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Tim Nash: There's two sides to Sir Jack poser

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No one can dispute the roles Jack Harris and Sir Jack Hayward played in Wolves' history.

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Both were boyhood Wolves fans from the area who went on to make their way as successful businessmen before returning to plough their respective fortunes into the club.

So there's some irony that there is such debate over their respective merits prompted by Steve Morgan's decision to rename the South Bank - the Jack Harris Stand - after Sir Jack, writes Tim Nash.

Whichever way you look at it, the act of removing someone's name - especially one deceased - doesn't feel quite right.

Given its sensitive nature, we can only hope that the level of debate the decision has sparked has been matched by the discussion to do it in the first place between Morgan and other Molineux top brass.

But one thing it just may have done is raise awareness of the job Jack - Harris, not Hayward - actually did for Wolves.

There are honourable similarities between the actions of Morgan now and Sir Jack in 1993.

Both owners were seeking to recognise the efforts and contribution of their predecessors who left the club in a far better place than when they inherited it.

But there are also differences that should also be considered.

There has been a public clamour from fans for some sort of recognition for Sir Jack, and rightly so, for his contribution to the club and the city of Wolverhampton is unmatched and highly unlikely to ever be repeated.

As chief executive Jez Moxey says, uncovering all the hundreds of acts of generosity he made proved an impossible task but ran into tens of millions of pounds.

So no one doubts his contribution, but opinions can sometimes blur or even change history.

The bust of Jack Harris on display in the Wolves Museum.

There's no doubt the club wouldn't have been transformed or evolved the way it has without Sir Jack's millions.

But although there was none of the same public clamour to acknowledge Harris, the club might not have been here at all but for the car parts manufacturer.

Sir Jack wanted to buy the club in 1982 only to lose out to the Bhattis which set the club into the blackest period in its history.

When Harris took the keys in 1986, Sir Jack was off the scene and Harris and fellow director Dick Homden took control.

It was a complicated deal with Wolverhampton Council and the Gallagher brothers to save the club from extinction, which saw the ASDA built near Molineux.

Harris was always a football man with no interest in personal financial gain.

It was through his connections at Walsall, where he had served as a director, that he persuaded chief scout Ron Jukes to come on board, which proved a masterstroke in the club's recovery.

Jukes suggested Graham Turner was the man to revive Wolves' fortunes and so he was appointed.

And when Jukes recommended a young, raw striker in Albion's reserves with a poor first touch, it was Harris who stumped up the £64,000 to buy him.

Two promotions and a cup-win at Wembley later, Sir Jack came calling again and bought the club in 1990 for £2.1million.

Harris and Homden left the club in a healthy state - in the same division as it is at now, with cash in the bank and a prize asset in Steve Bull.

As guarantors to cover the club's assets, the Gallaghers accepted Hayward's offer.

Harris was happy to walk away without a penny, satisfied he had played his part in the resurrection of the club he supported.

Continuing on the board under Sir Jack, he was proud to receive the honour of having the South Bank - the last of the three stands to be rebuilt - to bear his name.

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But given the other three structures carried the names of the two most famous icons associated with the club - Billy Wright and Stan Cullis - and the club's record goalscorer Steve Bull, having the other called after a non-player never sat as easily.

So much so, that although the popular home 'end' was officially called the Jack Harris Stand, it was still universally known as the South Bank.

Not surprisingly however, the Harris family were disappointed when the call came through from chief executive Jez Moxey to say the stand was being renamed after Sir Jack.

Sir Jack was made aware of similar distress when he removed John Ireland's name to rename the Steve Bull Stand in 2003.

Thankfully Harris is still acknowledged forever at the club with a bust in the club's museum. Naming the South Bank after Sir Jack has its leanings.

It's that end where the fans have regularly acknowledged him since his death with their 'thumbs up if you love Sir Jack' chant.

And the timing - at the end of the season in which he died - makes it right to do something now. What we don't know is if the eccentric philanthropist wanted it or not.

John Harris, Jack's son, reckons it's unlikely, Moxey points to the pride he felt at the naming of Jack Hayward Way and the training ground after him.

As John Harris said, his father and Sir Jack are probably now enjoying a laugh about it somewhere now.