Steve Bull marks Wolves golden years with anniversary dinner

And Steve Bull marked his 30th Wolves anniversary in style with 500 guests at a special dinner at Molineux.

A host of former team mates – not to mention rock royalty in Robert Plant – as well as family, friends and fans helped Bully celebrate at a packed WV1 bar.

Guests were treated to memories galore from Bully's 30 years.

The event was hosted by Johnny Phillips, from Sky Sports, and BBC WM presenter Jenny Wilkes – and there were star turns from a number of Bully's ex-team mates during Q&A sessions.

Black Country 'lazy cow' Doreen Tipton gave a hilarious tribute to her fellow Tipton celebrity Bully, which included a video interview between the pair and Doreen's advice on what the 'leg-end' should do now he had 'finally hung up his boots'.

Bully memorabilia was auctioned off to raise money for charity, including a striking picture of him painted in gold – the brainchild of Express & Star photographer Tim Thursfield – which fetched £2,000.

Led Zeppelin frontman Plant took to the stage to tell fans how Bully had helped revitalise the club in the late 1980s, while the likes of Don Goodman, Andy Thompson, Matt Murray, Andy Mutch and Robbie Dennison also had special words of praise for the man who scored 306 goals for Wolves and earned 13 England caps.

Huge Wolves fan Plant, who like Bully is a vice-president at the club, said Bully's career represented both 'continuity and unparalleled excellence'.

Plant told the Express & Star: "From the psychosis it takes to be a Wolves fan one of the few great moments which has lasted any length of time was him being the standard bearer of a revolution. He led from the front.

"One of the loudest songs that you will hear at this ground – probably because it's got a great melody – is Bully's fanfare. Great stuff."

Also in attendance was the manager who brought Bully to Molineux in November 1986, Graham Turner, who said the striker was his greatest-ever signing.

Turner said: "Nobody could have foreseen the impact that he would have and the legacy that he would leave at the club. And it's still going, isn't it?"

Turner also signed Thompson on the same day as Bully– and together the pair made more than 1,000 appearances for Wolves.

"I tried to keep them away from Molineux but they turned up here. Molineux was in a dreadful state at the time and I think if they'd have had a good look round and looked at things logically and critically they might not have signed.

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"The deal was done before they knew what was happening. They were only young."

On what made the striker such a brilliant player, Turner added: "I would say determination to get into goal scoring positions was his biggest attribute by miles.

"Every time that ball came in he would knock defenders out the way.

"He was brave to the point of being stupid at times and putting his head in. It wasn't so much the work rate but the single mindedness." Fellow striker Goodman, who also played for Walsall and Albion and now works for Sky Sports, joked that his impact at Wolves helped force Bully into retirement.

A close friend of Bully's to this day, Goodman said he held his fellow strike partner in the highest regard after playing alongside him for four years in the 1990s.

Goodman said: "He was fantastic. I was noted for my high work rate and I rarely had a strike partner who would work as hard as I did but when I came here and played alongside Bully he did so it was double trouble for defenders. We got to give a lot of defenders a difficult afternoon or evening and that's not taking away that he's one of the best goal scorers the game in this country has seen. In terms of his goal scoring record, it's remarkable.

"It will stand the test of time. I'm sure it will never be beaten."

He added the only player like him today is current England international Jamie Vardy.

Goodman said: "If I were to do a comparison with Bully now the only person I can compare him to is Jamie Vardy.

"He is the modern day Steve Bull. He's not got an amazing first touch, he's not technically an amazing footballer.

"And it's that non-league mentality. Bully came from Tipton Town, Jamie Vardy came from Fleetwood. And that is a complement to Jamie Vardy."

Stephen Morris, a lifelong pal from Willingsworth High School in Tipton, also attended the celebration.

He said of Bully: "He was rare. Obviously when we were at school he played football. He had a break and he took the break and here we are. But he wasn't the best footballer in the school.

"But he hasn't changed at all, not one bit. He's a good lad, a really good lad."

And friend Phil Oaten added of the striker's deadly scoring record: "Anyone who scores more than 300 goals will always be a legend."

Tom Bennett was a young professional when he joined Wolves from Aston Villa in 1988 and learned from older players, including his new club's number nine.

Bennett said: "If you want one word for it, it was phenomenal. It was the Bull and (Andy) Mutch era. It was a great time to be at Wolves. It was about being a football club, doing well as a football club and...the team without Bully wasn't the same. You would feel there was something missing.

"The night before, someone had said, 'he's not playing.' All of us thought: 'boom, there's something up there, he's not playing'.

"In my recollection, he scored a hat-trick, we beat them 4-1. That for me is Bully. I know we beat them because I scored Newcastle's goal."

Shortly after that memory is recounted, Bully and Bennett go through the story together again. Bennett adds details of Bully's drinking with team mates, including Thompson, into the early morning.

Bennett continued: "Off I go to bed...and there are some serious bottles of claret on the table."

Bully talks about drinking a little more than that and phoning home to mark the New Year.

Then he adds: "Yeah, I scored all four."

Copies of his new book Bully: Forever Wolves, produced by the Express & Star and Wolves to mark the 30th anniversary, were also on sale.

More tributes will be made to Bully and Thompson this Saturday during Wolves' home game against Sheffield Wednesday at Molineux.

The pair will take to the pitch to be honoured by the club and fans. Tickets for the game – which is new boss Paul Lambert's first at Molineux since taking over – are half price.