Wolves flashback: Decorated international stars
David Edwards has become the latest in a long line of Wolves players to be called up for a major tournament.
No fewer than 18 players have represented the club at either a World Cup or a European Championships, while academy graduates Robbie Keane and Joleon Lescott - and now Wayne Hennessey - have done so after leaving Wolves.
Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers takes a look at the history of Wolves' stars on the big stage.
1950s - The Billy Wright era
The home nations didn't enter the World Cup until 1950 when England finally took part.
A 26-year-old Billy Wright captained the side and was joined by team-mates Bert Williams and Jimmy Mullen, who played three and two games respectively as England crashed out early, shockingly losing 1-0 to rank outsiders USA.
Wright also played in the 1954 tournament in Switzerland, along with Mullen and Dennis Wilshaw.
The latter pair were left out of the opening 4-4 draw with Belgium - but both were on the scoresheet for England's second game, which could have read Wolves 2 Switzerland 0 with Mullen and Wilshaw's goals enough to defeat the hosts.
Mullen was surprisingly dropped for the quarter final versus Uruguay, with Wilshaw and Wright both playing as England crashed out with a 4-2 defeat.
And then for Sweden 1958 Wright was still skipper - and joined by Bill Slater, Eddie Clamp and Peter Broadbent for Wolves' biggest ever showing at an international tournament.
Wright and Slater played in all four of England's group games, while Clamp played three times and Broadbent once.
Wright is the only Wolves player to feature at three tournaments, making nine appearances in total.
1960s - Flowers power
In the 1962 World Cup in Chile, Ron Flowers picked up the mantle as Wolves' sole representative.
He was a key member of Walter Winterbottom's team alongside the likes of Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton.
And he scored in England's first two group games - both penalties in a 3-1 defeat to Hungary and a 3-1 win over Argentina.
They were two of six penalties Flowers scored for England (and 10 goals for his country in total). He never missed one.
Only Frank Lampard, Alan Shearer and David Beckham have scored more from the spot, while Wayne Rooney shares Flowers' 100 per cent record with six from six.
Flowers played in all four England games in 1962 including the 3-1 quarter-final defeat to champions Brazil.
Four years later Flowers was still in England's squad for the victorious 1966 triumph.
He came close to playing in the final with Jack Charlton suffering from illness, but it wasn't to be for Flowers who didn't get on the pitch during the tournament.
He did, though, finally receive a World Cup winners' medal in 2009.
1990 - The Backstreet international
Aside from Emlyn Hughes' non-playing selection at Euro 1980 in Italy, there was then a 24-year hiatus until Stephen George Bull famously made the squad for the 1990 World Cup, also in Italy.
Things like this aren't supposed to happen.
A year before the tournament Bully was called up for the first time while still a Third Division player.
His phenomenal, logic-defying goal exploits were just too great for Bobby Robson to ignore. More than 100 goals in two seasons (and 129 over three seasons...!) earned him a place in the squad - and after a glorious debut goal in Scotland he confirmed his place with two superbly-taken goals against Czechoslovakia at Wembley.
The clamour for Robson to 'let the Bull loose' was national news.
Sixty-four per cent of a 25,000 nationwide TV poll said he should start alongside Gary Lineker, while Jimmy Greaves went on telly sporting a 'Let The Bull Loose' T-shirt.
The Wolves number nine was initially held back, coming off the bench during draws against Ireland and Holland.
Then he got his big opportunity when starting the final group game versus Egypt. But Robson adopted a patient passing game against the African side, which didn't suit Bully, who later admitted: "I was running around like a headless chicken."
One more appearance followed, off the bench in the second round win over Belgium.
He was even about to come on in the semi-final against West Germany, before Gary Lineker scored moments later.
Still, what a journey. As the man himself says, not bad for a lad from Tipton with no first touch.
2000s - Foreigners abroad
Since Bully's time it's been slim pickings for home nations call-ups. In fact Edwards is the next, and duly becomes just Wolves' fourth player to be called up for a British side in a major tournament in the past 50 years.
There have been a few foreign call-ups in the past 20-odd years though.
If you count him as a foreigner, striker David Kelly earned a call up to Ireland's 1994 World Cup squad in the USA, coming off the bench for a solitary appearance against Norway.
Twelve years later Seol Ki-Hyeon, one of the heroes of South Korea's crazy ride to the semi finals of the 2002 World Cup, was unsurprisingly called up to the 2006 tournament in Germany.
However relations between him and Wolves, two years after moving to Molineux, were strained.
"At this stage, I'm frustrated not to be in the Premiership," he said. "I think there will be some good news after the World Cup."
If you count moving to Reading as good news, that's exactly what he got, but not before making two World Cup appearances while still a Wolves player.
And then in 2010 came Wolves' most plentiful number of call-ups since 1958, with three of Mick McCarthy's squad travelling to South Africa.
They were Adlene Guedioura (Algeria), Nenad Milijas (Serbia) and Marcus Hahnemann (USA).
Guedioura saw the most action. with three substitute appearances in Algeria's three games, including against England, while Milijas started one game for Serbia and Hahnemann was an unused third-choice keeper.
2012 - Irish eyes smiling
That number was repeated for Euro 2012 when Irish trio Stephen Ward, Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt went to Poland and Ukraine.
With Robbie Keane leading the line, Giovanni Trapattoni's squad had a distinct Wolves feel to it.
That Wolves feel could have increased to 25 per cent of the squad. But Andy Keogh (who had left for Millwall six months earlier) only made the standby list.
And Kevin Foley, then still a Wolves player, was cruelly axed in favour of standby player Paul McShane just minutes before the Uefa deadline, with Trapattoni favouring an extra centre back.
"I just feel betrayed," a devastated Foley said.
Foley's luck was out - but Ward's was in. He featured in fewer than half of Ireland' qualifying games (scoring in the 5-1 aggregate play-off win over Estonia) but an injury to Kevin Kilbane opened the door.
Ireland were handed an incredibly tough group, with Spain, Italy and Croatia.
A 3-1 defeat to the Croats realistically ended their hopes. And a 4-0 tanking by Spain confirmed their exit before a final 2-0 defeat to Italy.
Doyle started against Croatia and Italy, while Hunt never got on the field.
But Stephen Ward, who McCarthy had signed from Bohemians as a striker five years earlier and then converted him to a left-back, started all three matches.
He also finished all three, therefore playing 270 minutes, the most in our list since Ron Flowers in 1962.
If David Edwards gets anywhere near that in France, there will be many a proud Wolves fan watching on.
Full list of Wolves players called up for major international tournaments
World Cup 1950
Bert Williams – England
Billy Wright – England
Jimmy Mullen – England
World Cup 1954
Billy Wright – England
Jimmy Mullen – England
Dennis Wilshaw – England
World Cup 1958
Billy Wright – England
Bill Slater – England
Eddie Clamp – England
Peter Broadbent – England
World Cup 1962
Ron Flowers – England
World Cup 1966
Ron Flowers – England
Euro 1980
Emlyn Hughes – England
World Cup 1990
Steve Bull – England
World Cup 1994
David Kelly – Ireland
World Cup 2006
Seol Ki-Hyeon – South Korea
World Cup 2010
Nenad Milijas – Serbia
Marcus Hahnemann – USA
Adlene Guedioura – Algeria
Euro 2012
Stephen Ward – Ireland
Stephen Hunt – Ireland
Kevin Doyle – Ireland
Euro 2016
David Edwards - Wales
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