As Molineux prepares for an emotional tribute to one of his successors in electrifying wingplay, Paul Berry looks back on the spell when Waggy ruled the Wolves world.
Molineux will unite on Saturday evening as fans of Wolves and Manchester City pay tribute to Diogo Jota.
To honour a life lost far too early, but one which gave joy to hundreds of thousands of football fans in Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Portugal and plenty more besides.
Amid the grief at the premature loss of Jota at just 28 following a car crash in Spain, one fan likened the feeling to when he heard the news of the passing of legendary Wolves winger Dave Wagstaffe.
A very different set of circumstances, as Wagstaffe, who passed away after a short battle with cancer back in 2013, had lived a very full life to the age of 70. But his illness had understandably been kept private, and so when the news broke, as with Jota, the feeling amongst fans of shock and sadness was palpable.
Whatever the differences in style between Jota and Wagstaffe, and indeed the lengths in their stays at Wolves and respective contributions, they both captured the hearts of the Molineux faithful.
Players of that ilk, who entice fans off their seats, who have the capability to change the game in an instant, to leave the audience gasping in awe, are always particularly fondly remembered, whether when leaving the club or, sadly passing away.
In the wake of Jota’s tragic loss, and with Wolves taking on City this weekend, the first two clubs in Wagstaffe’s career, it feels an opportune moment to remember the contribution of a club legend, who made 404 first team appearances in over 11 years at Molineux, and became a firmly established terrace hero.
Talking of terrace heroes, John Richards this week recalled a conversation he had with Frank Munro, another Wolves great no longer with us, who was particularly close to Wagstaffe.
“Waggy was one of the older senior pros at the club when I joined, and he was such a natural footballer,” Richards recalls.
“I remember chatting to Frank after we had both finished, just talking about players and Wolves memories, and he said the best player in our team was Dave Wagstaffe.
“He was the most gifted player that we had; he was our outlet.
“Every time we were under pressure, lads like Frank and Mike Bailey would say – give the ball to Waggy.
“He would stroll up the pitch, keeping the ball and taking the pressure off us. He was a beautiful footballer.”
Holding court with fellow Wolves legends Derek Parkin and John Richards.
Former Express & Star sports editor and still renowned Wolves writer Steve Gordos got to know Wagstaffe initially through contact while working at the newspaper, but more so after he had retired when bumping into him in the former Shoulder of Mutton pub in Tettenhall Wood. Friends not just in social circles and sharing a drink, but also united by a love of words. Wolves’ words in particular.
In the latter years of Wagstaffe’s life, they had been working on a biography about Munro which reflected the closeness of the two former team-mates, regular mates-in-mischief on and off the pitch. Indeed, Wagstaffe was a tower of strength to Munro during his own final years, sadly characterised by poor health, making daily visits to his Compton flat and fetching his medication and shopping.
Equally sadly, ‘Frank’s for the Memory’, was only published after Wagstaffe’s death, with proceeds to charity, but it wasn’t the first publication on which he and Gordos had collaborated.
Wagstaffe was a guestwriter for the Sporting Star during his days at Wolves, usually penning some notes on a cigarette packet and meeting sportswriter John Dee at the newspaper’s office for them to be turned into a column.
And, as Gordos reveals, it clearly set the creative juices flowing.
“Chatting to Waggy at the Shoulder of Mutton, he told me he had been jotting down a few memories and asked me to have a look at it,” he recalls.
“He did not have a computer but wrote it all down on lined A4 paper. It was excellent stuff and easy to read. I said he should carry on, that it would make a great book.
“Over the next few months, we would meet for a pint at the Shoulder and he would bring in his latest chapters. I would input it for him and proof-read it but, in truth, it did not require many corrections.
“Sometimes I’d collect his literary work from him at his allotment in Regis Road. The chapters were very well written.
“The result of his efforts was the book ‘Waggy’s Tales’, and it is an excellent read and very funny.”
Waggy’s Tales was published in 2008 to widespread acclaim. Richards revealed that he is currently reading it again. The tale itself? Well that all started when Wagstaffe was born in Manchester in the April of 1943.
Waggy and Steve Gordos walking in Balmoral, where the former Wolves man would pass on extensive knowledge of the plants and the birds.
Coming through the youth system at Manchester City, he made his first team debut against Sheffield Wednesday at just 17, and would make 162 appearances spanning five seasons spent at Maine Road.
In the days long before the internet, social media, or 24-7 football coverage on television or radio, it was far easier to keep potential transfer business quiet and away from prying eyes.
So it was, in 1964, that Wolves fans received a belated Christmas present in the form of a soon-to-be club legend. Thanks in no small part to chairman John Ireland, who had been taken with Wagstaffe’s ability since a 3-3 draw at Maine Road a couple of years earlier.
“I was on the South Bank that Boxing Day in 1964 when the Molineux announcer told us that Wolves’ number eleven would be Wagstaffe,” Gordos recalls.