Keeper Fred more than happy to get up the pitch
FROM former Wolves’ favourite, Les Wilson, comes an unusual slant on the late Fred Davies, the Wolves goalkeeper of the 1960s who died recently.
On June 11, 1967, Wolves played against Hibernian in Toronto, Ontario during their preseason tour of North America.
As Les, who along with Fred Davies was part of that team, put it,
Spirit
“This Wolves team had tremendous character, team spirit, along with the outstanding desire and will to win at all costs.”
In one of the pictures reproduced here, John Holsgrove is pictured with Fred (who is wearing the number 14) and physio George Palmer at the Varsity Stadium.
Wolves won the game 2-1 courtesy of goals from Bobby Thomson and Derek Dougan.
But most interesting was Wolves’ line-up: Phil Parkes, Wilson, Thomson, Holsgrove, Graham Hawkins, Fred Davies, Terry Wharton, Ronnie
Allen (manager), Derek Dougan, Peter Knowles and Dave Wagstaffe.
Goalkeeper Fred Davies replaced David Burnside in midfield, while manager Ronnie Allen replaced Alun Evans.
The unusual replacements came because of injuries. Versatile Fred Davies also replaced England international — and the Wolves’ captain – Mike Bailey, playing outfield, and scored against the crack Dutch Team Ado the Hague. Wolves defeated the Dutch Champions by two goals to nil in the Los Angeles Coliseum Stadium – Terry Wharton scored the other goal for Wolves.
Also reproduced here is a photo of the Wolves team that eventually won the whole United Soccer Association competition – defeating Aberdeen 6-5 in the final on 14 July 1967.