Wolves owner Steve Morgan doesn’t just have plans for Molineux – it’s more of a vision.

It was 34 years ago when the club owner was a 23-year-old avid Liverpool fan reaching Molineux with his pals an hour before kick-off for one of the old stadium’s most evocative evenings – the 1976 relegation-title decider with Wolves.

It ended in heartbreak for the Molineux hordes but delight for Morgan and the uncounted thousands of Liverpool fans, who broke through the gates of the South Bank and crammed on to that old, enormous Kop.

Liverpool won 3-1, Bob Paisley took his first title and Wolves were relegated.

Morgan laughs when recalling the memory: “I did pay, I promise you.

“But when we got to Molineux that night we could not believe the queues around the South Bank. This was in the days before tickets, when you just got as many into a ground as you could fit.

“We dodged our way to the front and then paid to go in.”

But the sights and sounds of that night, and indeed of Morgan’s early years when he followed Liverpool up and down the country, have never left him.

Which is why, all this time later he dreams of bringing at least a taste of those days to today’s fans of his new passion in football – Wolves.

He said: “I think there are certain clubs around the country which just have this special support.

“Look at Portsmouth. They continued to play out of a rickety old stadium last season and had dreadful troubles, but the noise those fans made was incredible. They were the last group of people who deserved what befell that club last season.

“Liverpool always had that cauldron at Anfield and I think the same applies to Wolves fans. But the issue for me when I came to the stadium was that the stands were too far away from the pitch.

“Although this ground is not very old, it’s a modern version of old generation stadia. If you look at the new stadia going up, they are altogether different. Maybe it was an over-reaction to the demands of the Taylor Report at the time it was built.

“People still came to Wolves and saw a really nice stadium but some of the facilities we offer are not what Wolves fans deserve. I want to get the fans closer to the pitch and increase the atmosphere, to help the fans help the team more.

“We’re blessed with a big, noisy, passionate following, we go to away games and take as many supporters as any club in the country.

“I reckon if we take the pitch closer to the fans, then the fans will take care of the rest.”

Morgan, you sense, is at times sensitive about his Anfield ancestory, perhaps worried that his motivation and passion for his adopted club will be questioned.

After all, there is no greater crime in football than switching allegiances. But there can be no doubt about his intentions or desires for Molineux now.

Wolves’ owner is 58 this November and, according to the last Sunday Times Rich List, among the wealthiest 150 in this country with a £350million fortune.

So why not kick back, feel the sand between the toes and enjoy a nice glass of vino in some glitzy Mediterranean port? Not a bit of it.

Morgan is committing himself to a hands-on, hugely-challenging development of Molineux that will test his leadership.

It’s not as if he is not already a busy man. Some 15 months ago, he saw one of the other great passions of his life, the Redrow construction company he had built from scratch but sold on in 2000, in desperate straits as the financial down-turn aggravated a mis-directed management.

Morgan couldn’t bear it, rebuilt his stock in the company and reclaimed control.

It will be heartening for Wolves fans wondering if the £40million development of Molineux really can be achieved to know that he has already masterminded an impressive recovery.

But why? Why all this labour at a time in his life when he could be enjoying the fruits of his labours.

Morgan concedes ‘it’s the nature of the beast.’

He said: “Are you saying I’m old? People asked me the same questions about going back to Redrow.

“If you think we have difficulties to face at Wolves, you should have been with me at Redrow 15 months ago. But we’ve turned that around. It’s a totally unrecogniseable business now.

“And in 10 years I hope Wolves will be a totally unrecognisable football club. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way to what I found here in 2007. The advances it made from 1987 were a fantastic tribute to Sir Jack Hayward.

“But now it is time to begin another journey and I want to take it as far as I can so that, at some time in the future, I will be able to pass it on to the next owner and be proud of what has been achieved.

“In life we can’t stand still. If you do, you go backwards. We are determined to take this club forward and I want to make it clear it’s not just about me. It’s a team effort. Everyone in the club has bought into this idea.

“It is a wonderful club you know, with a great family feel to it. I hear that said often. It is very much a family here and very friendly. I like to hear that.”

Morgan was closely involved in the architects’ designs, driving home the message that the new Molineux, its third incarnation of the last 50 years, would not be one of today’s quick-fit,  ‘retail warehouse’ homes which have provided a functional option for so many clubs moving from their antiquated old grounds.

He said: “I’m no fan of those crinkly-tin grounds. From the outset, I made it clear that we wanted a stadium that represented the history of this club. It will be a proper brick development, I think the fans are going to love it and be proud of it.

“It will be modern but with a traditional feel and I will be closely involved all the way. We want to make it a stadium where Wolves want to come and spend time an hour before kick-off and even an hour after the final whistle.

“I want the museum developed, something I believe will bring fans to Molineux at all times of day to enjoy the experience of this club’s history.

“I love the idea of youngsters walking around and discovering what Wolves is all about.”

It promises to be some legacy.

By Martin Swain