Dave Wagstaffe will forever be a legend who not only played for both Wolves and Manchester City, he was also a Wembley winner for one against the other! As Molineux prepares for an emotional tribute to one of his successors in electrifying wingplay, Paul Berry looks back on the spell when Waggy ruled the Wolves world.
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Molineux will unite on Saturday evening as fans of Wolves and Manchester City pay tribute to Diogo Jota.
To honour a life lost far too early, but one which gave joy to hundreds of thousands of football fans in Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Portugal and plenty more besides.
Amid the grief at the premature loss of Jota at just 28 following a car crash in Spain, one fan likened the feeling to when he heard the news of the passing of legendary Wolves winger Dave Wagstaffe.
A very different set of circumstances, as Wagstaffe, who passed away after a short battle with cancer back in 2013, had lived a very full life to the age of 70. But his illness had understandably been kept private, and so when the news broke, as with Jota, the feeling amongst fans of shock and sadness was palpable.
Whatever the differences in style between Jota and Wagstaffe, and indeed the lengths in their stays at Wolves and respective contributions, they both captured the hearts of the Molineux faithful.
Players of that ilk, who entice fans off their seats, who have the capability to change the game in an instant, to leave the audience gasping in awe, are always particularly fondly remembered, whether when leaving the club or, sadly passing away.
In the wake of Jota’s tragic loss, and with Wolves taking on City this weekend, the first two clubs in Wagstaffe’s career, it feels an opportune moment to remember the contribution of a club legend, who made 404 first team appearances in over 11 years at Molineux, and became a firmly established terrace hero.
Talking of terrace heroes, John Richards this week recalled a conversation he had with Frank Munro, another Wolves great no longer with us, who was particularly close to Wagstaffe.
“Waggy was one of the older senior pros at the club when I joined, and he was such a natural footballer,” Richards recalls.
“I remember chatting to Frank after we had both finished, just talking about players and Wolves memories, and he said the best player in our team was Dave Wagstaffe.
“He was the most gifted player that we had; he was our outlet.
“Every time we were under pressure, lads like Frank and Mike Bailey would say – give the ball to Waggy.
“He would stroll up the pitch, keeping the ball and taking the pressure off us. He was a beautiful footballer.”
Former Express & Star sports editor and still renowned Wolves writer Steve Gordos got to know Wagstaffe initially through contact while working at the newspaper, but more so after he had retired when bumping into him in the former Shoulder of Mutton pub in Tettenhall Wood. Friends not just in social circles and sharing a drink, but also united by a love of words. Wolves’ words in particular.
In the latter years of Wagstaffe’s life, they had been working on a biography about Munro which reflected the closeness of the two former team-mates, regular mates-in-mischief on and off the pitch. Indeed, Wagstaffe was a tower of strength to Munro during his own final years, sadly characterised by poor health, making daily visits to his Compton flat and fetching his medication and shopping.
Equally sadly, ‘Frank’s for the Memory’, was only published after Wagstaffe’s death, with proceeds to charity, but it wasn’t the first publication on which he and Gordos had collaborated.
Wagstaffe was a guestwriter for the Sporting Star during his days at Wolves, usually penning some notes on a cigarette packet and meeting sportswriter John Dee at the newspaper’s office for them to be turned into a column.
And, as Gordos reveals, it clearly set the creative juices flowing.
“Chatting to Waggy at the Shoulder of Mutton, he told me he had been jotting down a few memories and asked me to have a look at it,” he recalls.
“He did not have a computer but wrote it all down on lined A4 paper. It was excellent stuff and easy to read. I said he should carry on, that it would make a great book.
“Over the next few months, we would meet for a pint at the Shoulder and he would bring in his latest chapters. I would input it for him and proof-read it but, in truth, it did not require many corrections.
“Sometimes I’d collect his literary work from him at his allotment in Regis Road. The chapters were very well written.
“The result of his efforts was the book ‘Waggy’s Tales’, and it is an excellent read and very funny.”
Waggy’s Tales was published in 2008 to widespread acclaim. Richards revealed that he is currently reading it again. The tale itself? Well that all started when Wagstaffe was born in Manchester in the April of 1943.
Coming through the youth system at Manchester City, he made his first team debut against Sheffield Wednesday at just 17, and would make 162 appearances spanning five seasons spent at Maine Road.
In the days long before the internet, social media, or 24-7 football coverage on television or radio, it was far easier to keep potential transfer business quiet and away from prying eyes.
So it was, in 1964, that Wolves fans received a belated Christmas present in the form of a soon-to-be club legend. Thanks in no small part to chairman John Ireland, who had been taken with Wagstaffe’s ability since a 3-3 draw at Maine Road a couple of years earlier.
“I was on the South Bank that Boxing Day in 1964 when the Molineux announcer told us that Wolves’ number eleven would be Wagstaffe,” Gordos recalls.
“With no internet or blanket tv and radio coverage in those days, the fact we had a new left winger came as a complete surprise.
“We had a lot to thank George Poyser for. He was a coach with Wolves and recommended us to buy a 17-year-old Peter Broadbent from Brentford.
“Now, as Manchester City boss he had urged 21-year-old Waggy to join Wolves. Two gold and black legends, by George!”
Wagstaffe’s debut for Wolves, a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa, was to be Broadbent’s final appearance in gold and black. Two club legends, passing like ships in the night.
The highlights for ‘Waggy’ at Wolves are too numerous, even to summarise.
Playing in all 48 games of the 1966/67 Division Two promotion season, followed by being part of ‘Los Angeles Wolves’, winning the inaugural United Soccer Association League. In America he resumed acquaintances forged during schooldays with Davy Jones of The Monkees fame, and was even asked to stay in the country after the tournament to become the face of a new range of football gear. The equivalent of Fred Perry in tennis. But Wagstaffe decided instead to continue his family life in Wolverhampton. Good for Wolves that he did!
He went on to play an integral feature of the UEFA Cup runners-up campaign in 1971/72, scoring in the second leg of the final against Tottenham.
Another key impact was delivered through the 1974 League Cup run, including in the final, as, in a game involving the two old foes doing battle at Molineux this weekend, Wolves upset the odds to overcome Manchester City 2-1.
But one specific Wagstaffe highlight? A moment or game which perhaps defines his hugely significant impact in Wolves’ colours? For Richards, there is unequivocally one which stands out.
“My main memory of Waggy as a footballer is a game we played against Arsenal,” he says.
“It was November 1971, Arsenal had done the double the season before, but we were also a good side, on our way to the UEFA Cup Final.
“The weather was horrendous that night, it was cold, there was sleet lashing down, and we were 1-0 down at half time.
“In the second half Waggy just became Waggy, he was brilliant.
“On the right wing, down at the North Bank end, he cut inside onto his left foot and lashed the ball into the top corner, past Bob Wilson.
“From 1-0 down that made it 1-1, and from there we went on to win the game 5-1, and, for me, that night was Waggy at his very, very best.”
As a footballer, as a winger, Wagstaffe was unsurpassed.
Both Richards and Gordos are united in the opinion that he deserved England senior recognition, to add to the England youth caps achieved in the same team as the likes of Terry Venables and Martin Peters.
Unfortunately, Wagstaffe hit his peak of exciting wingplay, going past the fullback on the outside, or cutting in to deliver a defence-splitting pass or shot, at a time when wingers weren’t fashionable.
The phrase ‘wingless wonders’ was attributed to a large chunk of the England tenure of Sir Alf Ramsey, which of course including the only ever World Cup win in 1966. In terms of the Three Lions, was it just, right player, wrong time?
“I definitely think Waggy was unfortunate, to be at the top of his game at a time when wingers weren’t particularly favoured,” says Richards.
“He should have played for England without a doubt, but wingers just weren’t fashionable over that period.”
“Over a decade, Waggy thrilled us with his raids down the left wing,” adds Gordos, one of those thousands of Wolves fans who feel privileged to have seen him in full flow.
“Sometimes he would start his raids with a sort of shuffle before a dip of the shoulder or neat footwork would get him past his marker and he would be in full flight, finishing with a pinpoint centre to the likes of Dougan, Richards, McIlmoyle, Curran or Gould.
“He definitely deserved an England cap and, when Ramsey took charge, he still used orthodox wingers and men like John Connelly, Gordon Harris, Mike O’Grady, Derek Temple and Bobby Tambling were all capped on the left wing.
“Decent players all – but Waggy was different class. And there was more to his game than mere dazzling wing play. He could split a defence with the sort of passes we would see many years later from Ruben Neves.”
Memories of Wagstaffe linger not just from his abilities as a player, but also his personality. And the trait of indulging in a crafty pre-match cigarette minutes before kick-off.
“Mischievous, in a quiet way,” is the assessment from Richards who spent several years in the same dressing room.
“There was a group of them – Waggy, Mike, Frank, Danny Hegan – they used to get up to a few antics!
“He was a lovely man, but also got very nervous and wound up before a game.
“I know the story is out there about him having a cigarette before a game, and that is completely true.
“A few of the lads from that generation smoked, and Waggy was the only one who was allowed to disappear to the toilet by the showers to have a cigarette before a game!”
Gordos takes that a step further, revealing that Wagstaffe once told him he kept a cigarette packet and some matches high up in the South Bank so he could have a quick drag during training sessions which involved running up and down the terrace.
Oh yes, training sessions. And running. Enough to prompt another Richards’ recollection.
“Waggy was a great player but he wasn’t a good runner, and hated training with a passion,” he says.
“I don’t know how he’d manage these days with all the stats they use and the different measurements.
“He would always try to avoid any long distance running, perhaps feigning a pull or another issue to get out of it.
“When we were over at Brocton at Cannock Chase, he’d suddenly pick up a slight illness or similar!
“Stick him on a pitch though, give him a football at his feet, and it was different, he was a fantastic player.”
But when it comes to mischief, two can play that game.
A consequence of sharing a regular pint or two in the Shoulder of Mutton which led to their friendship also saw Gordos and wife Lindsay being encouraged to book a holiday cottage on the Royal Estate at Balmoral, next to the one being occupied, by Wagstaffe and Val, his partner of 20 years.
“Scotland in November? ‘You must be joking’ we thought, but we liked the idea and booked the cottage,” Gordos explains.
“The two cottages had a joint porch with the respective entrance doors either side of it.
“So, we made sure we got to Balmoral first and I put a big sign on the cottage front door saying: ‘Ex-Wolves players not welcome.’
“We were hiding behind our door when Waggy, Val, her brother David and their dog Bess arrived.
“The air was blue when Waggy saw the sign – I think he thought the Queen must be an Albion fan!
“We then jumped out to say ‘Surprise!’ and they were so pleased to see us.
“We had a great time with them – not in each other’s pockets but visiting a few places together – a distillery or two – and having a drink at a local at the end of the day.
“We had subsequent holidays at Balmoral at the same time as Waggy and Val – they loved it there.
“He also liked the fact you were given a remote control to open the big gates to the Royal estate.
“There were usually a lot of tourists outside most days and he would give a Royal wave as he drove sedately through after opening the gates.”
Wagstaffe by royal assent! And why not. He certainly deserved that rest and relaxation in later life, given his service to Wolves extended well beyond those years he graced the flanks as a player.
Having completed his career with Blackburn and Blackpool – at Rovers he became the first ever footballer to receive a red card – he moved temporarily into the building trade before opting for a new calling behind the bar, he and wife Barbara becoming steward and stewardess of Bispham Conservative Club.
However, a phone call from Derek Dougan then led to the couple taking on Wolves Social Club and bringing children Gary, Scott – who has spent many years on the maintenance team at Wolves – and Mandy, back to Wolverhampton. After several other postings, including at the Old Wulfrunians Club in Castlecroft, Wagstaffe was soon back at Molineux, running the Terrace Bar – Waggy’s – after the redevelopment of the Stan Cullis Stand.
Such moves, hugely popular among the Wolves fanbase, was not without its challenges, particularly the difficulties of working for the Bhatti Brothers in that first stint back on Molineux soil.
“I’ve only just been reading about everything that happened when Waggy came back, but that was typical of him to do so – anything to help the club,” says Richards.
Anything to help the club indeed, even, sometimes, when not even knowing it.
In that 1974 League Cup Final, between the same two teams in action this Saturday evening, the score was locked at 1-1, and Richards was due to be substituted due to a long-standing pelvic injury.
But then Wagstaffe broke down with a muscle issue, meaning Richards stayed on. And the rest, as they say, is history. With seven minutes remaining, Richards grabbed the winner.
Talking of history, Wagstaffe was rightly inducted into Wolves Hall of Fame at the start of 2013, an emotional night both for him and his family. The timing would prove poignant, as he passed away later that year, his funeral service – at which Gordos was honoured to deliver an address – filling St Peter’s Church. Standing room only, just like when he played.
Last week marked the 12th anniversary of Wagstaffe’s death. The date in the calendar is marked, with the family remembering him just as the Molineux family will remember Jota’s passing both this weekend and in the future.
Two players and personalities, separated in impact by almost half a century, who achieved substantial success but equally importantly remained so humble and appreciative, and whose respective entries into the Wolves history books will endure forever.
Another new season begins. But the legends will never fade.
