Wolves' nineties men on highs, lows and the why they never reached the promised Premier League land
Simon Osborn and Iwan Roberts, two Molineux Men from the Nineties, were back on Wolves soil at the Cleveland Arms recently. Before taking to the stage, they spoke to Paul Berry, with a visit to Saturday’s next opponents Crystal Palace one of the items on the agenda!
For the unfamiliar, The 1% Club is a television quiz show of which the final question has a difficulty level which very few people are expected to answer. A question which only 1% of the country’s population would know.
If you were to devise a 1% Club question about Wolves in the 1990s, it would probably be obvious: How on earth did several squads, packed with so much quality and such a strong collective mentality, not manage to achieve promotion to the Premier League?
A tough one to answer.
Osborn has a go. “So often it came down to moments,” he says, as a relative veteran of six potential pushes which ultimately ended in varying degrees of frustration and disappointment.
“Certain moments during a season when we maybe lost a bit of momentum - be it a week or two - a couple of draws which should have been wins, then players pick up a few niggles.
“So often it felt like we were so close, but somehow we couldn’t quite get over the line.”
Osborn, now 54, and former striker Iwan Roberts, 57, were speaking before another fantastic night at the Cleveland Arms hosted by Matt Murray, which does of course include more positive memories alongside wondering just how Wolves never made it to the Promised Land during their respective spells at the club.
And when it comes to those moments, Wolves’ next opponents Crystal Palace, where Osborn started his senior career some three-and-a-half decades ago, is one of those agonising memories which epitomised the all-too familiar adage of so near and yet so far.
Roberts will never need to buy another drink in the WV1 metropolis by virtue of his hat trick at the Hawthorns in a 4-2 win at West Bromwich Albion in the early stages of the 1996/97 campaign. More on that later.
But that one season in which both he and Osborn were part of the same Wolves team, ended in glorious failure courtesy of a dramatic play-off semi-final defeat against Palace, where a moment of madness at the end of the first leg at Selhurst Park left the Molineux Men with a mountain to climb.
Wolves had finished third in the table, four points behind a Barnsley team who they had battled with for much of the season for the second automatic promotion spot behind runaway champions Bolton.
Palace, who had finished sixth, moved into a 2-0 lead in the 88th minute of the first leg thanks to a goal from Dougie Freedman, later of course to move to Wolves.
But Wolves went straight up the other end to pull one back with the only goal for the club notched by full back Jamie Smith, which would have set the second leg up perfectly.
Incredibly though, there was still time for Freedman to grab his second, and Palace’s third, to leave Wolves with so much to do.
There followed one of Molineux’s most memorable ever atmospheres for the second leg. The stadium was creaking amid the fervour and noise of a vociferous home support.
Agonisingly however, that phenomenal backing wasn’t enough, and when Mark Atkins’ first half goal was cancelled out by David Hopkin, a late header from Adey Williams proved no more than a consolation as another play-off campaign ended in pain and frustration.
“That season was a tricky one for me because I played pretty much injured from the March onwards and had an operation at the end,” says Osborn.
“But then we go to Palace, get it back to 2-1, so we’re right back in it, and concede a stupid goal.
“At 2-1 we’d have really fancied it, back at home, but again, the end of that first leg was one of those moments that I talk about.”
“I know Ozzy spent a few years at Wolves and this was my only season but I really think we should have done it,” adds Roberts.
“We had a proper set of lads, not just in quality but the right attitude, such a good group of people, there were no bad eggs.
“It was Barnsley that pipped up to second and again, it was probably a couple of results at crucial times that cost us.
“There was that pressure and expectancy with the team having missed out before, and maybe the anxiety started creeping in – it feels like we should have done better particularly at home.
“Even into that second leg, two goals down, I still say to this day, that was the best atmosphere I have ever played in – it was monumental.”
“Under the lights when it was like that was something else,” Osborn chips in.
