May 8 – Wolves’ Saviour
THEY were one of English football’s powerhouses in the 1950s, but by the 1980s Wolverhampton Wanderers on- and off-the-field prospects looked about as good as a Mexican pig farmer with a sniffle.
Their fortunes started to pick up today in 1990 however, as local philanthropist and boyhood Wolves fan Sir Jack Hayward bought the club for £2.1m.
Millionaire and Sunday Times Rich List regular Haywood stepped into give his club some long-term security after the club had previously dallied with extinction, needing a complex deal involving the local council, supermarket Asda and the Gallagher Estates firm to save the club four years earlier.
On the pitch, Wolves had even sunk as low as the Fourth Division, as the disastrous reign of the Bhatti brothers had resulted in three consecutive relegations in the mid-80s.
By the time Hayward rode in on his white horse Wolves’ fortunes had begun to improve, thanks largely to club legend Steve Bull who had signed from neighbours West Brom in 1986, as seen in this Soccer Saturday retrospective.
Haywood wasted no time in splashing the cash, helping rebuild the aging Molineux Stadium to ensure it met the new regulations outlined in the Taylor Report.
Despite this cash injection, the club just couldn’t make it back into the top flight, where the likes of Billy Wright had made the club so famous, until 2003, after 19 years of ignominy. Unfortunately they would only last a year in the Premiership, but they’re now ready to give it another go next season.
Haywood was estimated to have spent more than £60m redeveloping Molineux before he decided to call it a day in May 2007, when he sold to the club to businessman Steve Morgan for a nominal sum of £10, in return for Morgan investing £30m in the club.
This has meant that Sir Jack has secured his name as one of the few good guys of football chairmen, along with the likes of Jack Walker and Steve Gibson and will never have to buy his own pint again at Molineux.
See Steve Bull in action for Wolves below and check out one of the greatest of great escapes here.
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