Tim Nash's birthday tribute to Steve Bull

Throughout today, friends, family and ex-team-mates of Steve Bull will raise their glasses to toast the great man's 50th birthday.

And we salute him,

Through his own down-to-earth warmth, wit and personality, Bully was never going to be short of people to celebrate his milestone with.

Those human qualities have endeared him to so many people, many not so fortunate whose lives have been transformed by his charitable actions.

Bully claims the feeling he experiences from handing over a computer or wheelchair to those less fortunate than him beats scoring a goal.

And yet it's that simple, beautiful act of being able to put the ball in the back of the net with which thousands of Wolves immediately associate him.

Reaching 50 is a time to reflect, and there are no shortage of memories when it comes to the man from Tipton. His Roy of the Rovers story of footballing rags to riches is well known.

But I make no apologies for indulging it once again and taking a trip down Memory Lane.

Whatever the forces were which drove Bull and Wolves together in November 1986, they created a potent mix.

A local bloke with an accent as thick as 'grey paes' who continued to defy medical opinion and live his sporting life against the odds, arrived at a run-down, ramshackle club in his orange Cortina wondering what the hell he had got himself into.

Wolves were by now a sad music hall joke following three successive relegations; Molineux a sad, shell-like epitaph of a once-proud force of the game.

Trodden into the footballing mire and despairing at the alarming way their club had fallen after being stripped and robbed of any dignity.

And pride following years under neglectful owners, the dwindling band of fans still left had tired of ever seeing a new hero to cheer again. As Graham Turner said, the place stank of defeat.

For a club steeped in great strikers of the past such as Hartill, Westcott, Swinbourne, Murray, Dougan and Richards, the prospect of another number nine banging in the goals seemed unlikely.

But this was different; here was a man who almost single-handedly lifted the club by its bootstraps. And it was truly intoxicating.

It's impossible to think of another player who is so inextricably linked to, and so loved by, the supporters of one club.

For that we can only marvel at Bull's sense of loyalty which would simply not happen in today's game. But it is more than that.

It's his unique contribution - for all the efforts of Turner, Jack Harris and Dick Homden and Bully's team-mates, it felt like one man lifted one club single-handedly.

It's the thought of arriving at a game with that tingle of anticipation knowing that something special could happen because Bully was on your side and in your team.

As a young fan, I will never forget the buzz that went round the back of the away end at Port Vale when it was announced that he was making his comeback from injury.

It was like Christmas had come early. Of course the passing of time has a habit of erasing the negatives from the memory bank.

Time waits for no man of course and nothing lasts forever. But it's only fair as we reflect on Bully at 50 that we raise a glass to him. Cheers, Bully.

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