From the archive - Turner's controversial appointment

The club were in the doldrums in the old Fourth Division, relegated after conceding 98 goals the previous year with an average Molineux attendance of 3,710, an all-time low.

Former Villa and England striker Brian Little, a 32-year-old coach at Wolves with no managerial experience, was in August 1986 handed the opportunity to revive the famous old club.

He made a steady start and, with Wolves 10th in early October, Little had just overseen successive victories over Preston (1-0) and Scunthorpe (2-0).

Then, just 36 days after being appointed to oversee the first team, and with high hopes of getting the job permanently, he was unceremoniously dumped.

Those victories were irrelevant for Little, as the decision had already been made.

"I have been sacked for doing nothing wrong," Little said.

"I had stuck to my principles during my time in charge, and I believed I was taking Wolves in the right direction.

"However, at least the Wolves directors have been honest enough to sack me when we were doing well, which proves I was obviously not the man they were looking for.

"In that respect it was a brave decision on their part."

Ruthless chairman Dick Homden wanted a man with more experience to drag Wolves out of the biggest slump in its history.

And that man, Graham Turner, was appointed the following day, October 7.

Sacked at Villa three weeks earlier, Turner had previously worked wonders at Shrewsbury, guiding them to a top-half finish in the Second Division.

Given the unceremonious nature of Little's sacking, particularly after successive league wins, it was a controversial move.

But Turner, a lifelong Wolves fan, himself still youthful in managerial terms at 39, had a point to prove after his Villa departure.

"I am anxious to prove a point and it is nice to be able to get Wolves' fortunes and my own situation going again at the same time," he said after taking the Wolves job, albeit without a contract.

"Naturally, before I accepted the job I wanted to know if the club had a future. But the potential is tremendous.

"After managing Villa in the First Division, I didn't really fancy dropping into the Fourth.

"And I don't think I would have done it for any other club.

He certainly wasn't short of players - Wolves' squad was as big as Villa's, with 25 full-time professionals.

"The players and the appointment of coaching staff are things I shall be looking at shortly.

"I have spoken to Geoff Palmer this morning and he has agreed to help me out for a couple of weeks until he leaves to join the police force."

Those were the days.

Early results for Turner were mixed - Wolves beat Tranmere in his first game (meaning three successive victories for the first time since January 1983) but lost the next two, to Swansea and Halifax.

In fact Wolves only won three more times in the next three months. But the revolution did come.

From January 24 onwards Turner turned the form book on its head and won 16 of their final 21 matches.

Andy Thompson, Robbie Dennison and Mark Kendall were signed, joining Andy Mutch who was already at the club, with Wolves fired to a fourth-place finish by the goals of a certain striker with the initials SGB.

The rest, as they say, is history.