Wolves, Burnley and Leeds. Three clubs delighted to be plying their trade in the Premier League. And three clubs represented by Roger Eli with plenty of pride. Not to mention having spent time as a youngster with Nottingham Forest.
“My claim to fame is playing for the first team of those three,” he says with a chuckle.
“But seriously, all of them are great clubs with great histories and supporters.
“Even if I didn’t score a load of games or play 100 games for all three – and that was always my intention – I was grateful to have been a part of them.”
Eli had considerably more success with Wolves’ next opponents Burnley, where he did chalk up over a century of appearances and 31 goals, than he did at Molineux, or indeed Elland Road, albeit that came at the start of what turned into a versatile career.
Versatile in the sense of occupying so many different positions, but also injury-hit, through no fault of his own, with setbacks tending to come along at the most inopportune moments.
Eli turned 60 last month. He remains as busy as ever, in the world of business, in which he has been very successful since hanging up his boots some three decades ago.
He is currently seeking investors for a new tech initiative linked to football academies, effectively a wellbeing sports platform for both parents and children. Initially he went into the world of textiles, manufacturing materials for suits initially for the pristine clientele frequenting Savile Row, Regent Street and Kensington, before branching out globally to include basketball players in Malaysia. Then came an office supply business, before a printing company. A level of versatility in his business interests that matches his capability as a footballer.
“I think it’s always good in life to be able to learn, and to try to be entrepreneurial,” says Eli.
He has certainly achieved that.
Born in Bradford, his footballing ambitions first took him to the East Midlands and Nottingham Forest.
And, working with the first of many managers with a pedigree which matched the level of their success: Brian Howard Clough.
“I was with Forest probably from the age of 12, when I used to go down and train there once a week, and a bit more in the school holidays,” Eli recalls.
“They were flying at the time, a smallish club but a brilliant club, and we’d see Brian Clough around the place quite a bit.
“It was during the holidays that we bonded as a group of young players, not just in training but spending time around the city, going ice skating and bowling and that sort of stuff.
“When I was 15, I was often playing a few years up for the Under-18s, and remember once going over to play in a tournament in Italy.
“In the first game I came on against Juventus, and even though I was giving away a few years to most of the defenders, I was pretty quick and, playing as a striker, could get in behind.
“This one centre half was kicking lumps out of me, and then called me a racist name, eventually getting sent off.
“Brian Clough was actually over there with us, and I will never forget looking over to the dugout, where he jumped out, gave it his legendary thumbs up, and shouted ‘well done’.”
Eli was actually courted by both Lazio and Fiorentina during the tournament, who were keen to have a closer look at him, and Clough’s advice was to take their advances extremely seriously.
But the young hopeful was keen to return closer to home where he was attracting plenty of interest. And even though his promise didn’t lead to the offer of an apprenticeship with Forest – Clough showed he could see into the future by suggesting he would suffer too many injuries - he was soon snapped up, in his native Yorkshire, by Leeds United.
Having met Clough at Forest, he did the same with his managerial nemesis Don Revie in his early days at Elland Road, where he had been signed by one of his heroes, Allan Clarke.
“I’m a Leeds fan, and growing up, whenever I was playing football in the garden, I’d want to be either Allan Clarke or Peter Lorimer,” Eli recalls.
“So, it was quite surreal when Allan actually signed me!”
Clarke lost his job not long afterwards, with another Leeds legend Eddie Gray taking over, and, coming through the ranks, Eli was primed to make his first team debut only to suffer a cartilage injury playing for the reserves, the first of many such issues to afflict him during his career.
He did, though, make his senior debut from the bench against Wimbledon in December 1984, and by the time he made his first start a year later, Gray had been replaced by yet another Leeds legend in Billy Bremner.
“I’d just come back from a broken leg, another injury, and Billy was trying to change things by bringing in a few players from his previous club Doncaster,” says Eli.
Pictured, centre, as Burnley and Wolves former players met up to raise money for John Pender
“I had three months or so of playing some of the best football of my career, and Billy gave me my full debut against Brighton, but my opportunities were still limited, and then Wolves came in.”
Whilst at Leeds, Eli had already come into contact with several players who would go on to have affiliations with Wolves.