Listen to the first few bars of ‘Nessun Dorma’, and the memories come flooding back.
1990. Time for Guru? Or time for an Italian summer. Time for a wonderful theme tune featuring Pavarotti. Time for England’s backstreet international, the Tiptonian Wolves legend, who gave the gold and black faithful a magical few weeks in the midst of an incomparable 13 years.
Stephen George Bull. Who, in the space of just over five years, was catapulted from the non-league pitches of the Midlands and a career-threatening knee injury to representing his country in a World Cup. With Three Lions on his shirt, and the pride of the Wolfpack in his heart.
The greatest, centre forward, that the world has ever seen. At the Greatest Show on Earth.
Even now, 35 years on, for the fans who lived through it, whether those who travelled to Italy to watch Bully play, or those who followed every cough and spit on television back at home, it still remains surreal. A Wolves hero, from the Second Division, mixing it on the world stage not only with some of the country’s most iconic figures but the very best players on the planet.
It is difficult to truly put into words the feeling of excitement and anticipation of a tournament that extended beyond just cheering on England. There hadn’t been a Wolves player gaining minutes for England at a World Cup for 28 years, going back to Ron Flowers in 1962. And there hasn’t been once since. It was truly a special time. Of course, mainly for the man himself.
“I come down the stairs in my house every morning and see my framed England shirt on the wall, signed by Sir Bobby Robson and the players, and my fourth placed medal,” Bull revealed this week.
“And I still pinch myself, even now.
“Did I actually do that? Is that really my shirt? It is still surreal now, never mind back in the day.
“There was a time I thought my chance had gone, and when I had a piece of bone floating in my knee at 17, I thought I was never going to be a footballer.
“I needed surgery, but managed to come through, and moved from Albion to Wolves in the lower reaches of Division Four.
“And just under four years later, I was off with England to a World Cup. It’s crazy when you think about it.”
Infact, the whole Steve Bull story is crazy when you think about it. A total of 306 goals for one club. Hitting a half century in successive seasons. Phenomenal. Throw in the England element, and it becomes even more extraordinary.
Growing up in an area of Tipton christened, ‘the Lost City’, Bull used to kick a ball against a wall opposite his house and dream he was playing for England. Dreams can come true.
Signed by West Bromwich Albion after impressing with Tipton Town, Wolves swooped in late 1986, and the rest is history. Glorious history.
His spectacular goalscoring exploits as the Wolves revival clicked into gear attracted the attention of England Under-21 boss Dave Sexton, who gave Bull his debut as an over-age player, away in Albania, barely 15 months before the 1990 World Cup.
The return against Albania at Portman Road six weeks later, watched by hundreds of Wolves fans, saw Bull notch his first international goal, and ‘England B’ recognition, alongside strike partner Andy Mutch, soon followed.
Again, he found the net – as the challenges grew so too did Bull’s impact – famously crowned as he came off the bench to score on his senior debut away against Scotland at Hampden Park, only weeks after still plying his trade in the Third Division.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he says of that moment, again watched by hundreds of Wolves fans who had journeyed north of the border to share his success.
“It was a brilliant first touch off my shoulder – Ron Saunders would have enjoyed it – and then I smashed the ball home and sank to my knees.”
So far so good, but it was poised to get even better.
Three appearances later, the following April, a midweek friendly against Czechoslovakia offered the opportunity for Bull, and a certain Paul Gascoigne, to try and gatecrash the party in terms of ‘Italia 90’ selection.
Both delivered the goods, and this time thousands of Wolves fans were able to savour the clinical brace which pushed their hero a good few places further forward in the queue for the plane.
“Meeting up with the England squad was always such a brilliant experience, and I always felt comfortable joining up,” Bull recalls.
“At first, I might have felt like a little fish in a big pond but players like Bryan Robson always made me feel really welcome.
“Lineker, Beardsley, Gascoigne, Waddle – all these incredible players – and then Steve Bull, from Tipton Town, coming out of the Third Division.
“Once I took part in a few training sessions, and matches, I thought I could reach the standard and play alongside the rest of the squad.
“On the night of that Czechoslovakia game, me and Gazza had no idea if we were going to make the squad for the World Cup, but that was the game which put us in a really good position.
“Gazza two great passes – Bully, a chest and shot and a header – two goals, and our places were more or less cemented.
“Graham Turner always told me to just go out and do my best for England and do exactly what I did for Wolves.
“There were those that still said my first touch wasn’t great, but anyone who played on the shocking pitches in the Third and Fourth divisions, if they had a decent first touch, I would shake their hand!
“With England, you were always playing on much better surfaces and, with no respect to the great players I was alongside at Wolves, with world class players.
“It couldn’t fail to improve my game, and also my confidence, so that by the time we got to the World Cup, I felt really comfortable in that company.”
By the time he did get to the World Cup, and the opener against the Republic of Ireland, 35 years ago last night, there was a clamour amongst many supporters, and not just Wolves, for him to be given a start.
He had notched a late equaliser against Tunisia in the final official friendly before the tournament, and another in a warm-up fixture against a Sardinian Select XI, so much so that after a late substitute appearance in the 1-1 draw against Ireland, England legend and then pundit Jimmy Greaves wore a ‘Let the Bull Loose’ t-shirt during the post-match analysis.
Little wonder that Bull was described as the ‘people’s champion’ in the media during the early days of the World Cup.
Martin Swain, who spent 25 years with the Express & Star including as Chief Sports Writer and Assistant Sport Editor, was the newspaper’s man on the spot covering all the action out in Italy.
Before heading out, he came up with an idea to try and show Bull just how much the residents of Wolverhampton and surrounding areas were supporting him on his World Cup adventure. Which kind of backfired.
“There was a lot of talk around Bully at the time and I think it maybe embarrassed him a little bit because he’s a humble lad at heart, isn’t he?” Swain reflects.
“It was just a case of ‘stick me on the pitch and I will score goals’ which was about as complicated as it got for Steve, and just how he liked it.
“I had this idea, which turned out to be a stupid idea in the end, and said to our Sports Editor Brian Clifford, ‘why don’t we ask people to send in good luck cards’?
“He looked at me and replied: ‘Are you mad? How many do you think we’d get?’
“’Maybe 40 or 50,’ I said.
“Well of course Brian was right, and bloody hundreds of them piled in!
“I ended up with two huge blue kitbags full of cards which I somehow managed to take over as part of my luggage.
“There were some of the most wonderful drawings and messages from kids from Wolverhampton, many of whom are probably grown-up regulars at Molineux these days, and out in Italy I’d take a new batch along to training every day, and Bully would look at every single one of them.”
The one day, Mark Wright walked past as some of the ‘Bullygrams’ were being handed over. ‘Ooh Bully Bully,’ he sang, not remotely in any sort of mickey-taking way, but a reflection that the players, too, were also well aware of the goalscoring phenomenon within their number.
“Those cards and messages were incredible,” Bull himself recalls.
“We were locked away in the hotel when we weren’t training or playing, and back then you didn’t really know what was happening back in England and how the fans were getting behind us.
“So it was incredible for me to see all those people saying ‘come on Bully, give it your best shot’ – and it really gave me a boost.”
In the next group game, a goalless draw against Holland, Bull again came off the bench, this time for longer, and produced a more impressive performance, against an opposition featuring iconic figures such as Koeman, Rijkaard, Gullit and Van Basten.
That was enough to secure his first and what would prove his only World Cup start, a hard-fought and decisive final qualifier in which Wright’s header secured victory in a battle of attrition in which chances and goalmouth action were at a premium.
“Egypt played five at the back and it was very difficult to break them down,” Bull explains.
“They kept me and Gary Lineker quiet but there were always other players who could score and Wrighty popped up with the header.
“I wanted to grab any opportunities I had with both hands and make things happen but I just couldn’t take the couple of chances that I had.”
And then, as it progressed to the last 16, it was another member of the England squad plying his trade in the Midlands who became the story.
David Platt, a couple of years into his Aston Villa career having initially emerged at Crewe, produced a superb volley in the last minute of extra time against Belgium to book a place in the quarter finals.
And for Swain, and some of his colleagues on the national newspapers who had built strong working relationships with Platt at Villa Park, that goal provided one of their favourite moments of the tournament.
“We all convened at the team hotel for the press conference the day after that win against Belgium, but for the first time it was absolutely swamped with international media as well as those from Britain,” he says.
“I was with Dave Harrison and John Wragg who covered the Midlands patch for the nationals at the time, and we all wanted a word with Platty, and a word with Bully, who had come off the bench in the game.
“Someone had the bright idea, I think it was Wraggy, to try and make more direct contact, so we went to reception and asked if we could be put through to Mr Platt’s room.
“Incredibly, they obliged, and Platty answered the phone, and told us to go up the backstairs, which we did, and sure enough, there he was along the corridor waiting for us outside his room.
“Lo and behold he was also rooming with Bully – for us the double whammy! – we all got our interviews and I managed to get something in the Express & Star on the same day.
“It was just a great and memorable moment, and also an indication of the much freer times with access that we enjoyed as press back in those days.”
That freer access also allowed Swain to enjoy regular chats with Bull during the tournament to pen his very own World Cup diary, delivered directly to supporters via the pages of the newspaper.
The most difficult of those came after the semi-final defeat to Germany, on penalties, when Bull, as in the quarter final against Cameroon, remained an unused substitute.
He had actually been asked by manager Bobby Robson to warm up with a view to coming on, but then Lineker equalised, and extra time came and went without the opportunity to enter the fray.
“Chatting to him for his diary at the end of that semi-final, he was absolutely gutted,” says Swain.
“He was genuinely convinced that England could have won that tournament, and he found it very difficult to sum up the night.
“But what an amazing experience he had enjoyed, fantastic for him and fantastic for Wolves.”
“That was the biggest wish I had after the tournament, wishing that Bobby had just put me on against Germany,” adds Bull.
“I was ready to go on, and even in extra time, for 15 minutes or so, I was the type of striker that might have been able to get on the end of something, to ferret out a goal as I called it.
“Overall, though, what an incredible experience, to go and play at a World Cup, and work with the likes of Sir Bobby and Don Howe, who were an unbelievable pairing.
“And then to be in a squad with some incredible players, and Gazza, who kept us going on and off the pitch with all his antics.
“Even the homecoming, Gazza with his fake boobs and the thousands of fans waiting for us at Luton Airport, there are so many fantastic memories and I will always be proud just to have been a part of it.”
It was a pride shared by everyone connected with Wolves, and particularly those fans, for whom the summer was lit up by the prospect of their fearless Roy of the Rovers type hero mixing it with the cream of the crop of world football.
From Scarborough to Sardinia, Tipton to Turin, Bull’s ascent from the lower leagues to the world summit remains gloriously unsurpassed. Not to mention the loyalty which he maintained throughout his career, choosing to follow up his World Cup experience not by welcoming the advances of a growing array of suitors, but by signing a new contract tying him to Wolves until at least 1994.
It was also a memorable tournament for Swain, who reflects on what was a standout experience for all those fortunate enough in the media corps to be able to experience it.
“I always say it’s the tournament which led to the formation of the Premier League,” he insists.
“The great and the good from English football gravitated to the tournament, as they do, and they saw some amazing stadiums, and a culture that was very different to our game, which was still only a few years post-Heysel and post-Hillsborough.
“It was family orientated, with wonderful marble toilets as opposed to sheds outside a rundown stand, and even if the football wasn’t particularly spectacular, the organisation certainly was.
“It was very glamorous, with beautiful sunny weather, and I think there will be an entire generation of journalists who will refer to Italia 90 as their standout World Cup.
“The English powers-that-be all saw that and thought this is what we want for our country – and the Premier League was born.”
When reflecting on the events of 35 years ago this month, the last word, however, should concern Mr Bull, and should come from the man who was dispatched to describe and enjoy his progress during the tournament.
“Bully will always be such a brilliant story,” Swain concludes.
“It is very difficult to imagine or think of a footballer who has had such a profound impact on a club and town as he did.
“The Wolves that he went into, towards the bottom of the Fourth Division, a dilapidated run-down club, then becoming a rising Championship club which just couldn’t get into the Premier League which he really deserved.
“He had a huge amount to do with all that, and gave everybody such a lift, he lifted the whole town.
“There may have been more successful players in history, but I’m not sure there are many who impacted a town or a region in the way that Bully did.
“He is such a huge figure, as I discovered when lumping those bags of fan mail around on the way to Italy!”
There will never be another Steve Bull. But will there ever be another English representative for Wolves appearing at a World Cup?
Conor Coady made it to the squad, but not the pitch, and the record remains limited to those four Bull appearances spanning an area of 63 years.
What a time it was, some three-and-a-half decades ago. A summer of Molineux love, for Bull and that England team.
‘All’alba, vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò’!
