Wolves fans have been fortunate enough to witness some great players throw on the gold shirt over the years through the good and bad times.
In their golden era under Nuno Espirito Santo, which brought European football to Molineux, Wolves fans witnessed some of Portugal’s finest talents.
The spine of their Europa League side was formed by Rui Patricio, Conor Coady, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and Raul Jimenez, who all became icons of the club in their own right.
Each of those players have taken completely different directions since leaving Wolves, as while Neves is playing for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, Jimenez is still scoring goals for Fulham.
The Wanderers have unearthed several club icons, not just during that excellent period but in the team that laid the foundations of their success, including Richard Stearman.
Photo by Sam Bagnall - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Sam Bagnall – AMA/Getty Images
Richard Stearman joins Swansea City as first-team coach
In the summer of 2008, Wolves snapped up defender Stearman from Leicester City after the Foxes were relegated to League One.
Stearman then played an integral part for the Old Gold in the years that followed, including promotion to the second tier in 2009 and cementing his place as a solid Premier League defender.
The centre-back, who could also play right-back, accumulated 254 appearances during his seven year stint in Wolverhampton and became an unsung hero among the fans.
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He left Wolves in 2015 to join Fulham in the Championship before turning out for Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Derby County and Solihull Moors in the National League. Stearman then announced his retirement in July 2024.
Solihull quickly handed him a job as a first-team coach after retirement, and now, he’s been snapped up by Swansea City as a first-team coach, becoming a member of Alan Sheehan’s backroom staff.
Swansea City is pleased to announce that caretaker head coach Alan Sheehan will continue in his role until the end of the 2024-25 season.
Sheehan will be joined by two new additions to his coaching team in Mark Fotheringham and Richard Stearman.
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) March 26, 2025
Stearman, who is still only 37-years-old, will perhaps hope that experience coaching a Championship side will lead towards a foray into management.
Jamie O’Hara persuaded Stearman to join Wolves
Looking back at his career in professional football, there were no hard feelings when Stearman left to join Fulham in 2015, and he even returned to the club on a season-long loan in 2016/17.
However, it was former midfielder Jamie O’Hara who initially persuaded the versatile defender to make the switch to Fulham as he was playing for them at the time.
Speaking to Sky Sports in 2015, Stearman said: “I had a quick chat with Jamie and he had nothing but good things to say about the place, which only added to what I’d already heard and my own thoughts on it.”
Controversially, Wolves fans dislike O’Hara as he let the party lifestyle go to his head during his couple-year stint at Molineux, even refusing to play under Terry Connor.
But despite how he betrayed the club and the fanbase, Stearman was happy to see him performing well for the Cottagers.
“It’s great to see him again and see him back out on the pitch doing so well. He’s been performing very well from what I’ve seen. He’s had a great start to the season,” he said.