Ethan Ebanks-Landell on his Wolves upbringing, memorable goals & burning EFL ambitions

And two of those five came against teams from Nottingham.

Firstly, in an away game at Notts County, on his full league debut for Wolves. And then, with a nod to the forthcoming Monday Night Football, at home to Nottingham Forest.

However, call if a sense of painful realism, a quest for high standards, even plain old professionalism, but remind Ebanks-Landell of those particular goals, and delight is not the only emotion that returns.

“My Dad’s friend came to that Notts County game, and when he saw my celebration he was asking people if I had ever scored before – and the answer was no!” he explains.

“But I needed to score, because I had an absolute nightmare of a game, so I had to do something positive.

“I still remember the Forest goal as well.

“Jordan Graham put it on a sixpence from a free kick and I headed it in, but then I lost my man for their equaliser.

“I always remember that, probably more than the goal itself!”

Ebanks-Landell, although currently injured, is still, at 31, enjoying the challenge of playing as much as ever, with Rochdale, currently sixth in the National League with ambitions of a return to the Football League. EEL back to the EFL.

That commitment to high standards remains as integral as ever, and perhaps stems back to the disciplined upbringing and grounding he received having emerged through Wolves Academy from the age of just eight.

Not to mention having a father, Michael, who was a sports professional in the world of basketball.

Ebanks-Landell actually landed his Wolves Academy scholarship due to brother Andre Landell, a striker, with whom he was then fortunate to spend so many years occupying the same team at youth level.

“Andre had actually got scouted at a Wolves camp we went to every summer, and I didn’t, but then my Dad took me along to watch him,” Ebanks-Landell recalls.

“Then Tony Lacey (Head of Wolves Academy Recruitment) saw me kicking a ball against a fence and spoke to my Dad and asked him to take me along the next week.

“I had a couple of weeks trial and then got signed up, starting out with the Under-9s and going all the way through the Academy.

“Those youth teams days were the best, learning your trade, even through the bad times as well as the good.

“And getting to do it all in the same age group as my brother, my best friend, made it extra special.

“It was funny because we always knew who had played better out of the two of us, because the one that hadn’t, would sit in the front seat on the way home so my Dad could talk them through everything that had happened!

“He also used to take us to the park and find some old bottles and have us dribbling through them to improve our skills.

“I will always remember, though, when I got older, watching my Dad play football, and he was so bad!  I often think we did amazing to get to where we did, given how bad he was!

“But basketball was his sport, and the professionalism and pedigree which he had in that, including representing England, definitely rubbed off on us and helped us, because he knew what it took to try and achieve something in sport.”

Aside from the family angle, Ebanks-Landell built up so many strong friendships across all those years coming through the ranks, and can effortlessly reel off the names of others who ultimately made the grade, as well as those who didn’t.

Of those who did, Ebanks-Landell came through all the way in the same age group as Jack Price, was a year above Liam McAlinden, Zeli Ismail and Anthony Forde, and a year or two below the likes of Danny Batth, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Sam Winnall and David Davis.

Then there was keeper Carl Ikeme, in Ebanks-Landell’s words, the ‘big brother’ to so many of those within the youth ranks, and someone who remains a close friend to this day.

So many coaches also played their part.

From Steve Burrell at Under-nine level, to Des Davis, Bob Fisher, Dave Timmins and then John Trollope, Ebanks-Landell remains full of respect for those who contributed to his development, through to Mick Halsall at Under-18 level who helped him make rapid progress up to the Under-23s.

Ebanks-Landell’s senior debut, on loan at Bury, would come in November 2012, and his Wolves bow, in the Carling Cup at Morecambe, nine months later.

Yet in December 2010, four days before his 18th birthday, he found himself on the bench at Molineux, for the white-hot atmosphere of a Midlands derby against Birmingham in the Premier League.

“We’d got a load of players out injured so a few young lads were on the bench, including myself, Sam Winnall, Nathan Rooney and Docs (Matt Doherty),” he explains.

“It was the first time I’d been around the first team in that sort of setting, and I remember warming up with ‘Roons’ and he overhit a pass which I had to go and retrieve in front of the Blues fans.

“That was also the first time I had ever been abused by some opposition fans, but I was buzzing, it brought a smile to my face.

“I remember thinking ‘this is real football’, this is what it’s supposed to be like!

“During the game Christophe Berra went down injured, and I started warming up, even though I’m fairly sure Mick (McCarthy) would never have put me on.

“The cameras panned on to me and people said I looked nervous, like I’d seen a ghost, but to be honest, I didn’t feel nervous, although that might have been different if I had actually been sent on!”

Being able to take things in his stride has always been a trait of Ebanks-Landell’s personality.

A fierce determination and will-to-win on the pitch masks more of a laid back attitude away from the action, albeit one where he has always believed in the team ethic before the individual.

“Maybe at times I was a bit too laid back and in hindsight it has cost me some career progress, but for me, my interest was always the team,” he explains.

“If that meant playing on the left hand side of defence instead of the right, which was my favoured position, or even being on the bench and supporting the guys who were starting, I was happy to do it.

“As much as it might have hindered me, that is me, my personality on and off the pitch, and I don’t think I can change that – everything happens for a reason.”

What also happened for a reason, and helped Ebanks-Landell develop from being an unused substitute to part of the Wolves defence, was that loan spell at Bury across the 2012/13 season, the first half of which included playing in the same team as Doherty.

Both also benefitted from being able to lodge with Wolves fan Tony Lewis during their spells at Gigg Lane.

“That spell was really important in giving me a proper rude awakening to first team football,” says Ebanks-Landell.

“The first game I was playing against a really strong striker, but I did o-k, even though we lost 2-0.

“Then we had to play Scunthorpe on the Tuesday night, and Leon Clarke gave me a really tough time, even though we went on to win it 2-1.

“I was team-mates with Leon later on at Sheffield United and then at Wolves, and my Dad often reminded him how he had scored against me before - my Dad has always been one of my biggest fans, but he enjoys taking the mickey as well!

“Being able to stay with Tony for a time was really good as well, he’s a great guy who looked after us and looked out for us back at Wolves as well.

“I’d always had a decent level of self-confidence but that loan spell really helped me adapt to senior football.”

It was in the 2013/14 campaign, during the rebuilding process under Head Coach Kenny Jackett, that Ebanks-Landell was one of several young players handed their Wolves debuts.

After a couple of starts in cup competitions at Morecambe and at home to Notts County, and the last half hour of a crucial League One win at Bradford, it was away at Notts County where he enjoyed his first league start for Wolves.

That included that first goal of five he notched in 50 Wolves appearances – at one stage he was averaging one in six – and it proved a decisive late winner helping the team to another three points enroute to numerous record-breaking achievements and the League One title.

Playing at either right or centre back, Ebanks-Landell then went on to feature fairly regularly in the Championship, adding further goals home and away against Millwall, and had very much nailed down a place in the side in the 2015/16 season until breaking his foot against Middlesbrough in the March.

Unfortunately, that was to prove his final appearance in a Wolves shirt – successful loan spells with Sheffield United, MK Dons and Rochdale followed – before a permanent move to Shrewsbury in the summer of 2019 brought his lengthy Molineux association to an end.

“I loved my time at Wolves and, when I look back, I do think that maybe I had more to give and could have played more,” Ebanks-Landell reflects.

“But there was a lot of competition at the time.

“Danny was doing really well, Stears (Richard Stearman) the same with so much experience, and Sam Ricketts came in at full back.

“I had got my way into the team and was on a decent run of games before breaking my foot, and, when I came back the following pre-season, I had dropped down the pecking order.

“When that happens at the start of pre-season it can be very difficult to change it, and maybe I’d lost my fight a little bit after it had taken such a long time to get into the team.

“But then I headed off for a great year at Sheffield United and before a couple more loans and then on to Shrewsbury.

“It was Sam who was the manager who took me there, but I probably didn’t do him justice if I’m honest.

“I wasn’t in great form but things did improve and I was proud to be captain later on, as well as meeting some great lads.

“People like Josh Laurent, and Matty (Matija) Sarkic, and it was so sad when he passed away – that hit everyone hard in the football world.

“Overall, I did really enjoy it at Shrewsbury, it’s another club I will always look back on with fond memories.”

In total, Ebanks-Landell chalked up 125 appearances for the Shrews, his name is etched into the club’s wall of centurions near the entrance of their training base, before returning to one of the sites of his former loans with a permanent switch to Rochdale in the summer of 2022.

The first season ended in relegation, but the arrival of Jimmy McNulty as manager early last year helped re-ignite Ebanks-Landell’s enthusiasm and, although currently injured and on the sidelines, he is keen to return to impact what Rochdale hope will be a promotion push to return to the Football League.

He has also been taking the opportunity to observe and learn from the coaches at the club, with one eye on somehow staying involved in the game when – although not just yet - his playing career comes to an end.

“When football is the only thing you have ever known, I know how hard it will be to let go,” he admits.

It all started at Wolves, and his thumping downward header in the corresponding fixture to Monday some nine years ago, was certainly among the highlights.

“Without Wolves, I have no idea what my career what have looked like, whether I’d even have had one,” he concludes.

“They taught me so much from the day I started with the Under-nines to the day that I left.

“I know the club is different now and I’ve not been back for a while but yes, I feel very proud to have played for Wolves at the time that I did.”