Express & Star

Wolves' great talent-spotter passes away

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One of the men who persuaded Wolves to take a chance on Andy Thompson and record goalscorer Steve Bull has passed away.

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Talent-spotter Geoff Blackwell – the right-hand man to chief scout Ron Jukes for several years during the 1980s – helped create plenty of Molineux history.

He spotted a young Bull playing for Albion's reserves almost 30 years ago. Blackwell, who grew up in Graiseley, was 80 when he died earlier this month.

Geoff Blackwell

He went on to be a scout for Derby County and Hereford United, before finishing with Telford United.

But his most famous claim remained that of Bull, and Blackwell's son Steve recalled the day he and Jukes encouraged Graham Turner to take a punt on Thompson and Bull.

Steve said: "He got called into Graham Turner's office with Ron and they were asked about Andy Thompson, because he wasn't happy being in the reserves at Albion.

"They then went to watch a reserve game and my dad really liked the look of the centre forward, he thought he could play.

"He was talking about him in the stand and Les – Steve Bull's dad – tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he was talking about his son.

"Les told him that Steve was devoted to Wolves and would love to move, as he was fed up of being in the reserves.

"They went back to Graham and persuaded him to put in a cheeky bid for the pair and the rest is history."

During his time at Wolves, Blackwell also took charge of Wolves' reserves on an away trip to Middlesbrough, coming away with a 3-2 victory.

Steve said: "He always used to say that he was unbeaten as Wolves manager – the only one in history."

In 1981, Blackwell served as the assistant manager to Barry Stobart during Willenhall Town's historic FA Vase run, which saw them reach the final at Wembley.

He also managed Sunday league side Park Village and guided them from Division Nine to the Premiership in successive seasons in the Wolverhampton League, winning the league and cup double every season.

Blackwell spent the best part of 20 years as a scout during the 1980s and 1990s.

Steve added: "He had a great eye for spotting players. I tried a bit of scouting myself, but I didn't have the eye that he had."

"He was trusted because of his knowledge, which was invaluable to the clubs he worked for, and he had contacts from across the country.

"Football was his life. Whenever he had any spare minutes, he would be off scouting."