John Lalley on Wolves legend Bert Williams: His brilliance was equalled by humility and decency

And no-one, not even the great Billy Wright himself could surpass the levels of affection that Wolverhampton folk always have and always will bestow on the remarkable Bert Williams,

Truly, he was Bilston's finest son; one of our own, with all of the virtues and none of the vices. Memories fade over time, so that distinctions between reality and imagination become blurred, but the enduring brilliance of Williams will forever remain crystal clear. His genius was matched only by his modesty; and in this current era of football synonymous with raging egos and spectacular greed, Williams provides the ultimate contrast.

He was impressed with his colleagues not with himself; he was immensely proud to represent Wolves and be a massive contributor to all that this wonderful club stood for during its greatest era and he stands as a colossus, one of the greatest footballers ever to grace the Molineux ground.

Small in stature in comparison to the giants between the posts these days, Williams maximised his superb level of physical fitness, his subtleness and his remarkable reflexes to prove himself the finest goalkeeper of his generation. Back then, courage was as essential as agility; today, goalkeepers are a protected species but Williams had to endure without complaint the physical intimidation that was routinely meted out by uncompromising forwards of such calibre as Nat Lofthouse, Jackie Milburn and Trevor Ford.

Bolton's Lofthouse once left Williams with eight stitches in a cut eyebrow, when as Bert put it, 'my eye kicked Nat's boot.' Thankfully, he survived such ordeals and thrilled a generation of supporters to amass well over 400 games for the club before ending a stupendous career in 1957 when still an integral part of a truly great Wolves side. He departed with both League Championship and FA Cup winners' medals in his possession alongside 24 England caps which helped to cement the universal opinion that Williams was one of the very finest goalkeepers in world football.

It was playing for England in 1949 that Williams incredibly defied a superior Italy team which led to the Italian press dubbing him 'Il Gattone' – The Cat – in ultimate tribute to his performance. Yet strangely, perhaps the most enduring image of Williams in an England jersey remains in the haunting photograph of the keeper bemused and stationary as Joe Gaetjens scores the goal for America to hasten England's elimination from the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

To this day, this defeats still rates as the most unlikely and the most humiliating suffered by the national team. To add insult on his return home, Williams received a letter from The Football Association informing their peerless goalkeeper that they were deducting one pound and 11 pence from his expenses regarding a disputed train fare!

Williams it seems spent a career putting a hell of a lot more into the game than the meagre amount he ever took out! But what he did gain was the priceless respect of his contemporaries who more than any appreciated his supreme talent.

Years later in 2007 at a packed venue in Brewood, the launch of his excellent book The Cat in Wolf's Clothing celebrated the glittering Williams' career. Tom Finney, most likely the greatest English player who ever lived insisted on making the journey from the North despite indifferent health to support his old international colleague. Williams was indeed always easy in the best of company. The belated but thoroughly merited award of an MBE for services to football and devotion to charity came as a crowning accolade. Speaking from the lectern in St.Peter's Church in 2001, Williams paid a delightful tribute to his close colleague Stan Cullis at the memorial service for the great Wolves' player and manager.

Williams closed his remarks by saying that Cullis, was 'a credit to his family, a credit to the Wolves and above all, a credit to himself.'

Today, these words apply in kind to Bert Williams; the accolade fits him as comfortably as his goalkeeping gloves. A wonderful Wolves man to his fingertips.