When a chartered accountant and part-time footballer donned Wolves colours against Manchester United
Wolves against Manchester United in Monday night football will certainly be a big occasion under the lights at Molineux. There was a night back in 1967, in front of over 50,000, that surely Wolves’ last ever part-time footballer made his debut in the fixture. Paul Berry finds out more.
Imagine this scenario just for a moment.
It’s a few days after Christmas, that strange spell up to the New Year, and you’re back at work as an accountant, meeting a client in Wolverhampton.
At 22, you’re not far off completing your qualifications to become a fully-fledged chartered accountant, pursuing those studies alongside playing part-time football.
Then a call reaches you, from Wolves manager Ronnie Allen, that you need to report to the offices at Molineux on Waterloo Road, not far from the accountants’ office.
In a nutshell, the message is clear. “We need you to play for Wolves against Manchester United on Saturday.”
That’s Manchester United, the reigning First Division champions, who were again top of the table and a few months away from beating Benfica at Wembley to win their first ever European Cup.
Manchester United, with – amongst others - Alex Stepney in goal, Paddy Crerand, Brian Kidd, and the Holy Trinity, of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law.
Manchester United, who had beaten Wolves 4-0 at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, and were heading to Molineux for a quickfire return four days later.
Yes, that Manchester United. That was what lay in store for Stewart Ross, on his Wolves debut, in front of a Molineux crowd of 53,940 back in 1967.
“It was a Saturday game just after Christmas and it might even have been the Friday I got that call,” Ross, who turned 80 in September, recalls.
“Then on the day of the game, I think my parents probably drove me in, and we had lunch at the old Molineux Hotel.
“We walked down the alley to the ground, and not many people knew me at that point, I could walk straight through!
“With over 50,000 inside Molineux I was very nervous as you can imagine, and then it was just about coming up against Best, Law and Charlton!
“There are parts of it I can remember, including a couple of tackles on George Best, winning the ball and getting support from the crowd for doing so!
“I was playing in midfield, and we were actually winning at half time, and then in the second half Graham Hawkins was injured and I moved into the back four.
“I can remember just after half time, Bobby Charlton played a one-two around me in the middle of the park, I never saw him, and he went straight down the other end and scored!
“It was a special day, although we ended up losing 3-2.”
It remains an incredible story. One which football of yesteryear was capable of delivering. Ross is surely the last part-time player to turn out for Wolves. It will definitely never happen again.
There is, of course, some context behind such an extraordinary tale of Christmas past. It wasn’t like Ross was literally dragged off the street, or indeed the accountant’s office, to play for Wolves against Manchester United.
His part-time football was with Wolves, where he had progressed from the fourth team playing in the Worcester Combination, to the third team in the West Midlands League, and then the reserves in the Central League.
But he was by no means a full-time professional, instead, opting for the more stable and sensible option of that alternative career in accountancy.
However, football had always been among Ross’s first loves, from being born in Woking and then brought up in Weymouth.
Kicking a ball against the wall, or a box in his garage, nurtured that passion for the game, before a job change for Ross’s father saw the family move to Wolverhampton when he was 12.
A regular in defence for Wolverhampton Grammar School, he also represented Staffordshire Grammar School and the Independent Schools XI.
