John McAlle calls for fitting tribute to Wolves legend Dave Wagstaffe

McAlle hopes to be at a Molineux awash with emotion tomorrow when Wolves pay tribute to one of their favourite sons.

The club wouldn't have chosen their first home game of the season to be honouring one of their greats.

Given the choice, they would probably prefer to be free from the added distraction as head coach Kenny Jackett chases his team's first goal and first win of the season.

But as they try to repair the damaged relationship between players and fans, one thing Wolves have always done well is honour their heroes.

And in remembering such a popular player from yesteryear, today's pretenders would do well to view the grainy footage of the legendary No.11 in his pomp for inspiration.

"The team need to win tomorrow," said former centre-half McAlle, who made 508 appearances for Wolves between 1965-81 and won the League Cup with Wagstaffe in 1974.

"As players, they will be thinking they've got to put on a show anyway. It's very sad Dave has died and if they could think of him that would be great.

"I don't know if any of the current players knew of him, but if they saw some film and saw the effort he put into the game and the way he played it, and could win the game in a style that Dave was associated with, that would be fitting.

"I'm proud to say I used to clean Ron Flowers' boots – young players always like to have someone to look up to and learn from and we all learned from the old pros. It's something you can't buy."

McAlle believes that like all the best players, Wagstaffe left a legacy for others to follow.

"When I came to the club in 1965, Dave was already in the first team and I used to watch players like him, Mike Bailey and John Holsgrove striking accurate passes to each other and Dave was brilliant at it – he could strike a ball so far," he said.

"He had little ankles so he used to wear two pairs of socks to make his ankles look thicker but he could hit a ball so well and it was fantastic to have that in your team.

"You had an 'out' ball with Dave – you would give him the ball and he would do something with it. Very rarely did he give it away. He was a master at that."

McAlle added: "Dave was an out-and-out winger with a lot of pace and, like all good players, he had a trick which was to feint to go one way and then come back and then knock an accurate ball into the penalty area. His job was basically to set up chances for the likes of Derek Dougan and John Richards and he did that very well."

'Waggy' continued a tradition of great Wolves wingers and although he didn't share their goalscoring record, McAlle believes the wideman could stand comparison with the best of them.

"You look at Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen, Terry Wharton and Alan Hinton and he was in that league," he said.

McAlle is hoping to be back on the Molineux pitch tomorrow when he rejoins his old team-mates to honour Wagstaffe.

Like Wolves, opponents Gillingham have yet to score this season, losing to 1-0 to Colchester in League One and 2-0 to Bristol City in the Capital One Cup.

But head coach Kenny Jackett believes the promoted Gills will present a stern test.

"Gillingham are a very well organised side that will come with nothing to lose – that's how it's going to be for us this season," he said.

"They're also a side that has been used to winning after promotion last season.

"They're quite a settled group – I know many of the players; Gillingham generally scout out of the London area and I've known them for many years. They will be well organised, well drilled and a very capable and testing opponent for us."