The Wolves striker turned limousine driver who dated a film star and mixed it with the rich and famous

Wolves 0, Everton 3.  Saturday, January 23rd, 1982.  Not one that will live long in the memory or the Molineux history books.  Except, perhaps, as being one of nine successive defeats for Wolves in league and cup at the time.

A Wolves team destined for relegation, just two seasons on from lifting their most recent major trophy with the 1980 League Cup Final at Wembley, not to mention their most recent highest placing, sixth in the top tier.

It was more notable on an individual basis for striker John Teasdale.

He didn’t know it at the time, but it would be his eighth and final appearance in a Wolves shirt.

Had he made a couple more, a further payment would have been due to Nairn, from whom he had joined Wolves little over a year earlier.

So, when later named on the bench for a game with Leeds, but withdrawn a couple of hours before kick-off due to the risk of moving in sight of activating that clause, his time at Wolves was over.

Life, however, was only just beginning.   There was some more football, with Walsall, Hereford and Blackpool amongst others.  

But then after that, the focus became more global.

Teasdale headed to America, where he became good mates with a rock legend, dated a film star, and drove limousines for a living.

He is still there now, at 62, working as a sales manager in a Honda store in Houston, building on many years’ experience in the motor industry.

So, Wolves against Everton back in 1982 now feels like more of a minor inconvenience!

“America has always been very good to me,” Teasdale reflects.

“The 80s and 90s were great times when you could rent an apartment five minutes or so from the beach for 500 or 600 bucks a month.

“You could live really well in Los Angeles for not a lot of money.

“I first came over in 1986, largely because of seeing all the American shows on TV, like Miami Vice!

“I just liked the look of it all, sunshine all the time, and through a friend of a friend managed to get out to New York in the December.

“It was cold, miserable and raining, and I remember thinking, ‘this is nothing like what I saw on the TV!’

“The guy I was staying with said I should get myself to California, but the flights were 400 dollars which was a lot of money back then.

“So, he then said get the Greyhound Bus, and there was me with no idea how big America was, thinking I’d get on this bus and maybe 10 to 12 hours later I’d be getting off in LA.

“Three days!  Three ****** days!  I think every eccentric in America came and sat by me on that bus during the journey.

“There was a guy who said he had been in Vietnam and was telling me all the stories complete with pretending he was using a machine gun with all the firing noises – I wasn’t getting any sleep during that time.

“Finally, I got off the bus at Long Beach in California, and was wondering what on earth I was actually doing with my life!”

Things did get better. Including the rock star, the film star, the limousines.  More on that later!

But perhaps, given Teasdale’s eye for travel and spreading his wings Stateside, it is no surprise that he was fairly well-travelled in his formative years.

Born in Glasgow, his father was in the Navy, prompting plenty of different homes in the likes of Ipswich and Portsmouth before heading back North of the Border and settling in Elgin at the age of 12.

By 16, he was playing – and scoring goals - for Nairn County in the Highland League, and his Uncle, stationed at RAF Cosford, wrote a letter to Wolves’ chief scout.

When a trial included scoring twice in a friendly against Hednesford, Teasdale was taken on, signing a professional contract shortly after he had turned 18.

“It was amazing to get that move as Wolves are such a big club, and I joined the season after they had won the League Cup and finished in the top six,” he recalls.

“Having said that, you could already start to see a bit of the penny-pinching and how the club soon got themselves into a mess financially.

“The training ground at Castlecroft wasn’t great, with just the one pitch and poor facilities, and I think a club the size of Wolves, with how big they had been across football, should have had better.”

Teasdale enjoyed something of a dream debut in the first team, setting up fellow Scot Andy Gray for the only goal of the game to seal victory away at Sunderland.  

He stayed in and around the team for the remainder of the 1980/81 season, chalking up seven appearances, before that final outing – at the time unbeknown to him – against Everton in the following campaign.

Still only 19 when he moved on from Wolves, joining such a big club had been very much an education, on and off the pitch. Some of which wasn’t perhaps completely conducive to making a success as a footballer!

“There were so many great guys at Wolves back then – people like John Richards, Geoff Palmer and Willie Carr – proper club legends,” Teasdale recalls.

“Then there was Mick Hollifield and also Paul Bradshaw, god rest his soul, Braddy was my big buddy who took me under his wing.

“He was my partner in crime, a proper character, who was actually very quiet and quite a shy man in general.

“But he liked to go for a few beers, and so I would tag along, and end up heading on nights out when I should have been at home resting.

“The problem was, I was an 18-year-old, hundreds of miles from home, and I was put in digs with Mrs Davies, a lovely lady, but she was 78 years old.

“There was one TV in the house, I had no one else to talk to, and when the boredom kicked in, I ended up going out.

“I don’t think there was a lot of thought that went into my digs situation – it would have been far better for me to be with a family with grown-up kids or another one of the lads.

“But do you know what?  I wouldn’t swap what happened to me at Wolves for anything.

“It was a great experience and a great time and a time when it was still real football.

“I tell the kids these days, I’d go out for training and would get absolute lumps kicked out of me by defenders like George Berry.

“It was all part of the learning, character building, but I can’t imagine that happens these days and the young lads have to go through the same sort of things that we did back then.”

After that Everton swansong, Teasdale was then one of many Wolves players to be made available for a free transfer, others on the list including Wayne Clarke and Colin Brazier.

He didn’t move far, to Walsall, but immediately had regrets.

Although he loved being part of a dressing room featuring personalities such as Kenny Mower, David Preece and Mark Rees, it was a major step down from Wolves and Teasdale had jumped at the first opportunity when others were available.

There followed a loan spell with Hereford, three months training with Schalke 04 in Germany and short stay with Wiener SC in Austria.

Then came America.  Having arrived in California after that gruelling bus journey, he started training with LA Lazers with a view to getting involved in their indoor season.

But previous injuries made regular action on the artificial pitches too much of a risk, and instead Teasdale, having met a group of English guys in a pub, started turning out for a Sunday team called the ‘Croats’, run by a Yugoslavian who also gave him some work.

And this is where the rock star enters stage right. Not to mention the limousines.

Because in one of those games, they played against the ‘Exiles’, run by the legendary Rod Stewart, and Teasdale grabbed a couple of goals in a 3-1 win.

Intrigued by this former pro who shared the same nationality, Stewart got chatting to Teasdale after the game, and asked if he wanted to up sticks and join the Exiles.

Only problem is, Teasdale had that job connected to his previous team.

“The next day the Exiles gave me a call and said they could also give me a job if I joined them, driving limousines,” says Teasdale.

“I’ll be honest, I hadn’t the first idea what a limousine was!

“But it turned out to be the best job in the world, on fantastic money.

“All I had to do was drive a limo from the Four Seasons Hotel to Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills which was about two minutes, drop the customers outside the Gucci or Armani store, wait a few minutes and then take other customers back.

“And Rod was great with me, he befriended me and really took me under his wing.

“He was already one of my favourite singers but he loved his football, and the fact I had played professionally with Wolves, and was from Scotland, we really hit it off.

“The team was generally made up of lads in their 20s and 30s and I was the fittest because I had been a pro, but Rod, in his 40s, came next – he loved it!

“He’s such a great fella and always wanted to be treated as one of the boys.

“Every week we’d play and then head off to a bar and all of us would put five dollars in the kitty to pay for the beers and food.

“Maybe every fourth or fifth week Rod would say, ‘ok all this is on me today’, which was a great gesture but most of the time he just wanted all of us to be the same.

“Back then there was no cable TV so Rod’s Dad would record Match of the Day and put the tape in the post to send out to America.

“When it arrived Rod would give me a call and I’d go around and watch the highlights of the previous weekend’s football – they were great times for sure.”

It was a job which led Teasdale to mix with the rich and famous from the world of music and entertainment, including Phil Collins, Dave Grohl, Mr Big from Sex in the City and DJ, Calvin Harris.

And also, Linda Blair, an actress best known for her role in supernatural horror film The Exorcist.

It wasn’t the best of introductions, but the two went on to become a couple and live together for a time.

“I shouldn’t even have been working the day I was sent to pick up Linda,” he recalls.

“Someone had phoned in sick and they said an actress needed to be taken to the studios for a gameshow she was featuring in.

“I’d been out with my pals until 5.30am in the morning, but they insisted, so I grabbed a shower and a quick sleep and went to pick her up.

“When I knocked the door, her assistant said she wasn’t ready, so I went to wait in the car, and fell asleep, drooling, with my head leaning up against the window.

“She had to knock the window when she came out and then we had a good chat on the way – she loved the accent and found it funny that I had been dragged in to work after a heavy night out.

“We got on well, and about six weeks later – I’ve got no idea how she got my number – she called to say she was finishing up a movie in Boston and was flying to LA

“I offered to pick her up from the airport, we went out to dinner, and the next day I pretty much moved in with her!”

There was a break to Teasdale’s American adventure when he decided to return to Scotland to catch up with family, also playing for Elgin and helping them win the treble.

But the globetrotting instincts soon came back, a holiday in Lanzarote turning into an 18-month stay running a nightclub, before heading Stateside once again, spending time both back in California and also Las Vegas before settling in his current home in Houston.

That’s not to say the UK, and Wolves, doesn’t regularly remain in Teasdale’s thoughts

Friendships have endured with Jane and Wendy, two Beatties’ employers from his playing days, and he is in close touch with them and their Wolves-supporting partners.

He also remains a good mate of former Wolves’ groundsman Ken Bates – “a great lad” – who has also been out to see him, including for a One Direction gig back in 2013.

Bates is a friend of the Payne family, who sadly lost Liam last year, but arranged for Teasdale and his daughter to meet the band and VIP guests including David Beckham at the concert.

Getting on with people remains a key trait for Teasdale, using experiences from the football dressing room, as well as the necessity to always work hard and improve.

In doing so, he continues to take inspiration from memories of two very contrasting personalities:  Legendary Wolves defender John McAlle, and legendary actor Al Pacino!

“Football has obviously changed a lot now, and I think one of the problems is that a lot of players, most of whom are working class, are given too much too soon,” Teasdale argues.

"What does a working class kid have? He has the work ethic, hunger and desire, but when they get a load of money thrown at them, and a long term deal, often that motivation is taken away.

“I remember the one day at Castlecroft, I was heading back in after training and could hear this ball being kicked against the wall inside.

“I popped my head around the door, and there was John McAlle, who at that time was coming to the end of his career, kicking the ball against the wall with his left foot.

“I asked him why he was doing it and he said he wanted to improve with his left foot, and was practicing his touch.

“Then maybe 15 or so years ago, an actor buddy of mine was at an acting class in New York, and in the middle of it, was Al Pacino.

“He was in his 60s at the time, but was still going to acting class, and my pal asked him why he was there.

“’I’m just working on my craft man’, came the reply.  Even Al Pacino, with all his incredible achievements, and John McAlle, at the end of his career, were still working at their crafts.

“I do sometimes wish my career had gone a different way, that I’d got another chance with Wolves, but there is definitely a lot that I learned that I have managed to take into the rest of my career.”

The Teasdale name has also survived within the footballing world. Nephew Joseph is a rising star on the Scottish scene with Aberdeen, and recently notched his first senior goal, a late winner, on loan with Kelty Hearts.

His Uncle still harbours hopes he may one day follow in his footsteps, and wear the famous Wolves shirt.

For Teasdale – John! – there is disappointment that a home game with Everton proved his last in the gold and black.

But what a career, and what a life, he has enjoyed since.

His California dreaming became a fun and memorable reality.  Teasy does it.