Wolves fans gather to remember Dave Wagstaffe

One of the club's greats died last week, aged 70. Richards was a team-mate in the successful and fondly-remembered Wolves team of the early 1970s.

He gave a reading at the funeral for the wing great, held today at St Peter's Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton.

'Waggy', who joined Wolves from Manchester City in 1964, was one of the club's finest players of all time.

Making 404 appearances, scoring 31 goals in a 12-year spell, he helped the club to promotion to the top flight in 1967, won the Texaco Cup in 1971 and the League Cup in 1974.

He also appearing in the UEFA Cup final in 1972, when he scored in the 3-2 aggregate defeat.

But he is best remembered as a supreme creator of goals with his sublime left foot, setting up countless strikes for Richards and Derek Dougan.

Richards said: "In addition to being the best left winger of his generation, I will always remember Waggy as a thoughtful person.

"He made an effort to chat to us youngsters when we were trying to make our way into the first team.

"He was a lovely man, a great player, a good friend and he will be sadly missed."

Like the thousands of fans who loved his fabulous football, Waggy's captain Mike Bailey marvelled at his ability and was convinced he could have played for England.

That was despite his peak coinciding with the post-1966 World Cup period when wingers were going out of fashion.

Bailey said: "He had beautiful timing, he could go past people – his ability was incredible.

"He had the thinnest legs I had ever known on a footballer but he could hit the ball further than anyone at the club.

"We didn't have to look at where each other was on the field – we just instinctively knew where the other one was.

"He had the ability to have played for England but he was never pushed into it – he just got on with his job."

"He was up there with the best – he had so much ability but I don't think he ever realised how good he was.

"It was a job to get him on the field, at times, because he suffered with nerves and he didn't like the limelight."

Wolves were represented at the funeral by chief executive Jez Moxey, director John Gough, vice-president Rachael Heyhoe Flint, head of media Matt Grayson and programme editor John Hendley.

Moxey said: "Waggy will rightly go down in history not only as a superb player for Wolves but also a genuine fans' favourite, a real character who was always terrific company and just loved talking about football.

"It's a blessing that he was able to take his place in the club's Hall of Fame in January."