Historic Wolves cup final programme set to sell for £20,000
One of Wolves' oldest and rarest football programmes is set to fetch up to £20,000 at an auction next month.
The single-sheet programme was produced for the 1889 FA Cup final when Wolves faced Preston North End at Kennington Oval.
The fixture on March 30, 1889, was the first of Wolves' eight appearances in the final
It was an historic fixture because in 1888-1889 Preston North End did not lose a Football League or FA Cup match.
They became the first club to clinch the double by winning the very first Football League title and the FA Cup - beating Wolves 3-0 in the final.
That all conquering Preston team has been known ever since as The Invincibles.
Now, 127 years later, a rare programme from the 1889 final is up for sale - and it is expected to sell for between £15,000 and £20,000 at Graham Budd Auctions in London on November 8.
When the programme last came up for sale - also at Graham Budd Auctions in London back in May 2006 - it was expected to fetch between £7,000 and £10,000.
But in the end it went for £19,000.
That remains one of the biggest sums ever paid for a single football programme.
On the way to their first FA Cup final appearance high-scoring Wolves beat Old Carthusians 4-3 in the first round of the competition, Walsall Town Swifts 6-1 in the second round and they beat The Wednesday (now known as Sheffield Wednesday) 5-0 in the third round.
Blackburn were toppled 3-1 in a semi-final replay after a 1-1 draw in the first match.
However, Wolves lost 3-0 in the final.
The Wolves team for the cup final was Jack Baynton, Dickie Baugh, Charlie Mason, Albert Fletcher, Harry Allen, Arthur Lowder, Tommy Hunter, David Wykes, John Brodie, Harry Wood and Tommy Knight.
1889 was a particularly special year for Wolves. As well as reaching the FA Cup final for the first time they also moved into their gleaming new Molineux stadium, after quitting their previous ground on Dudley Road.
