Stuart Watkiss may be born and bred in Wolverhampton but there is one team for him at the KC Stadium on Saturday – Hull City.

The 43-year-old is nonetheless a lifelong fan of Wolves, just like his dad and two sons, and played in the top flight for the club.

But Watkiss’ preferences are purely professional, you understand, as the former defender is now Tigers’ development coach and loving every minute working with boss Phil Brown, along with another couple of Midlands exiles in Hednesford-born assistant Brian Horton and former Albion midfielder Steve Parkin as first team coach.

The varied nature of his job, which includes keeping a close eye on Hull’s 18 to 22-year-olds and scouting for the first team, means Watkiss doesn’t actually know if he’s going to be at the big game yet.

But there is no doubt the Watkiss’ head and heart will be in different places come 3pm on Saturday.

He said: “My ideal scenario would be a Hull win, but long term, it would be for both teams to be in the Premier League next season.

“I find myself almost not wanting Wolves to lose, but Hull pay my wages and all my energies are on them. If that means them being in the Premier League at the expense of Wolves then so be it.

“But my support of Wolves will always be there. My dad John first took me and my brother to Molineux when I was five or six and we used to watch from the old South Bank.

“My dad even made us a crate to stand on – it was the era of big Phil Parkes in goal, Derek Dougan and John Richards up front, Mike Wagstaff on the wing along with Mike Bailey, Frank Munro and John McAlle.

“From there, we moved to the boys’ pen in the old North Bank and eventually we got season tickets when the new stand was built miles from the pitch.

“So, of course, it was an ambition fulfilled when I got to play a couple of games at Wolves.”

Sadly for the young central defender – and indeed for so many hopefuls at Wolves in those turbulent times – that top-flight career was shortlived. In fact his began and ended within a week in March 1984.

He recalled: “I made my debut against Sunderland at Molineux in a goalless draw then played in a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal. I was only 17, but unfortunately that was it for me at first-team level and I left halfway through the next season.

“It was the worst time in their history and they ended up carrying on going down.”

But those dark days at Molineux weren’t so gloomy for a then starry-eyed teenager.

He said: “I look back on those days with a great deal of pride. As an apprentice, I cleaned the boots of Andy Gray, Kenny Hibbitt, John Burridge and John Humphrey – great professionals and I have got some great memories from that time.

“Tim Flowers and Graham Rodger were the other two that played the most out of the apprentices I came through with. Perhaps I didn’t kick on as much as I should have done – but it was the right place at the wrong time and I was released by Tommy Docherty.

“But as I say, that support for Wolves has never left me and I’m forever conscious of their results – although now for different reasons!”

That support has been passed on to sons Dan, at 21 a Molineux regular – who works 100 yards from the ground at Carillion – and 13-year-old Ben.

Watkiss said: “They’ve got plans to come up and stay at my house in Grimsby this weekend. They feel strange, because their natural instinct is to support Wolves but they’re very aware that Hull pay their dad’s wages.

“I got them tickets for the reverse fixture at Molineux in August, but they had to sit in the Hull end and they ended up sitting on their hands when Wolves scored!”

If Watkiss’s experiences as a Molineux youngster helped shape his destiny, it left its mark in a future career of youth development.

After a spell in non-league with Rushall Olympic, Watkiss returned to the pro game with Walsall, Hereford and finally Mansfield, where after his playing career ended early due to an ankle injury.

But the budding coach unearthed a cracking youth team at Field Mill that was able to work with right through to senior level and steer to promotion from the now League Two – their first in 10 years.

The set-up had Liam Lawrence, who went to Sunderland and is now at Stoke, Bobby Hassell now at Barnsley, Alex Baptiste at Blackpool and Jake Buxton at Derby.

Such success had bigger clubs watching and he twice been interviewed for youth jobs at Wolves, where his dad had a time talent-spotting in between spells at his current role as Manchester United scout for the West Midlands.

Cruelly, Watkiss was unable to finish the job at Mansfield and after another sojourn in management at Kidderminster and three years as assistant boss at Grimsby – initially with his old Wolves team-mate Rodger – there was a sudden catapult into the Premier League last July.

He said: “I’ve been in management and coaching in Leagues One and Two but I purposefully took a step back, from that because I wanted an opportunity to get more experience and knowledge behind me on this side of things.

“And I have to say, I’ve been really impressed with my first taste of life at a Premier League club. It’s an eye-opener – just the preparation that goes into every training session and game is incredible.”

So three final questions before Watkiss headed off to take charge of the reserves against his old club Grimsby then the youth team at Stoke.

What’s Phil Brown really like?

Watkiss said: “He’s a great character, but on a day-to-day basis, he’s a real football man who would do anything to help you. He’s very open and receptive to ideas, he always wants an input from the staff and likes to get them involved.

“He has a reputation as a good coach, and, seeing him at first hand, it’s warranted. His work ethic is unbelievable – he’s a workaholic.”

Will Saturday be a game to remember?

Watkiss said: “I think it will be a typically English game – both teams will play at a high tempo, there will be a lot of closing down and competing for second balls but I’m sure both will play at the right times.

“It might be nervy because there’s everything to play for and it’s a game both clubs will earmark as one to get points from.”

So what about an outcome then?

He would only say: “Ideally I want Hull to get a result.”