-1 draw at Molineux, Derek Stokes getting our goal, the league leaders came back to Leeds Road and were sent home packing with a magnificent Town victory by 2 goals to 1. Stokes again scoring with Mike O'Grady getting the winner. A massive crowd of 46,155 turned out on a cold January night for the novelty of the floodlit game. And in true Town fashion, we went out to lower league Barnsley in the next round.

In the post war years when Wolves were top dogs and Town were struggling to hold on to our top league status, we did get some sound thrashings. A couple of 1-7s and a 1-6. Unfortunately when we were top dogs in the 20s, they were down in Division 2, so we didn't get to thrash them then.

The first meeting of the two clubs came back in our first ever season in the Football League, in Division 2 in 1910/11. That was league match no 8 in the history of Huddersfield Town and was a 3-0 Town win with goals from Henry Hamilton, Sandy McCubbin and our first ever penalty scored by William Bartlett. We repeated the victory at home, winning 3-1 to complete the league double. A feat we hopefully will repeat in this match this week.    

So what's happening at Molineux?  Managed now by Nuno Espírito Santo, a Portuguese goalkeeper who played at Porto under the management of José Mourinho. Most of his 18 year playing career was as back up goalie, which is why he only has 199 first team appearances to show for all his years. Despite this, he does have plenty of medals in his locker, including the Champions League with Porto in 2004, and the UEFA Cup in 2003, both of which he won by sitting down behind José, watching Vítor Baía take the glory.
He did represent Portugal at youth level and then in the 1996 Olympics. He did make the squad for the Euro 2008 competition, but never played and never even won a single cap.
He hung up his gloves in 2010 and went into coaching. First of all at Málaga CF and then back to Portugal to manage Rio Ave FC, who he led to the Europa League for the first time in the club's history. That led to two seasons at Valencia and another back at Porto before coming to England and joining Wolves of the Championship. He wrote his name into Wolverhampton legend straight away by winning the title in his first season and leading them back to the Premier League, where they are more than holding their own and he has won himself a Manager of the Month award, for September.

Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo

Club Connections: I've already mentioned Wolves legend Steve Stoutt who played for them in their 4th Division days. He started his professional career at Town as an amateur. He was a trainee firefighter, playing for Bradley Rangers, when he used to just turn up at Town training sessions. During an injury crisis, Mick Buxton gave him a game in an FA Cup match at home to Notts County. Despite the defeat, he kept his place in the side and suddenly he'd gone from Bradley Rangers to making his league debut at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. He made another few appearances for us before moving to Molineux in 1985 and helped them to win promotion. He was Player of the Year in 1987.

Rajiv van La Parra is out on loan at Middlesbrough unfortunately, so won't be repeating his winning goal against them this time. He of course was part of our Play Off winning side in 2017, having signed from Wolves, being on loan from them the previous season. He had a couple of seasons at Molinuex, always endearing himself to the fans. Last season, a lot of Town fans bemoaned his style of play, saying he was a bloody liability. Now he's moved on, some of those fans are now saying he ought to be back here, playing in the Premier League.  

Bill McGarry is a legend at both clubs. At Town as a tough tackling wing half. At Wolverhampton as a major trophy winning manager. He signed for us in 1951 from Port Vale and in his second season at Leeds Road was an ever present in the 52/53 2nd division promotion campaign. He was one of seven players who played every match that season, including the entire back line, a feat that has never been matched or is ever likely to be. He spent ten years at Town, making 363 appearances, before leaving to become player/manager at Bournemouth. One of those games played was the famous 6-7 defeat at Charlton Athletic, when he scored one of the six goals. He also won 4 caps for England and is one of the small group of Huddersfield Town players to have played at the World Cup Finals. He played twice in 1954, against the hosts Switzerland, and Uruguay.
After Bournemouth, he had spells in charge of Watford and Ipswich Town before joining Wolves in 1968. They were a first division team then and became the first winners of the Texaco Cup, a competition for English, Scottish and Irish clubs who didn't qualify for Europe (Town played in it in 71/72). They beat Hearts 3-2 on aggregate in the final. And as mentioned in the history section of this article, they made it to the UEFA Cup final in 1972, losing on aggregate to Spurs. Then two years later won the League Cup, beating Man City in the final.

One of the players McGarry signed for Wolves in 1972 was Steve Kindon. Known as "The Tank", Kindo started his career at Burnley in 1968 and scored 28 times for them in 4 years before moving to Wolverhampton. He would eventually replace Derek Dougan at centre forward, but his bustling style of wing play made him a crowd favourite in those early years. He scored 31 times there before moving back to Burnley in 1977. All wasn't going well for him on his return to Turf Moor. They were a struggling 2nd division team, but when they received a bid from Town manager Mick Buxton to take him to Leeds Road, Kindo initially didn't want to drop two divisions to play for the team who at the time were top of the 4th division. So Buxton invited him to come and watch a match one night in December 79. Instead of going and sitting in the directors box, he went and stood on the terraces with the fans and as he watched us demolish Rochdale 5-1, he thought that his services wouldn't be needed. Buxton told him otherwise and so he signed for what was a massive £55,000 for us and made his debut on Boxing Day at the Shay in a surprise 1-2 defeat to Halifax Town. However he scored in the next game, a 2-1 win at Doncaster Rovers and the legend was born.
He truly was a crowd favourite, one of the most adored Town players ever. He scored 14 goals in the second half of that season to help secure the 4th division title and went on to bag a total of 35 in his Town career, which sadly was cut short by a knee injury. He stayed on at the club and became the club's first ever Commercial Manager.
And he's going to be here for this match. He's the special guest at Canalside for the Boothy's Beer and Banter at the Perry's Fanzone. He'll hopefully be doing the half time draw as well.
All together now......KIIIIN-DO! KIIIIN-DO! KIIIIN-DO!

Iwan Roberts was signed by Eoin Hand for Town at the start of the 1990/91 season from Watford. The fee was a club record, paid for by the sale of Craig Maskell, but Iwan struggled for goals early on in his Town career. By Christmas, he had only scored 6. Oh for a 6 goal striker now!   By the end of the season though, he was joint top scorer on 14, level with Kieran O'Regan, who only got so many because in that season we had 14, yes 14 penalties awarded! He only scored 9 of them. Oh for a 14 penalty season now!  
The season after that was the one where we reached the Play Offs for the first time, under the management of Ian Ross, and Iwan scored a massive 34 goals in all competitions. He only managed 15 though in the following season as Town wallowed in mid table mediocrity. Ross was replaced by Neil Warnock and Iwan was sold to Leicester City. He totalled 50 goals in all for us, bagged another 41 for Leicester, then made the move to Molineux in 1996.
His time at Wolves wasn't so good. He did score a hattrick against the Baggies, but only stayed for one season, recalling in his autobiography that their supporters were mental and he has no fondness for the club at all. He scored 12 times for them and moved on to Norwich City where he has legendary status. He scored 96 goals in 7 seasons there, which puts him 3rd in their all time scorers chart.

Conor Coady skippered Wolves to the championship of the Championship last season. He signed for Town in 2014 and scored his first goal in a Town shirt at Molineux as Town beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1. He came to us from his home club Liverpool for a fee of half a million quid, having played once in the Premier League, but Town made a nice little profit, selling him for 2 million after just one season. Originally a midfielder, Coady now plays centre back as part of a 3 man Wolves defence.

There have been others. England international Mike O'Grady, who scored in the FA Cup against Wolves in the match mentioned above in the Head to Head section, played for both clubs. Goalkeeepers Gary Pierce and John Oldfield. Recently striker Benik Afobe. Full back from the 60s, Derek Parkin. Midfielder from the 90s, Phil Robinson. Micky Holmes, who won the Sherpa Van trophy with Wolves. And Mel Eves who came on loan from Wolves in 1984 and scored against Leeds.
Possibly more. I've lost my list.  


Recent form: Town are 20th in the Premier League with 11 points. Wolves are 8th with 40 points.



Last 6 matches:

Cardiff 0-0 Town
Town 0-3 Man City
Town 0-1 Everton
Chelsea 5-0 Town
Town 1-2 Arsenal (Grant)
Newcastle 2-0 Town

Wolves 3-0 West Ham (Saïss, Jiménez 2)
Everton 1-3 Wolves (Neves pen, Jiménez, Dendoncker)
Wolves 3-2 Shrewsbury (FA Cup replay) (Doherty 2, Cavaleiro)
Wolves 1-1 Newcastle (Boly)
Bristol City 0-1 Wolves (FA Cup) (Cavaleiro)
Bournemouth 1-1 Wolves (Jiménez pen)

(26-02-2019, 11:05)WakeyTerrier Wrote: Do we have to go? If the cold of this morning was anything to by it could well be very chilly tonight