Johnny Phillips: Andy Thompson deserves his place among the Wolves greats

Jack Brodie, Dennis Westcott, Frank Munro and Andy Thompson join an illustrious list of names from the club’s history and they will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Wolves Former Players’ Association annual dinner on June 28 at Molineux.

The club and the WFPA enjoy a great relationship and have now decided to mark their annual dinner with each year’s new inductees. Richard Green from the WFPA said: “As a fan from the early 60s I have many happy memories of watching both Frank Munro and Thommo. The cultured defender that was Munro was always a firm favourite. Equally the ever dependable Thommo became a big hit in the 80s. Who can forget the diminutive full-back who made 451 appearances and scored a remarkable 45 goals? A great steal from the Baggies!”

All apart from Thompson played at the very top for Wolves, be it Westcott as record scorer in the top flight, FA Cup winner Brodie or UEFA Cup finalist Munro – my dad and his mates loved Munro, describing him as Alan Hansen-esque, I wish I’d seen him play.

In that sense Thompson may appear to be the odd one out but the Hall of Fame panel couldn’t have done better than award him the accolade because he deserves to be remembered as a Wolves great.

Typically, when I rang him earlier this week to get his reaction he was a bit stunned at the news. “I was surprised, but very proud to be nominated, especially considering the people already in it. I know I contributed to the history of the club but if you look at Billy Wright, Bully and Graham Turner and all they’ve done, I was a bit surprised.”

Thompson is remembered as the makeweight in the deal that brought Steve Bull to Wolves from Albion 30 years ago. In fact, he was the player the clubs agreed a transfer for initially, with Bully thrown in to the mix later in the talks.

Thompson admits it was a risk coming to Wolves. He was 19 years old and Albion had only just been relegated from the First Division whereas Wolves were struggling in the Fourth. He’d been at The Hawthorns six years and worked his way up through the ranks to the first team.

“Wolves was my home town club and that was a draw. It was a big gamble but when I spoke to Graham he had a plan and I got a feeling for the place,” Thompson recalls.

Wolves had dropped from First to Fourth division in successive seasons and had gone into receivership. Fans weren’t protesting – it was far worse, they weren’t bothering. Infamously, only 2,205 turned up to watch a 1-1 draw with Bury in March 1986.

“I’m sure people then would have thought, ‘This could be it for Wolves’. When we went in it was a mess and you take your hat off to Dick Homden, Jack Harris [the directors] and Graham who got it all sorted out,” Thompson explains.

“The first three games after we signed we lost all three of them 3-0 but then things just clicked on the pitch. We had Bully and Andy Mutch up front, Floyd Streete and Ally Robertson at centre-half, it all seemed to come together. We lost in the play-offs in our first season and with hindsight that was a blessing as we just stormed the leagues the next two years. We thought we could beat anyone.”

Thompson’s name on the team sheet was a forgone conclusion for most of his Molineux career. Like the referee and linesmen, it was just there. That dependability says a lot about him as a player, particularly as his position as a fullback was learnt on the job.

“I was a forward at West Brom initially, then I moved out on to the wing. It was just through injuries and circumstance that I ended up playing full-back. My philosophy was that as long as I’m playing I don’t care what position it is.”

Now Thompson is back involved with the club as part of a popular double act with Mikey Burrows on Signal 107 and Wolves Player HD’s matchday commentaries. The match day press room is a better place for having him around too. “I’ve enjoyed being back involved. We get on really well, Mikey’s done a great job and we have a good time doing it. People still want to reminisce and chat about the past, but also the present. They want to hear what you think of the current team from the point of view of a professional footballer and I think that’s important to the fans.”

Thompson’s day job now is a PE teacher at a secondary school in Derby, which brings its own perks. “It’s got to be the holidays! No, I enjoy working with the kids and developing them in various different sports, I enjoy it all.”

When summing up the Molineux career of Thompson, the tempting cliché would be that he was a great club servant, but he was far more than that. What sort of phrase is that anyway, servant? It conjures up images of a compliant butler working the corridors of Downtown Abbey. No, Thompson pulled on the Wolves shirt at a time when not many others particularly wanted to. And then helped drag the club off the floor.

He wasn’t just one of the players who served the club, he was one of those who saved it.