From the archive - Stan Cullis is sacked

The greatest manager Wolves ever had was unceremoniously shown the door on September 15, 1964.

His departure was dubbed 'the biggest storm in football history'.

Perhaps an exaggeration, but it shows the strength of feeling, the utter disbelief, the sheer incredulity at one of the most successful managers British and European football had ever seen being given the boot.

Cullis paid the price for failing to halt a decline for arguably England's finest team in the 1950s.

In 1960 Wolves won the FA Cup and finished just one point behind champions Burnley.

A year later, with key players on the wane, they dropped to third, then 18th in 1962, fifth a year later and 16th in 1964.

There was a changing of the guard in English football, with 1950s rivals like Manchester United also suffering a decline as they rebuilt following the Munich disaster.

But while United stuck with Matt Busby, who would lead them to the European Cup in 1968, Wolves sacked Cullis.

The team had made a poor start to the 1964/65 season, with 48-year-old Cullis missing matches as the stress of the job took its toll.

He oversaw their first victory on September 14, a 4-3 triumph over West Ham at Molineux in front of just 19,405.

But the win couldn't save Cullis.

At first, the shocking news was accompanied with the briefest and coldest of statements from the board of directors, who merely stated they had parted company with the man who had given, in his own words, his life to Wolves.

Then three days later the club directors, led by chairman John Ireland, finally made a proper statement, having felt 'compelled to amplify their original statement' due to adverse publicity.

"It was with great regret this action had to be taken and that his long association with the club had to end," the statement said.

"Matters were recently brought to a head by complaints and transfer requests from a number of established players, which forced the board to the belief that this position was brought about by the treatment of players, by the manager, and who, they felt, no longer had the confidence and respect of the players."

The statement wasn't enough to quell the anger of Wolves supporters who were disgusted with the way Cullis had been treated.

The Express & Star, which set up a testimonial fund for Cullis, was besieged with letters.

One, from someone calling themselves 'Ex-Loyal', summed up the anger: "I have watched and supported Wolves continuously since 1924 when they were in the Third Division.

"In those days they were a football nonentity.

"It is no coincidence that these 30 years of greatness have been the same 30 years that Stanley Cullis has given to the club as player, captain and manager.

"And now, overnight, this club of ours have, by the stroke of a pen, coverted themselves into 'just another club', have cast away their greatness and its dignity and made a scapegoat of a man who has given them more than 100 per cent during all his years with the club."

On the field Wolves, all too predictably, struggled to recover from the bombshell.

They lost their next seven matches, won just 13 all season and were relegated to Division Two for the first time since 1932.

New manager Andy Beattie used 28 players, the highest number for 30 years, and 100 goals were conceded in the league and cup combined.

As for Cullis, with a week of being sacked he had offers from Sunderland, Coventry City and Italian giants Juventus, who offered him a £10,000 salary to move to Italy.

He turned them all down, took a year away from the game and resurfaced at Birmingham City, where he failed to reproduce his Wolves magic and retired in 1970.

"I simply created a yardstick which people could criticise me against," Cullis said of his Wolves dismissal.

Sadly, Wolves have never since come anywhere close to reaching that yardstick.