UP FRONT IN THIS TEAM? I’D BE ON 20 GOALS BY NOW!
Wolves legend Steve Bull is giddy with excitement at the Old Gold’s vibrant revival
When opportunity allows, Steve Bull likes nothing more than slipping in among thousands of Wolves fans at an away ground and joining them in song.
‘I did five or six last season,’ he says. ‘I love going in with them all.’
Bull became the club’s record scorer in a different era, a man who can recall the days in the Fourth Division when Molineux had cracked tiles and cold showers. So there is a certain romance about him stood in the stands with the masses, witnessing Wolves’ vibrant revival. There was just one drawback. ‘ I only see one half,’ he tells
Sportsmail. ‘I watch the first and I’m dying for a p***, so I go down and they won’t let me back up! They are singing to me on the concourse, shoving pies and beers in my hand.
‘I reply, “no, I want to go watch the match”. So I try to hold it as much as I can. I sometimes wear hats but once somebody spots you, that’s it.’
Bull has only been in with the travelling crowd once this campaign, for the 3- 1 Premier League win against Tottenham at Wembley. he would like to do so again, this time for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Watford.
‘My mate has already organised the bus,’ he says.
Aged 54, Bull has given in to giddiness. he is sitting in the dugout that belongs to nuno espirito Santo, talking at a hundred miles an hour and revelling in his club’s new status.
‘We ain’t moving, we’re stopping up there,’ he says.
Born and raised down the road in Tipton, Bull’s Black Country vernacular only enhances the legend he forged by scoring 306 goals for the club and representing england at the 1990 World Cup. he is one of Wolves’ own and speaks as they do. The current mood is ‘bostin’ (great), and ‘Wolves ay we’ is a phrase which requires no translation for him.
he lives a ‘stone’s throw’ from the club’s Compton Park training ground, and is looking forward to taking his nine-week- old pointer spaniel Lola for walks in local parks. he does not need keys to access Molineux for our interview. ‘That’s my key there you daft b*****!’ he says.
More than anyone he can place his finger on the city’s pulse right now. ‘You’ve only got to go to a pub and they are in there singing,’ he says, circling his face. “nuno had a dream. Bully’s a tatter.” They’re enjoying it and it’s about time. I know we’ve come up a few years ago, had some promotions and title wins, but this season tops the whole lot.’
Bull will get to the tales from his time. how he fired Wolves up two divisions by scoring 50 goals in backtoback seasons, including the occasion he got four at St James’ Park on new Year’s Day after sinking a ‘skinful of beer’ the night before.
he will talk about becoming the first player in a generation to feature for england from the third tier. And he will relive fond memories of Paul Gascoigne and Bobby Robson, and categorically rule out ever lamping Gary Lineker. But first there is reflection on the scene he surveys now as he sits across from the
Steve eve Bull Stand Stand, named in 2003. ‘I pass down here most days with my daughter, Gracie Jo. She goes, “Oh, so what”.’ he laughs. ‘I just did my job and got paid for it.’ he looks out on to the turf. ‘I used to get an itch,’ he says. ‘I still do every now and again. But my knees won’t let me. The head will go but my body won’t.’ So instead Bull does matchday hospitality and media, providing that connection to a rich heritage. A heritage that made Wolves an attractive proposition for owners Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate that took over in the summer of 2016 and has since changed horizons. ‘I was worried about the tradition,’ Bull admits. ‘We’ve had homegrown players, players homegrown managers, homegrown chairmen, and now it’s mostly foreign. But what do you want? Do you want to play in the Championship? Or do you want a Premier League side that will compete with the best in the world? If you want to go forwards you’ve got to buy into the new.’
Wolves have certainly tapped into the modern game better than most, utilising the contacts of agent Jorge Mendes to assemble a squad of premium talent. But a link to the familiar has been retained. Matt Doherty was with the club in League One, Conor Coady joined in 2015, and Ryan Bennett and John Ruddy provide further British texture. Morgan Gibbs-White leads the academy prospects.
nuno, and the board, have ensured a balance. The imports are respectful of the club’s history and Molineux still feels part of the local fabric, with the Billy Wright statue a lighthouse for those walking in from fr the city.
More than once, chairman Jeff Shi and managing director Laurie Dalrymple have bought beer for fans in pubs before games and ahead of the quarter- final against Manchester United, Bull was in The Royal Oak handing ing out drinks dri tokens to be redeemed at the ground.
‘The fans have stuck by the club for many years, through thick and thin,’ Bull says. ‘now the good times are here the club want to give them something back. I know it’s a pint, but they don’t need to do that. It’s a good gesture.’
The dramatic lightshow projected before night games, which together with an in-house DJ turns Molineux into a nightclub, is not to everyone’s taste but it is certainly distinctive and in a way a nod to the past.
Wolves were one of the pioneers of floodlit matches, facing honved under black skies in 1954 and sparking the idea for a european Cup competition.
‘We used to come in an hour before the game, switch the lights on and that was it,’ Bull chuckles. ‘ now it’s unbelievable what they can do.’
he pauses. ‘As long as the players do it on the pitch. Because you can’t have all that fuss and then be s***.’
Bull also has a nostalgic take on the kit, which has morphed this season from old gold to mellow yellow.
‘It’s a no in my eyes, but I’m a bit biased,’ he says. ‘I prefer the old days, the Goodyear kit, proper old gold and
To score four when you’ve had a skinful of beer. There’s something wrong, isn’t there?
I started running towards the Scots fans. Then thought, ‘What are you doing you muppet?’
black. But it doesn’t matter. You can tell by the people in the stands they still want a piece of the action.’
The action was something to behold against United, with Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota scoring the goals in a fashion Bull admires — quick shooting, leaving the goalkeeper no time to get set.
‘It is a natural instinct,’ he says. ‘Most goals are scored underneath legs. That’s all I did, concentrated on hitting the ball cleanly.’
But to get so many? ‘It was the hunger and desire. I thought, “That ball is mine.” I was single-minded, whether that’s good or bad I don’t know. Up front in this team? I’d be on about 20 goals by now. It is lovely to watch. Jimenez is revelling out there now. Nuno’s a very good tactician.’
Bull smiled when he saw Jota spread his arms in an aeroplane celebration. ‘I did that for my hat-tricks,’ he says. ‘All 18.’ One of those came at Newcastle on January 1, 1990. While hungover. Manager Graham Turner had allowed his players some halves to see in the New Year. Bull and friends made them pints and then some. ‘Four of us did it, we got up the next day and thought, “What have we done”.’
Fortunately it did not impair his finishing. ‘ To score four when you’ve had a skinful of beer? There’s something wrong somewhere, isn’t there? That game was a massive one off and it never happened again, as tempting as it was to try.’
That summer Bull was in Italy playing for England. His debut had come in 1989, having scored 50 goals in a season for the second time in a row, the first player to do so since the 1920s. He had led Wolves to the Third Division title but was yet to play for them in the second tier when Robson called him up. Against Scotland at Hampden Park he made his debut, with 3,000 Wolves fans making the trip just for him. Thinking back, a big smile spreads. ‘I’m going, “This is class”.’
Then Bull went and scored. ‘The goal itself I still pinch myself. It was natural. Boom. Then I started running towards the jocks. “What are you doing you muppet?” So I turned round, put my hands in the air, and have Gascoigne and Bryan Robson coming to say thanks.’ The next April, Bull scored twice against Czechoslovakia at Wembley, one a beauty, and Jimmy Greaves wore a T- shirt demanding: ‘Let The Bull Loose!’
Robson acceded and took a Wolves player to a World Cup for the only time before and since. He came off the bench against Ireland, Holland, Egypt and Belgium, but was unused in the semi-final with West Germany.
‘The gaffer said, “Get ready you’re going on.” I’d got my top off. Then Lineker scored. Obviously I was happy but I was thinking selfishly, “I want to get on that field.” But I absolutely enjoyed it. I’ve got a fourth place medal and shirt signed by Bobby Robson and all the team.
‘Gazza’s a barmpot, crazy in a nice way. Once he was on that field he gave 100 per cent. He’s the best player I played with. Bobby and Don Howe were a brilliant combination. One was the left arm, one was the right.’
Bull scored four goals in 501 minutes in an England shirt, a good ratio for a player Ron Saunders sold from West Bromwich Albion in 1986 because he ‘didn’t have a first touch’. Had Lineker not been around the opportunities may have been greater. But Bull takes this chance to finally end the rumours of a bust-up between them in Italy.
‘It was in the papers that he had a go at the way I spoke and I hit him. I can say on my daughter’s life nothing happened at all. There was no disruption in the camp, we were a tight-knit squad. We worked hard, played hard, and got as far as we could.’
The last of Wolves’ four FA Cups came in 1960 and silverware would confirm this as a year to remember. Bull is content. ‘We’re safe and into the semi-final of the FA Cup. How can somebody from Wolves say that?
‘ But Fosun know the potential, they’ll keep ploughing money in. It is absolutely scary.’