Billy Wright: A class act on and off the field of play

As a central defender Billy was different from the traditional “stopper” centre-halves.

For a start he was only 5ft 8ins which would hardly seem adequate when up against some rampaging centre-forwards and he was no speed merchant.

Yet he made up for those apparent disadvantages for the role by his ability to read the game and to outjump the tallest of centre-forwards.

Billy knew his limitations, his job was to win the ball and quickly get it to one of the midfielders.

This he did with a slide rule pass usually executed with the inside of the foot – and with either foot, for Billy had very early in his football life ensured that he became a two-footed player.

If one of those slide-rule passes went astray, there was an audible gasp from the fans. It was that unusual.

Few centre-forwards got the better of Billy and if they did it was usually only once.

I can remember him having a difficult game against a 19-year-old Portsmouth centre-forward by the name of Derek Dougan who scored his first ever Football League goal against Wolves at Fratton Park.

Many pundits in the national press were quick to highlight a harrowing afternoon for the captain of England. In the return game at Molineux, the Doog hardly got a look-in.

There was another occasion, in 1956 when newly-promoted Leeds United won 2-1 at Molineux and Welsh legend John Charles scored the goals. In the return game Billy ensured Charles had a quiet afternoon in a goalless draw at Elland Road.

Not that Billy was just the man who marked the opposition’s main striker. He was usually the player tidying up if a team-mate missed a tackle or failed to cut out a pass

When I first saw Billy playing for Wolves he was still a half-back, the equivalent of a midfielder in today’s game. It was the opening day of the 1954-5 season and Wolves had the season before become champions of England for the first time.

He led out a team wearing gold shirts, the club having decided to ditch their drab old gold colour, and the team were equally dazzling in beating Sheffield Wednesday 4-2.

Billy was at left-half that day but within a couple of games he was switched to centre-half because of an injury to Bill Shorthouse and there he stayed, Shorthouse moving to left-back. By then Billy was also England’s centre-half.

So my memories of Billy are of a central defender who was always at the heart of the defence, finding time to cover for others and to lead by example.

To get an idea of what Billy was like when he was half-back I asked that rarity, a Wolves supporter even older than me – Peter Wollam. He confirmed Billy was in the Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard mould.

Unlike those two he did not score many goals. It was a different game in those days, said Peter. His job was to win the ball and feed the men of skill like Jesse Pye, Jimmy Dunn or Peter Broadbent.

“He would be up with the attack one minute and back in defence the next,” Peter recalled. “He was all action for the whole 90 minutes. That’s something that always amazed me – his stamina. Of course, being a truly two-footed player he could play left-half for Wolves and right-half for England. It was never a problem for him.”

A key to Billy’s success – he knew his limitations. He was not a player with tricky ball skills, but he could tackle hard, judge an interception and drive on his forwards in the days when teams had five-man forward lines with two wingers.

Billy also had a work ethic from his early days. He knew a player was no use if he was off his feet and he practised falling down and scrambling back to his feet as quickly as possible. Seems bizarre but it often made a crucial difference during a match.

It was that attention to detail that helped make Billy a great player and allied to that was a genuine modesty and friendliness that endeared him to the fans.

Yes, William Ambrose Wright was class.