Jordan Graham's tale of Wolves woes and heart-breaking knee injuries as he targets New Year return

At the time he was flying, but a few games later a serious injury derailed his progress. A decade on, his story has continued to be one of strength and resilience to overcome the many obstacles which have stood in his way. A tale of hope for the New Year.

As 2025 draws to a close, Jordan Graham posted a picture on his Instagram story.

"This is the year where I have been planting the seeds," read the accompanying message. "Next year is the one when I am going to blossom."

It’s been another long and winding road back to fitness for the affable winger, and it’s now 13 months since he last saw first team action, for Leyton Orient against Huddersfield in League One.

This is the third serious knee injury he has sustained in his career to date, the first of which he unfortunately suffered around ten years ago, at a time when he was among the key names on the teamsheet at Wolves.

During the 2015/16 season, during which Wolves had been put up for sale and were generally treading water whilst awaiting a takeover, Graham’s spell in the team from November to January was one of the shining lights. A direct winger who could hug the touchline with both the skill to go past players and the crossing ability to make the most of it when he did. He was a regular winner of the monthly ‘Twitter’ vote to determine the club’s Player of the Month. He also impressed sufficiently to win that same seasonal accolade from fans, even though his impact had sadly been so short-lived.

Because Graham’s was an impact destined to be cruelly snuffed out in its peak.  In a home game against Cardiff, he tore both the anterior cruciate ligaments and lateral cruciate ligaments in his left knee. A very serious injury. Later followed by a further setback which pushed back the date of his return.

Whilst at Orient, he ruptured the patella tendon in his left knee, the same one on which he suffered the ACL injury at Wolves. Which he then re-ruptured after an initial return. It has been another difficult and challenging journey back. But, as his Instagram post suggests, he is nearing the final destination.

“Over the last two-and-a-half years, since I first joined Leyton Orient, I have probably missed 20 months of football,” Graham reveals.

“I came here in the summer of 2023 and started off doing really well before rupturing my patella tendon, which then re-ruptured against Huddersfield last November, after I had come back.

“I felt I had been getting back to my best when it happened again, so it’s been tough, but as we speak now, I am hopefully a month or so away from getting back into training.

“I don’t currently have a contract, but Orient have been great with me in helping me rehab and doing everything it needs, with the view that when I do get back, if I can prove myself, then we can see what the situation is.

“So yes, I am hoping for positive things in the New Year, and that is what that social media message was about.

“It was a quote which I saw which felt relevant to the year that I have had - it just struck a chord.”

Despite all the setbacks – and there have been many – self-belief and confidence have never been a problem for Graham, even from an early age in football.

It’s probably a trait which sometimes saw him lock horns with different managers. But also get on famously with others.

It is also a confidence which, accompanied by his experience and open and articulate nature, makes him a natural for the broadcasting side to the game which he is already dipping into as part of a double-pronged plan for the future.

Get back playing football.  That’s the priority.  But alongside it, and eventually replacing it, is the burning ambition of a new career in the media.

The football career, meanwhile, is one which was forged not too far away from Wolves for Coventry-born Graham, a few junctions down the M6 with Aston Villa.

Emerging through the Academy, in the same team as Jack Grealish and Callum Robinson, and coached by Tony McAndrew and Kevin MacDonald, he still cherishes his football upbringing.

“I absolutely loved that time, such a good time in my life,” Graham recalls.

“The team camaraderie that we had was something else and, with the players in the youth set-up, it was a group that was winning most weeks.”

Whilst at Villa, Graham made his senior debut during a loan spell with Ipswich, under previous Wolves boss Mick McCarthy, and a further loan appearance, for Bradford, against Wolves.

“Mick and TC (Terry Connor) were excellent with me at Ipswich, and when I first did my cruciate at Wolves, one of the first calls I had was from Mick, which speaks volumes,” he recalls.

“Then playing for Bradford, I just remember thinking how good that Wolves team was, and not so long later, I had joined the club myself!”

Graham initially arrived at Molineux on loan, and, even though injury denied him any game time, Wolves had seen enough potential to make the deal permanent, in January of 2015.