Sir Jack Hayward: The man with the golden touch

Over the next 17 years, he would invest more than £70million into restoring the club's infrastructure, rebuild Molineux and fund the long-awaited return to the top flight in 2003.

His arrival at the club had been a long time coming.

A fan since childhood, Sir Jack had been first linked with a move for his beloved Wolves in 1982.

The club had spent big in the 1970s, paying a world record £1.5 million transfer fee for Aston Villa striker Andy Gray and the construction of the John Ireland stand, which was supposed to be the first stage of an ambitious redevelopment of the ground.

But by January 1982 it was evident to all that the club was in financial difficulties, and it was reported that Hayward had been offered 400 shares for around £40,000. Sir Jack rejected the offer.

"I am terribly fond of Wolves, and my sentiments are with them," he said. "I listen to their results on the BBC Overseas Service each week, but I am afraid I just could not be much help to them. If I was living in England, I would love to get involved, but over here, I could just not pull my weight." When Wolves went into receivership later that year, he was reported as being behind one of the consortia interested in saving the club. It was ultimately bought by the infamous Bhatti brothers in an ill-fated rescue fronted by former Wolves legend Derek Dougan.

The Bhatti regime lasted just four years before receivers were called in again, this time with Wolves languishing in the Fourth Division.

Hayward was for a second time linked with a proposed rescue of the club — but it would be another four years before the businessman finally realised his dream of owning the club he had supported since childhood.

In May, 1990, Sir Jack— he had been knighted four years earlier — bought Wolves for £2.11 million, with the expressed intention of using his wealth to restore the club as a force in top-flight football. He certainly put his money where his mouth was, but restoring the club's battered pride proved to be no easy task.

Molineux, which had fallen into a state of disrepair since the construction of the John Ireland Stand in the 1980s, was redeveloped, and seven managers were employed during his reign.

For a long time, top-flight football proved elusive. In 1995, Wolves appeared to be on the brink of the breakthrough Hayward longed for.

Under the leadership of former England manager Graham Taylor, Wolves finished fourth in the First Division of the Football League but were defeated 3-2 on aggregate in the play-off semi finals by Bolton Wanderers.

The following season, Taylor was replaced by Mark McGhee, and in 1997 Wolves finished third in the First Division, but again the play-offs would prove a stumbling block. After again failing to get past the semi-final stage of the play-offs, in a remarkable and unforgettable outburst against his manager, Sir Jack admitted he was at the end of his tether and said he had failed the fans. "No manager is successful unless he is in the Premier League, where we belong," he said.

There was also the first hint of a rift between Sir Jack and his eldest son Jonathan, the club chairman.

"There has been far too much sloppiness and too much disregard for money. They thought that the golden tit, me, would go on forever." He also left McGhee in no doubt what was expected of him.

"I presume a manager who, after three years, fails to get you where you belong in the Premier League — with everything going for him like the?ground and the money — would expect to gracefully retire and say 'I have not succeeded'.

"A manager will spend as much money as you will give him, and buy as many players as you will allow him. I'm not going to be the soft touch." It was no surprise, therefore, when McGhee was sacked the following year. In 2002, finally, it looked his dream was about to come true. Wolves had been runaway leaders of the First Division for most of the season and even the most sceptical of supporters thought there was little chance they would blow it this time.

But blow it they did.

An alarming loss of form saw Wolves sink to third in the First Division, being leapfrogged in the race for automatic promotion by bitter rivals West Bromwich Albion. Worse was to come when they again missed out in the play-offs, losing 3-2 on aggregate against Norwich City.

However, in 2003, the dream came true, when Wolves made it fourth time lucky in the play-offs, beating Sheffield United 3-0 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. The tycoon broke down in tears on the pitch, saying the season had been like a dream. In recognition of the achievement, Wolverhampton's Molineux Way was renamed Jack Hayward Way.

The Wolves owner promised manager Dave Jones an improved contract, but Wolves soon found life in the Premiership was going to be far from an easy ride.

Less than four months after securing promotion, Sir Jack announced he would give away the club to anybody willing to put in the money to secure its future progress, but no serious investor came forward. Wolves beat Manchester United during the season 1-0.

Unfortunately, it proved to be a rare high point in a disappointing season, and Wolves were relegated after just one season in top flight. Then in 2007, Steve Morgan, a Liverpudlian construction magnate who had previously tried to buy Liverpool, came forward. Sir Jack, who famously said he would only leave Wolves in a coffin, handed control to Morgan in an emotional speech on the pitch at Molineux at the start of the new season, where Sir Jack handed over his beloved 1 WFC car number plate to the new owner.

Morgan paid a nominal £10 for the club, on condition that he invested £30 million, and Sir Jack was made life president.

There is no doubt that it was gut-wrenching for Sir Jack, finally relinquishing control of the club he had done so much to build, but it is a decision he probably looked back on with satisfaction. When Wolves again secured promotion in 2009 – this time as Football League Champions – he must have known he had got it right.

There would be more heartbreak in the years that followed, with successive relegations, but Sir Jack had played it right, no doubt about that. In fact, he played a blinder.