King John, Kenny and the Golden Glow of Molineux
Wolves legends will be back in the city for pre-christmas book signing session
TWO of Wolves’ greatest ever players will be in the city centre next week, giving fans a chance to meet them and reminisce on some of the greatest days in the club’s history – the 1970s.
John Richards and Kenny Hibbitt were key parts of that now-legendary side, who lifted the League Cup in 1974 and 1980, and went all the way to the final of the UEFA Cup in 1972.
Given the huge part both played in Wolves’ success in those days, they of course feature heavily in the recently published Golden Glow – the heavyweight hardback penned by our very own Wolves obsessives Clive Corbett and Steve Gordos, which looks at some of the most exciting floodlit clashes at Molineux down the decades, beginning with the very first in 1953.
Indeed Kenny Hibbitt also wrote the foreword to the book, in which he enthuses:
“I will never forget the atmosphere and support of the Wolves fans. Those fantastic nights under the lights will live with me forever, and thanks to Clive and Steve they are now recorded for posterity in this wonderful book.”
Kenny and John will be in-store at Waterstones Wolverhampton, on Victoria Street, from 3pm to 5pm on the afternoon of Thursday November 10, to sign copies of Golden Glow – a perfect Christmas present for any Wolves fan who doesn’t already own a copy.
Wolves were of course one of the pioneers of artifially-lit evening games, with the first being a floodlit match against a South African XI on 30th September 1953.
This was the first of the famous floodlit friendlies of the 1950s that included visits from the likes of Spartak, Honved and Real
Madrid, and laid the foundations for the European Cup and later, the Champions League.
“But of course, this was just the beginning of a rich history of contests under lights for Wolverhampton Wanderers,” says Clive Corbett.
“There was the UEFA Cup run of 1971-72, the visit of Leeds United in May of the same season, the club’s revival of the 1980s, brief stays but memorable nights in the Premiership under Dave Jones and Mick Mccarthy, right up to the successes of Nuno Espirito Santo’s team.
“108 matches have been chosen to feature in the book, by a combination of fans and former players. A number of those games are far from glorious and quite surprising.”
* Just as we were going to press, Clive informed us that Steve Daley and Willie Carr will also be at the signing session. Four legends from those golden days!