Successful seasons for the Black Country’s football clubs
Season 1989-90
BACK in Division Two after a five-year absence, Wolves did reasonably well this season, finishing 10th in the table, 18 points behind the champions Leeds United.
Manager Graham Turner kept faith with most of the players who had done the club proud in 1988-89, and when the curtain came down, Wolves’ playing seasonal record read as follows: played 46, won 18, drew 13 and lost 15 with a goal count of 67 for and 60 against for a points tally of 67.
Suffered
In fact, this could, and should, have been a much bigger return as four defeats were suffered in their last six games.
Wolves’ two biggest wins of the campaign were those of 5-0 over Leicester City and Portsmouth, both at Molineux. The team also claimed an emphatic 4-0 victory at Newcastle, all the goals coming from the main man himself, Steve Bull.
Of their 15 defeats, those of 4-0 at West Ham (on the final day of the season) and 4-2 at home to Brighton were the heaviest.
‘Bully’ once again finished up as Wolves’ leading scorer in the League with 24 goals, followed by
Andy Mutch Robbie Dennison
with 11 and games; had a horrible winger spell from mid-october on eight. through to the end of
Playing in the same December when they Division as Wolves, gained only two wins, suffered Albion struggled for long seven defeats and periods – and that’s been played out five draws in 14 said several times before. games; and they finished They won only two of poorly as well, winning their first eight League only two of their last 11
fixtures.
Hat-trick
Their full record was played 46, won 12, drew 5 and lost 19, goals for 67, against 71, for a points total of 51 – only three away from disaster as they finished in 20th position.
Don Goodman scored a hat-trick in Albion’s 7-0 home win over Barnsley in November. Martyn Bennett also made his senior debut for the Baggies in this game.
The next two ‘best of season’ wins were both by 3-0, at home and away against Brighton, while a 5-1 thrashing by Newcastle was the Baggies’ worst defeat of the campaign.
Goodman with 21 goals was the team’s top League scorer, followed by Tony Ford with eight. In fact, Goodman was the first Albion striker to net over 20 goals in a season since
1970-71.
Walsall, meanwhile, had another disatrous season! For the second time running they finished 24th and bottom of their respective Division (4) with this awful record: played 46, won only nine, drew 14 and lost 23, nine at home. On the goals front, just 40 were scored while 72 were conceded, and the team’s points tally was a meagre 41 out of a possible 138.
2-0 was their best win – achieved twice at Bury and Mansfield. They crashed to two 4-0 defeats, both away at Brentford and Bristol City. Stuart Rimmer, with ten goals, was the Saddlers’ top League scorer.
In the FA Cup competition this term, Wolves went out in the 3rd round, beaten by Sheffield Wednesday. Albion followed in round round five, ousted by Aston Villa, after earlier wins over Wimbledon and Charlton Athletic. Walsall were also knocked out in round three – by Hereford
United. Cup
In the Littlewoodssponsored
League Cup, Wolves beat Lincoln City in the first round before losing to neighbours Aston Villa in their next game. Albion departed at the 5th round stage, defeated by Derby County, having taken out Bradford City (on aggregate via the away goal rule) and Newcastle United prior to that. And Walsall went out early doors, beaten by Port Vale.
Wolves went out of the Zenith Data Systems Cup in round one, defeated 1-0 by Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Albion also got booted out in the first round, crashing to a 5-0 home defeat at the hands of Derby County. Remember the Baggies had lost 5-2 at West Ham the previous season!
And the Saddlers beat Cardiff City but lost to Shrewsbury Town in their preliminary games of the Leyland DAF Trophy, yet moved forward by ousting Aldershot and Southend United in rounds 1 and 2 before losing 5-3 on penalties to Bristol Rovers in the next round (after a 0-0 draw).
General club news: In 1990, Sir Jack Hayward
bought his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers football club. Paul Cook was among the new faces at Molineux while Mick Gooding and Ally Robertson moved out.
and
Keepers
Albion used four goalkeepers during the season –
Paul Bradshaw, Andy Marriott, Stuart Naylor
Gavin Ward. Gary Bannister, Steve Parkin, Craig Shakespeare Bernard Mcnally
and were signed by manager Brian Talbot who transferred Chris Whyte to Leeds for £450,000 and let Martyn Bennett move to Worcester City after 13 years at The Hawthorns, during which time he made 218 first-class appearances.
And Walsall played 55 games this season with goalkeeper Ron Green appearing in 53 of them. In fact, Saddlers’ managers Jack Love and Bill Moore between them used 29 players during the course of the campaign.