The Daily Novel

So now I know where all the football hooligans are; in Wolverhampton, where I used to stand on the terraces alongside 70,000 others. Browsing the Express & Star just now, I came across this description of what happened after the Wolves lost 3-2 to local rivals Birmingham. Despite a huge police presence the ‘biggest and best regional newspaper online’ tells us in the headline that hooligans went on the rampage.

What actually happened, you discover as you read down, was that police came under fire from missiles at the coach park. Police in full riot gear then surrounded a 50-strong group of yobs, while the other fans dispersed. And then we are told, ‘One man, his hand covered in blood, sat on the payment.’

It all sounds pretty tame to me. So I am not going to rant about the noble game of my youth has been spoilt. I must report that in the good old days you were well advised to avoid certain pubs in town whenever the Wolves lost, particularly when they lost in a local derby. These fights were never reported in the local paper. What would have been news then, would have been no fights erupting anywhere in town after the Wolves lost. And particularly to Birmingham. There must be quite a few fans left in Wolverhampton who started their football spectating when Birmingham were in the second divistion and the Wolves were vying for top place in the first division, with only Aston Villa worthy of challenging them.

I must here correct my Sunday blog. My ignorance of Football 2007 is such that I wrote then that Wolves were playing their last game of the season last Saturday. In fact they have two more to play. There is at one at Molyneux this Saturday. Maybe I shall go up myself and do a bit of first hand reporting.