Historical Football Kits

• Club
• Background
• Kits
• Sources

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Formed 1877

Founder member of the Football League 1888

Kit History

Background

Wolves began as a school side, St Luke's FC in 1877. Two years later they merged with another local side, Wanderers FC and became Wolverhampton Wanderers. Initially they played in blue and white, adopting what were described as "faded red and white" vertical stripes. By 1887 the team were playing in old gold and black, adopting the unique diagonal halved design shown here around 1891. A formidable cup side, Wolves reached three finals between 1889 and 1896, winning the trophy in 1893. In 1906, Wolves slipped into the Second Division: two years later they defied the odds to win the FA Cup for the second time, beating the hot favourites Newcastle United 3-1 at Crystal Palace.

The club reached yet another FA Cup final in 1921 but were unable to regain a Division One place. Disaster came in 1923 with relegation to Division Three (North) although they stormed back as champions in 1924, losing only three matches. During their brief stay in the lower division, the traditional striped jerseys gave way to plain old gold with a bold "V". Under the guidance of Major Frank Buckley, Wolves returned finally to the First Division in 1932. Now wearing their famous old gold shirts with black collars, Wanderers were runners-up in 1938 and 1939 when they also reached the FA Cup final. Starting out as favourites against little fancied Portsmouth, the players were provided with extract of monkey gland to boost their performance but crashed 1-4.

The period after the Second World War was a golden age. After retiring as a player, Stan Cullis took over as manager in 1948, guiding them to an FA Cup win in 1949 and Division One championships in 1954, 1958 and 1959. After their 1954 win, the shade of the shirts became a brighter gold, according to Steve gordos, the former Sports Editor of the Wolverhampton Express. In 1960 they won the Cup once again and almost achieved the double, missing out on the Division One title by a single point. During the Fifties Wolves played host to floodlit friendly matches against the leading European sides including the Torpedo and Dynamo clubs from Moscow, Honved and Real Madrid.

In 1964, Wolves parted company with Cullis and slipped briefly into the Second Division but further Cup success arrived in the Seventies. Defeat in the UEFA Cup final. Against Spurs in 1972 was followed by League Cup success in 1974. After a season in the Second Division, Wolves returned to the First Division as champions in 1977 and a second League Cup win in 1980. In 1982 the club was bought by the Bhatti brothers. At first all seemed well as Wolves won promotion to Division one in 1983 but on and off the pitch the club descended into chaos, plunged straight down to the Fourth Division and faced extinction. A consortium including the local council, Asda and builders, Gallaghers, rescued the ailing club and they won the Fourth and Third Division championships in successive seasons (1987-88 and 1988-89) to return to the Second Division.

In 1990 millionaire fan Sir Jack Hayward bought the club and invested £20m of his personal fortune in the redevelopment of Molineux, transforming it into one of the most modern in the country. Hayward continued to pour money into the club but it was not until 2003 that his ambition was realised and Wolves returned to the top flight after beating Sheffield United at the Millennium Stadium in the play-off final. Six months later Hayward resigned and handed over the chairmanship to his son, Rick. Sadly, Wolves triumphant return was short-lived and they were relegated after one season.

Sources

• (a) Geoff Bell
• (b) Wolverhampton Wanderers FC - Images of Sport (Geoff Alman 2002)
• (c) Sporting Heroes
• (d) empics
• (e) Stoke City FC - Images of Sport (Tony Matthews 1999)
• (f) West Midlands Football (Tony Matthews 2004)
• (g) The Mighty Mighty Whites
• (h) Wolves Official Site
• (i) Association of Football Statisticians - provided by Pete Wyatt
• (j) Simon Davies
• (k) Pete's Picture Palace
• (l) Mark Parker
• (m) David King
• (n) True Colours 2 (John Devlin 2006)
• (o) Steve Gordos
• (p) Alick Milne
• (q) Memories of Molineux (Tony Matthews) provided by Jonathon Russell whose "Colours Through the Ages" are available at Sports Prints
• (r) Simon Monks