Geoff At Home ‘In The Gods’ And In The Harness
Relieved to have two feet back on the ground….Geoff Palmer gives the thumbs-up.
First John Richards and now Geoff Palmer. Who’s next to take the plunge?
Not into one of the dressing-room ice baths, nor even to have the chilly contents of one of those covid-period buckets emptied over them.
This particular daredevilry is the harder-core challenge of abseiling down to pitch-side from the roof of Molineux’s Billy Wright Stand.
The club’s Former Players Association chairman led from the front – or maybe we should say from the top – by dropping slowly to the ground earlier this year and now his long-time team-mate has followed suit.
Not without the extra stress caused by a day’s delay because of the weather and he said today: “I think my blood pressure is back to normal.
“I had a text to say it was off on Sunday but didn’t realise it was going to come round again so soon. I’d said I’d do it, though, so it had to be done….there was no turning back and opting out.
“I asked if I could go first to get it over with. The instructors tell you what will happen but I must admit that some of their words went in one ear and out of the other.
“I remember being advised to look around and enjoy the view of the stadium while I was up there. The top of that stand is higher than you think…there were a couple of balls on there and I wondered if I’d put them on there with my attempted crosses in the late 1970s!
“Leaning back at the start is the hard bit, then you just let yourself down the rope slowly and you’re down in a couple of minutes. If you come down too quickly, you get a burning sensation in your hands, so that influences your speed.”
The former full-back went straight from his early-morning descent to Steve Bull’s golf day at The Mount at Perton, delighted to have raised more than £1,080 for the Wolves Foundation.
The event as a whole has raised almost £23,000 and we wondered which ex-player might be in the frame for next time….
“I’m 71 and never thought I’d do something like that but there are any number of guys who are younger than me and I’d tell them now that I’d love to have another go at it just to savour the experience,” Geoff added.
Does this whet the appetite for next time?
“About nine members of my family were there to see me on Sunday but only my youngest son could make it back and he filmed it.
“I’m thinking of Andy Mutch for next time….I think it would be a good challenge for him and one he just might agree to take on.”