This Sunday, September 15th, marks the 60th anniversary of an event which sent shockwaves through not just Wolves but the footballing world as a whole. After three decades at the club as player and manager, Stan Cullis was given his marching orders. The most successful manager in Wolves’ history – still comfortably so even now – was gone. Paul Berry looks back.
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‘You only have one life, and I gave mine to Wolves.’
The words of Stan Cullis, the greatest manager in the club’s illustrious history. Due in no small part to having helped orchestrate the main chapter in aforementioned illustrious history.
The only three top-flight titles Wolves have won during their existence were all achieved on Cullis’s watch. In 1953/54, 1957/58 and 1958/59. Three successes in just six seasons, with the others providing finishes of second, third and sixth. Infact, over a nine-year period from 1952 to 1961, that sixth placed finish was the only one campaign when Wolves didn’t finish in the top three. Imagine that in the modern day!
Then there were the FA Cup triumphs, defeating Leicester as Cullis became the youngest ever manager to win the competition in 1949, and then again, overcoming Blackburn in 1960.
Throw in the memorably magnificent European floodlit friendlies of the era, when Wolves effectively became pioneers of club competitions across the continent, and, without doubt, it was a time when the men in gold and black were among the biggest, and best, teams in the world. Truly halcyon days.
And all this after Cullis had played out his entire playing career with Wolves as well.
This forthcoming anniversary therefore brings up mixed recollections of the dramatic and ultimately seismic day which brought his Wolves connections to an end, and he incredible successes which preceded it.
Well-known Wolves author Clive Corbett’s latest book – Golden Years, the new story of the Wolves – comes out in December, and includes a series of cartoon-based illustrations, including one reflecting on Cullis’s departure.
Corbett has carried out his own research on the final weeks of the Cullis reign, recalling the brief Caribbean tour of late May in 1964, and then a poor start to the following season which saw Wolves take just a solitary point from the first seven games.
Before the third game of that sequence, a defeat at Leeds, Cullis had been ordered by his doctor to take a few weeks rest after becoming unwell, returning to his desk just over a fortnight later, on Monday, September 14th.
“After a week at the seaside Wolves boss Stan Cullis returned to his Molineux office today to step straight from recuperation into crisis,’ wrote legendary Express & Star reporter Phil Morgan.
All, however, was not well.
“Phil Morgan was blissfully unaware that the Wolves boss had been greeted on his return by John Ireland, who had taken over as chairman from Jim Marshall on 29 July,” says Corbett.
“Ireland initially sought Cullis’s resignation on health grounds, but a predictable refusal left Ireland with no alternative but to sack the club’s most successful manager ever.
“Keeping the discussion private, the returning boss led Wolves to a pulsating 4-3 win over a West Ham team that contained the eventual World Cup winning threesome of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst.
“The FA Cup holders had handed out a thrashing at Upton Park just a week earlier and in any other circumstances the stirring match in which Wolves exacted some revenge would have lingered much longer in the memory for the right reasons.”
Victory, however, wasn’t enough to save Cullis, and, the very next day, the official statement arrived.
‘The Wolves board of directors have informed their manager, Stanley Cullis, they wish to be released from their contractual arrangements with him. This he has consented to do.’
As Corbett recalls, the strength of feeling among fans and around Wolverhampton following the sacking is summed up in the title ‘Betrayal’ that Jim Holden chose for the relevant chapter in his book, The Iron Manager.
There is also plenty of conjecture around how much of the decision was down to Ireland – later hailed by many players as an excellent Chairman – or the Board as a whole, with Derek Dougan later suggesting that previous chairman Jim Marshall, believing that Cullis’s time was up, had persuaded Ireland to take the reins, at first for an interim period.
Whatever the behind-the-scenes machinations of the time, the bare facts of the matter were that it was the end of his era, leaving fans shocked and, in some areas, a very sour taste.
Former Wolves reporter with the Express & Star David Harrison developed a friendship with Cullis in the later years of his life when he was on the voting panel of a Regional Young Player of the Month award.
On one occasion, whilst transporting Cullis to one of the presentation dinners, Harrison was handed a piece of paper by the former boss, a telephone bill for the equivalent of £3.75, dated from December 1964.
Wolves had sent it to the Cullis home demanding him to pay his line rental, and return his keys. Not the greatest treatment for the greatest manager in the club’s history.
His legacy, however, remains unbroken.
And to reflect on his eventual departure without looking back on his successes would do him a great disservice, even though it is effectively impossible to ever do his achievements full justice.
Born in Ellesmere Port, where his family had re-located after the first World War, Cullis’s father was a passionate Wolves fan.
But for Stan, there was a trial with the other Wanderers of Bolton at the age of 16. Imagine how differently history would have turned out had that been successful?!
Instead, he was later to join Wolves, and begin an incredible association with the club which would have seemed completely unthinkable on the day he made his senior debut, as a 19-year-old, in a 3-2 defeat at Huddersfield Town in February 1935.
Going on to become captain, appointed even before he was 20 years old by Wolves boss Major Frank Buckley, he helped the team to the runners-up spot in both 1937/38 and 1938/39, as well as the FA Cup Final of 1939, losing 4-1 to Portsmouth.
He would also become captain of England, at just 22, the youngest ever at that time, ultimately securing 12 senior caps for his country, and then 20 during wartime football, with the hostilities probably denying Cullis the sort of international career which many of his ability had enjoyed both before, and since.
But when it comes to his management, the scores on the doors are even more impressive, substantially superior to anything any other managers have delivered at Wolves, and enough to cement his status as one of the greatest British managers of all time.
But what of Cullis the man, the personality? As both player and manager. What was it that made Cullis tick and drove him to hit such incredible heights, particularly as the boss.
Buckley had clearly identified the leadership traits in Cullis from the moment he signed him as an 18-year-old within a week of arriving at Molineux.
“Son, if you listen and do as you’re told, I will make you captain of Wolves one day,” he told his young protegee. And he was as good as his word.
On the flipside, it was a drive and determination from Buckley to develop Cullis’s leadership skills that the young player relished.
“He spent many hours drilling me in the precious art of captaincy,” said Cullis.
“Telling me in no ambiguous terms that I was to be the boss on the field.”
It was an approach which paid dividends.
Cullis was described as being ‘strong in the tackle and capable in the air’ but also ‘composed on the ball’.
His use of his arms prompted his England team-mates to nickname him ‘Flipper’ but he certainly had their respect, from the day he made his debut in a 5-1 victory against Ireland in October 1937.
During the war, he was the centre of a famous half-back line for his country with two Everton players – Cliff Britton and fellow Ellesmere Port resident Joe Mercer – either side of him.
But Cullis had already hit the headlines well before the start of hostilities, amid stories he had been dropped by the England team for a game against Germany in Munich’s Olympic Stadium in 1938.
The England players had been told to deliver a Nazi salute before kick-off, by British ambassador to Germany, Sir Nevile Henderson.
Many were understandably reluctant given the political sensitivities at the time, but it was claimed it would continue the tactics of appeasement against Hitler and would avoid raising the temperature to a spark which would set Europe alight.
Rumour has it that Cullis declared that he would refuse to do the salute, and was dropped as a result, but the more accurate description was that he had already been axed from the team due to a poor performance in a 1-0 defeat against Scotland at Wembley.
Presumably, a man of such principle and character may well have spoken out about the gesture and may well not have been in favour, but as a travelling reserve he didn’t line up with the team before kick-off and so no one will ever know whether he would have towed the party line.
He was later recalled, often as captain, including for those wartime internationals, alongside also playing for Wolves and guesting for other clubs as well as serving as a Physical Training instructor in both England and Italy.
“The best centre half I have met,” was the glowing endorsement of Cullis from England centre forward of the time, Tommy Lawton.
“He had the resilience of a concrete wall, the speed of a whippet and the footwork of a ballet dancer.”
Part one of Cullis’s dances with Wolves, his playing career, came to an end after the first season back post-war.
The final game of the season, with the title on the line, saw Wolves again go agonisingly close only to lose 2-1 to eventual champions Liverpool and ultimately finish third.
Cullis, who had spent five days in hospital with concussion after taking a ball full in the face in a wartime fixture towards the end of hostilities, had long been advised that continuing to play could cause further damage and, finally, the message got through.
After 171 appearances for his beloved Wolves, he decided to hang up his boots.
He wasn’t going anywhere else other than Wolves, however, becoming assistant manager to boss Ted Vizard at Molineux before taking the reins himself in June 1948, at the age of just 31.
And that was to prove the start of a whole new chapter. One which would prove the greatest ever in Wolves’ history.
On taking office he aimed to get his team working extremely hard and operating at a high tempo.
Wolves under Cullis were never going to be about elaborate passing and build-up play but more about getting the ball forward and bombarding the penalty area with crosses.
The focus on pace and power paid immediate dividends, with Wolves lifting their first trophy in over four decades at the end of his very first season at the helm.
Finishing sixth in the league, a run all the way to the final of the FA Cup culminated in a 3-1 win over Leicester in front of a Wembley crowd of 98, 920, the goals coming from Jesse Pye (2) and Sammy Smyth.
Cullis’s captain Billy Wright, destined to follow his manager into true legendary status for club and country, collected the trophy from then Princess Elizabeth, who later became Queen, and suddenly everyone was talking about this Wolves team, which had an average age of just 24.
“With people like Billy Wright and his team, England’s soccer glories are in safe hands,” enthused the commentary on the world-renowned Pathe News.
“These young Wolves prove that England need have no fears about the future of football.”
After cup success though, Cullis was only spurred into additional motivation. He wanted the league, which had just eluded him as a player.
And Wolves went so close in the following 1949/50, denied by Portsmouth only on goal difference.
However, it wasn’t all promise and potential in the early Cullis era after that FA success, and their improvement and search for consistency didn’t always ascend in a straight line.
The next two seasons, whilst featuring a run to the FA Cup semi-finals, saw league finishes of 14th and 16th, but, ahead of the 1952/53 campaign, more legends started their Molineux journeys, including Ron Flowers and Bill Slater.
Those two, and the mercurial Peter Broadbent, were an excellent midfield trio in feeding prolific strikers Roy Swinbourne and Dennis Wilshaw, there were twin threats from wingers Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen, and a defence superbly marshalled in front of the excellent goalkeeper Bert Williams by Wright and Bill Shorthouse.
Wolves finished third that season, but that was a sign that they were back challenging once again, back knocking on the door.
And so it was, finally, that the coveted league title headed to Wolverhampton, some 70 years ago, in 1953/54.
It was 34 years since a team from the West Midlands had claimed the honour – West Bromwich Albion – and it was perhaps fitting that it turned into a two-horse race between Wolves and the Baggies.
A crucial battle at the start of April, for which both sides were missing players through internationals – imagine that these days – went Wolves’ way thanks to a goal from Swinbourne, and Cullis’s men made no mistake from there, sealing their success with a 2-0 win at home to Tottenham on the final day.
A first ever league title was an historic moment, and a signal for continuing consistency and excellence to follow, winning it twice more in the decade and embarking on that run of eight seasons when they would never finish lower than sixth.
So, what then, was the secret of Cullis’s success? What was the managerial style which inspired Wolves to hit previously unreached heights and finally crown themselves as the champions of England?
Two players who arrived in the later years of the Cullis dynasty, Malcolm Finlayson and Bobby Thomson, explained more, when reflecting on the manager’s strengths as he was among the first Wolves legends inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame back in 2009.
“Stan commanded immense respect,” Finlayson recalled.
“He had a reputation, and he didn’t suffer fools gladly, but Wolves’ great era began when he became manager.
“If you went to see him to talk about something, it was just a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.
“He was completely fair, he treated everyone the same.”
“When I first got in the team, he was a strict disciplinarian,” added Thomson.
“He ruled a little bit by fear, but he was very honest, he told you like it was.
“And he gave me my first opportunity to play in the first team at Molineux.
“I would put Stan up there with the very best, even with the Shankly’s of this world.
“He was a tremendous manager for what he achieved in his time at Wolves.”
Hard but fair. Demanding and disciplined. What Cullis also had, perhaps befitting some of those now regarded as modern managerial greats, was the ability to play a few mind games. To keep his players on their toes, and never let them get carried away.
When Terry Wharton scored his first hat trick, in a 7-0 win against West Bromwich Albion, instead of the usual day off the following Monday, the winger was called in to Molineux, foregoing his game of golf, to be told by Cullis that he himself could have scored the three goals.
“He kept our feet on the ground,” says Wharton. “That’s how Stan was.”
And of course, what has also endured as part of Cullis’s legacy way beyond the boundaries of Wolverhampton has been not just the clutch of trophies he brought to Molineux, but the advent of European football.
During Wolves’ peak years, Molineux played host to a series of floodlit friendlies against the cream of the continent’s talent, special nights which not only set the scene for the competitions which followed but showed just how good Cullis’s team had become.
‘Champions of the world,’ was how Cullis proclaimed his team after the win against Honved, and the newspapers echoed his words across the country.
Those friendlies played at Molineux helped pave the way for proper European competition, and, under Cullis, Wolves reached the European Cup quarter finals in 1960 and Cup Winners Cup semi-final the following season.
And yet, the 1960 FA Cup Final success – a Norman Deeley brace helping Wolves to a 3-0 win against Blackburn – was ultimately to prove the last piece of silverware under the legendary manager as, over the following years, his team gradually started to struggle.
Sadly, even for true legends, all good things must come to an end, and that eventual departure, six decades ago this weekend.
A subsequent return to management with Birmingham City never threatened to hit the same heights but, for Wolves fans, and indeed even those players who might have found him difficult to work for, his impact remains undimmed.
Cullis was still able to take a seat in the stand at Molineux which was officially opened in 1992, and still bears his name after being redeveloped 20 years later.
And since he passed away at the age of 84 in 2001, he has been inducted into the Wolves Hall of Fame, and been immortalised with a magnificent statue sculpted by James Butler and dominating the area which envelops ‘his’ Stand.
The Cambridge Road school which both Cullis and Mercer attended has also been adorned by a blue plaque of tribute, at which time legendary Wolves striker John Richards described his achievements as “absolutely magnificent”.
“In Wolverhampton, Stan is remembered with pride and affection,” Richards added.
“He is a hero and his record is unsurpassable.”
It is indeed.
Cullis worked with so many legends, and came up against so many legends, with the great Bill Shankly speaking of him in the most complimentary of terms.
‘Stan was 100 per cent Wolverhampton,” Shankly wrote in his autobiography.
‘His blood must have been of old gold, he would have died for Wolverhampton.
‘All round, as a player, as a manager, and for general intelligence, it would be difficult to name anyone since the game began who could qualify to be in the same class as Stan Cullis.’
As for the man himself, whilst he was certainly a manager who was very strong on discipline, and didn’t suffer fools, he also recognised the importance of the team ethic and always took decisions – however tough – which he felt were for the greater good.
“It was not only a pleasure to have good players – and they were good players – but I think we were fortunate in having a set of players who were not only skilled but very good fellas off the field,” he said.
It truly was a Golden era. One which Wolves have never come close to matching since and may never do again in the future.
And that is why Cullis will forever be remembered with the reverence with which his contribution, especially as manager, deserves.
From 1948 to 1964 he was very much the Master of Molineux.
Part of a life which, with pride, professionalism and passion, and as he said himself with that immortal quote, he devoted to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
- Golden Years, the new story of the Wolves, by Clive Corbett, is a history of Wolves from 1944 to the present day, via text and illustrations like the one depicting Stan Cullis’ departure, and is due out this December. Pre-orders, to include having your name included as a subscriber, are available until September 30th. Email corbettnco1@gmail.com for details.
