New book to be launched at Wolves museum event
A new book charting Wolves' floodlit friendlies under Stan Cullis is set to be unveiled at the club's museum next month.
Written by Jake Perry and published by Pitch Publishing, Nights in Gold Satin: When Wolverhampton Wanderers Ruled the World, tells the story of the 16 floodlit friendlies Wolves played at Molineux between 1953 and 1962, alongside other less familiar matches.
One of the most famous nights came on December 13, 1954 when Wolves took on Honved, who fielded four of the five-strong forward line that saw Hungary beat England 6-3 and 7-1 in recent months.
But Cullis' men came back from 2-0 down to record a famous victory and they were dubbed 'champions of the world' by the newspapers - inspiring a new era of European competition.
"Three league titles – there could easily have been a couple more – bookended by a brace of FA Cups in 1949 and 1960 represents the most successful period of the club’s history, a run of trophies we can perhaps only dream of ever seeing again," author Perry said.
"But it was the story of the team’s success on a different stage that really fired my imagination. The floodlit friendlies – that night against Honved amongst them – always had a special kind of draw.
"It was the stories behind the games I found most fascinating to explore, the details that add the extra colour to the matches, both well-known and hardly at all.
"Countless hours at the Wolves Museum spent poring over the minutes of the club’s board meetings yielded further insights, the ins and outs of the negotiations to bring Honved to Molineux, for example – the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, which Wolves would win 10-0, was very nearly sacrificed as a common date was sought – and the television deals that were struck.
"The BBC paid Wolves £225 to televise the second half of the Spartak game but, driven by the arrival of ITV, shelled out £1,000 to show their meeting with Moscow Dynamo a year later, giving the club its first four-figure broadcast deal.
"The book also discusses the legacy of the games as the catalyst for the European Cup, of course, which began in 1955, and for the club as well.
"I spoke to John Richards, Kenny Hibbitt and Mel Eves, three of the players I grew up watching from the South Bank, to get their perspective on the burden of expectation the Cullis years left behind. And, for John, Kenny and Jim McCalliog, to take the club on its best-ever European run, to the final of the UEFA Cup in 1972.
"While many clubs can point to their league titles and cups – some to their European silverware, too – only Wolves can call themselves pioneers, the team that ‘lit the spark,’ as the inscription on Luke Perry’s fine commemorative sculpture outside Molineux reads, ‘that ignited European club competition.’ Those were the days, my friend: when our club broke new ground. When we were champions of the world."
The new book will be launched at a special event at the Wolves museum on September 5 with Perry and club historian Peter Crump, who wrote the foreword for the book.
Tickets can be bought by visiting the museum website on: events.wolves.co.uk/molineux-stadium-tours/wolves-presents/.
Further information on the book, including pre-orders, can be found at: pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/nights-gold-satin.
