Express & Star

Wolves fan who walked a thousand miles

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For most Wolves fans a traffic-filled journey from Penn or Bushbury to Molineux is bad enough.

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Try more than 1,000 miles.

The distance between Norway and Wolverhampton certainly doesn't put Wolves fanatic Per Meyer off supporting his beloved club.

A fan since 1969 – when the first English football match screened on Scandinavian television, Wolves versus Sunderland, captured his imagination – Per has taken his devotion to extreme levels.

"I was just six years old so I can't really remember that game but I liked the colour of the Wolves shirt," Per said. "I saw them in football magazines and I started following them."

A Wolves shrine adorns his home, he's met more Wolves players and managers than he can remember, he makes the long pilgrimage to Molineux as often as time and money allows.

And he even played his part in Wolves history – when recommending to former boss Dave Jones that he should sign a certain Nigerian midfielder, then playing in Norway, by the name of Seyi Olofinjana.

"I said, have a look at him, he's quite good, strong, a gentleman, have a look," Per said.

"They later signed him. I didn't hear anything before I met Dave Jones again when I was with Viking Wolves.

"Dave told me, 'oh you won't take all the credit for the signing!'.

"He was a good player for Wolves and is a great gentleman still, and very clever."

Per, aged 52, first made the trip to Wolverhampton in the early 1980s

Over the years he has taken it some 50 Wolves matches.

They include the Sherpa Van Trophy victory over Burnley at Wembley and the famous 4-3 comeback win over Leicester in the Premier League in 2003, when Wolves were 3-0 down at half time.

"I use to listen for the results on BBC Radio," he said. "You'd always knew by the way James Alexander Gordon pronounced it what result was coming.

"My favourite game was the 1974 League Cup final, which was on television. I was 11 years old and my parents said I touched the ceiling for the first time when I jumped up to celebrate Kenny Hibbitt's goal!

"He was my favourite player. That was a fantastic day and it's the game I feel most in my soul."

His devotion has seen him dedicate three rooms in his home to Wolves, packed full of merchandise, programmes and Sporting Star 'pink paper' editions which he used to get delivered all the way to Norway every Thursday.

He even etched 'Wolves' into his first ever schoolbook.

Per said: "The first time I came to Wolverhampton was in the early 1980s. It was in the dark days for Wolves but I'd been supporting them for a long time.

"I got to know most of the managers since Graham Turner.

"On my first trip I met Graham and the players after the game, they had a few beers and they invited me in. I used to go to the training ground and keep in touch with the players.

"I've sat in every stand except the South Bank. I can remember the old John Ireland stand, the others were closing down. I think the crowd was about 3,000 for one game."

A member of Viking Wolves, Per listens to every game online, watches many on TV, and tries to get over to Wolverhampton twice a season.

The club never fails to invite him in to meet the manager and players, some of whom he has got to know very well over the years.

Unfortunately for Per his most recent visit, during which he popped into the Express & Star's Queen Street office for a copy of this season's team photo, he saw two defeats, against Brentford and Middlesbrough.

That's almost as bad as the gut-wrenching 2-1 defeat he witnessed against Manchester United at Old Trafford when the Park Ji-Sing won it in the 94th minute.

Occasionally he times it pretty well – last season he watched a 1-0 victory over Cardiff. And in 2012 he picked a rare entertaining game during Wolves' miserable relegation from the Premier League, a 4-4 draw at Swansea.

You get the impression, though, that Per isn't in it for the glory, like all Wolves fans.

His wife Ingvild, who he married in 1987, has often joined him for games, and now daughter Eline has got the Wolves bug too.

And despite Wolves' many woes over the years he's certainly never been tempted to change allegiance:

"I've followed Wolves through bad times. You can change wife but never your team."