Wolves fan and Sky Sports broadcaster Johnny Phillips rolls in a putt from distance, meaning he and Molineux Hall of Famer Andy Mutch have provided the points at their opening hole.
“Don’t worry gents, the Liverpool lads will get it done,” declares Mutch, with a chuckle aimed in the direction of playing partners Robbie Dennison and Dave Edwards.
Further back up the fairway, Terry Wharton and Mel Eves are still in their buggy, jovially arguing about whether they have started at the right hole.
A few minutes later Geoff Palmer, a few days before abseiling down from the top of the Billy Wright Stand for Wolves Foundation, is getting berated for a failure to put out a card and pen for the nearest the pin competition.
Whilst a contingent of former players including Steve Daley are greeting golfers with all sorts of fun and entertainment at the ‘Halfway House’ at the ninth.
Welcome to the 2026 Wolves’ Former Players Golf Day at Oxley Park!
All forms of human life are here, and from the youngest player Edwards, 39, to the eldest, the utterly brilliant Wharton at 83, it’s a fantastic mix.
“This year we raised just over £7,000, but just as important as the fundraising, is the benefit of bringing so many former players together,” says legendary Wolves striker, club Vice-President and FPA Chairman John Richards.
“Many of them travel a good distance, from Lancashire and Yorkshire, to be with us.
“We always invite the lads from West Brom as well, and had four of them with us this year along with 14 from Wolves.
“There are quite a few who don’t even play golf – they are just here for the fun and to catch up.”
Back to that quartet of Phillips, Mutch, Edwards and Dennison.
Spending a few holes walking around with them, the conversation never stops. Talking football, past and present, Wolves, managers, former team-mates…and podcasts!
Phillips, Mutch and Dennison had spent the previous evening at the Wolverhampton Community Radio studios in Mander House recording the first three episodes of their new podcast – ‘Mutchy and Denno’ – whilst Edwards is now several seasons into the successful ‘In the Stiffs’ podcast he delivers with former Shrewsbury team-mates Sam Aiston and Gavin Cowan.
By the time they are a third of the way around the course, the concept of a first ‘live podcast’ for Mutch and Dennison has pretty much been floated, discussed, and finalised, and will hit the airwaves at the Cleveland Arms on December 4th.
“Myself and Mutchy have been involved in the game since we were kids, on the playing side, in dressing rooms, and now as fans,” says Dennison.
“We just thought it would be nice to get together and do some recordings, with Johnny keeping us on the straight and narrow!
“Going through memories, Mutchy will bring up stuff that I have forgotten and I will bring up stuff that he has forgotten.
“We’re having a bit of fun with it and it’s just nice to have that involvement.”
“Robbie suggested doing the podcast, and we’ve always had a decent reaction from things we’ve done in the past,” added Mutch.
“We decided to get together and have a chat and see if people like it and can enjoy it as a bit of entertainment.
“Hopefully it works out!”
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Wolves FPA Golf Day has been running for over a decade. The FPA itself, for much longer, since former players, so many from the club’s Golden Era of the 1950s, decided that they needed to meet and spend time together apart from when attending funerals.
It was the passing of Jimmy Mullen in late 1987 that prompted further discussions, and, in February 1988, at the Express & Star Social Club in Danescourt Road, the FPA was born.
The intention of the group was to meet more regularly, either on a social basis, or for a game of golf, and the list of the founder officials read like a who’s who of Wolves greats.
President, Stan Cullis. Chairman, Billy Wright. Treasurer, Malcolm Finlayson. Honorary Secretary was the then Express & Star’s advertising director Peter Creed, the dedicated lynchpin behind moving the organisation forward over the next two-and-half decades.
From there, another former Express & Star director Richard Green took the reins, working closely with staff at Wolves, and then bringing in Richards, who took over the chairmanship from Mike Bailey in 2021.
During that time the FPA has widened its sphere of influence and support. The golf day is the big annual fundraiser, from which, as outlined in a four-page programme distributed to guests, proceeds are distributed to different local charities.
In recent years this has included Compton Care, the Good Shepherd, the Haven, Crafty Gardener, Birch Thompson Memorial Fund and Wombourne Singers. Former players attend many different Wolves Foundation activities and initiatives run by Compton Care and the Grand Theatre and, during the pandemic, the FPA mobilised to support former skipper Karl Henry who spearheaded an appeal which raised £50,000 for New Cross Hospital.
The FPA’s importance extends still further. There is a focus on former players’ wellbeing which includes a partnership with Nuffield Health focused on different health advice, regular social lunches held at the Fox at Shipley and activities hosted by Wolves including visits to Molineux, the Wolves Museum and the Compton Park training ground.
FPA representatives have also visited London to hear from the Premier League about former players being affected by brain injury, and recently welcomed the PFA to Molineux for an extensive discussion around the subject.
“Our involvement in the community in recent years has certainly continued to grow, and we now work regularly with more than a dozen organisations in the city, providing support in many different ways,” Richards explains.
“On a national level, we are participating in a number of initiatives relating to former players and their respective associations.
“Some of these are being led by the Premier League and PFA, with one current issue the higher than normal number of cases of brain disorders suffered by former players.
“It is something we are monitoring closely and we will work with any party planning to offer support to players – and their families – who may be affected.”
It is vital work across many different areas, and a responsibility which the FPA feels very keenly.
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Back on the course, Messrs Mutch, Dennison, Edwards and Phillips are continuing their round whilst taking a trip down Memory Lane.
It feels somewhat fitting that at the time that Wolves FPA was being formed – February 1988 – Wolves were a year or so into their revival.
For the understandable importance of all those legends who had played a part in the most successful spell in Wolves’ history, these were new and ambitious kids on the block helping the club at least return to respectability after twice nearly going out of business, and plummeting from First Division to Fourth.
The goals of Mutch and Steve Bull were at the forefront of the revival, but it was very much a team effort under the leadership of Graham Turner, with Dennison scoring twice at Wembley in successive months, including adding to Mutch’s opener in the Sherpa Van Trophy final.
“They were such brilliant times, and for me – and I’m sure it’s the same for Robbie – Wolves is our club as it gave us that opportunity,” says Mutch.
“I feel lucky to have been at Wolves at that time and had a shirt and been able to play.
“Things were tough at the start but we worked through that and the success then followed.
“It became such a big part of our lives, and it’s so lovely to still get the respect from the fans and everybody else about what we achieved at the club.
“Myself and Robbie also gained a friendship along the way, and have gone through lots of stuff over the years having been brought together by football.”
“I joined after Mutchy, and was later told by Thommo (Andy Thompson), that he had asked what I was like as we’d been together at Albion,” adds Dennison.
“Thommo just told him that I liked a drink – nothing to do with being a decent winger who could cross a ball – just that I liked a drink.
“We were a group of lads who really enjoyed the craic and letting our hair down from time to time, but also worked really hard and that is why we achieved back-to-back promotion and won a final at Wembley.
“It might be over 30 years ago now, but the memories are still there, and it’s always great fun to talk about them.”
Edwards, listening in, knows plenty about all things Molineux history with being born not far away in Shrewsbury and his brother being a Wolves fan. An example of a more recent ‘former player’, having only left the club in 2017, he was making his ‘debut’ at the FPA Golf Day!
“It was really nice to be able to join all the guys from the FPA at my first golf day with them, which is such a well-organised event,” he says.
“It did make me feel very young – which is a good thing – but I had a great time, and was fortunate to be teamed up with some great people.
“Johnny is someone I know from media work, and I really enjoyed listening to Andy and Robbie’s stories and hearing how they are still such good friends all these years on.
“In the clubhouse before and after, it was loads of fun mingling with the fans and the other ex-players, and I’m already looking forward to the next one!”
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At the ‘halfway house’ on the ninth hole at Oxley Park, former Wolves players Gerry Farrell, Paul Walker and Norman Bell are there to meet golfers, and offer them a cup of tea and tasty treat or two.
This is thanks to one of the many generous acts from sponsors and local businesses around the golf day, which includes providing food and sustenance to help the golfers get around.
It’s also an opportune moment for a quick sharing of stories, catching up, and former defender Bob Hazell also pops in to catch up with his former team-mates.
This is where Daley is also residing, ensuring very few get past without being on the end of a barbed quip or two.
For 12 years he has been the main driving force – excuse the pun – behind the FPA Golf Day.
There is support from the FPA committee, and from all at Oxley Park, but Daley’s enthusiasm and hour upon hour of work to make the event a success is described as ‘amazing’ by Richards.
Little wonder then, in relaying a message at the start from close pal and Wolves legend Phil Parkes – sadly absent whilst still recovering in hospital from a serious accident – and in thanking everyone at the end, there is no shortage of emotion on show.
“Playing football is the greatest job in the world and I still feel so privileged to have played for Wolves alongside so many great players,” said Daley.
“But now being able to do this and support so many charities is so important, and I don’t think people know how much it means to us that so many support the event.
“There are many people out there who are far worse off than we are, and it’s nice that we’re able to try and help and make a difference.”
Make a difference they certainly do. Mainly through those heroes from the Seventies who form such a strong nucleus of the FPA.
The question however, lingers. With the changing face of football, and the very different make-up of squads in the Premier League especially, what does the future hold for similar organisations?
Will former players in the future have the same motivation, or indeed the opportunity, to stay together and make a difference?
“It’s a really important initiative, the FPA, and hopefully I’ve been the test dummy and we can rope a few more in from my era for the next Golf Day,” says Edwards.
“It’s going to be something that is harder to continue as we move on from these times, and people from all over the world come and play for Wolves.
“The work that the guys do is amazing, and it would be great for me to be a part of something going forward with some of the lads that I played with as well.”
The day comes to an end with an excellent Mixed Grill delivered by Oxley’s resident chef Surj and his team, and a Q&A led by Phillips with some of the former players.
Daley, as every year, says it’s the last time he will lead the organising. But he’ll be back again next year. He always comes back.
It’s an important day. For an important organisation. And one which continues to shine a light in the local community and show collective support towards all those who have worn the famous gold and black.
As Richards so perfectly concludes: “Even though a lot of our former players no longer live locally, they still see themselves as an integral part of the Wolverhampton community.
“They all feel lucky and privileged to have played for Wolves, and to have retained their connection with the club and the city.
“And I also know, from first-hand experience, how willing they are to help others in whatever way they can.
“I may be accused of being biased, but I have to say they are a great bunch of lads – and I am very proud to be one of them.”
- Pictures courtesy Dave Bagnall.
