From the archive - Glenn Hoddle resigns
"I had an unexpected call from Glenn Hoddle at 3pm this afternoon. He told me he was resigning with immediate effect."
The words of a stunned Jez Moxey, 10 years ago today, after Hoddle called it quits at Wolves.
The decision was as surprising as the timing.
Wolves had just returned for pre-season and were due to leave for a training camp in Spain two days later. Hoddle phoned Moxey, who was rowing on a lake in Weston Park with his daughters, one hour before England played Portugal in the World Cup quarter finals on a baking hot Saturday afternoon.
The phonecall came just moments before Hoddle's representatives sent a statement to a national sports agency.
That brief statement read: "It has been a very difficult decision but I feel my expectations and the club's have drifted too far apart in recent weeks.
"This decision has been made early in pre-season for the benefit of the club."
Hoddle was clearly in a rush to leave. Come Monday morning there was no fond farewell, or an explanation, to his players, who never saw him again.
History has not been kind to Hoddle's 18-month reign (he is despised by a majority of Wolves fans) and indeed the mood at the time was one of exultation.
As Steve Marshall wrote in this publication: "Let's face facts, Wolves fans are rejoicing today.
"Hoddle's gone and you can feel the relief from Bilston to the Bahamas.
"The manner of his departure summed up large parts of his reign. Sneaky? Spin-doctored? More concerned with his own image and reputation than that of the Wolves?
"It was a fitting end to a wretched spell which will hopefully bring closure to the era of Billy Big Time big-name bosses and players at Wolves."
Some didn't want Hoddle to leave though. Moxey was one of them, and attempted to get Hoddle to change his mind.
"He said that looking himself in the mirror he felt that if he was not 100 per cent behind the job he might as well step back," Moxey said a few days after the bombshell.
"He was concerned about the budget with which we have to operate (after parachute payments ran out) and was concerned that he couldn't do what we'd like him to do with the money we have got.
"We are disappointed and angry this decision wasn't made sooner but we do accept Glenn's version of events."
Moxey was disappointed, and so were the players.
Jody Craddock said it was an 'upsetting time', Lee Naylor was 'sad to see him go' and Carl Cort said it was a 'massive blow to the club.
Their team mate Paul Ince, however, wasn't quite as distraught.
He soon put his had into the ring to replace Hoddle, and supporters overwhelmingly agreed.
In an Express & Star poll four days after Hoddle left, Ince was backed by a whopping 64 per cent of fans.
Joint-second, ahead of Joe Royle, David Kelly and Stuart Gray, was up-and-coming Southend manager Steve Tilson on just 13 per cent.
He was tied with some chap called Mick McCarthy. And we all know what happened next.
As for Hoddle, any suggestions that he had left Molineux to take another job elsewhere proved unfounded.
Exactly 10 years later, the Wolves job remains his most recent.
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