It's Matchstick Molineux! Pure gold as Wolves fanatic recreates famous ground
It's Molineux, but not as you know it!
This tiny tribute to the famous home of Wolves has been painstakingly recreated by fan Chris Jepson.
The 71-year-old estimates he spent 500 hours across an 18-month period making the remarkable mini Molineux by hand using wood, lollipop sticks and matchsticks.
WATCH: Find out how the Molineux model was made
Having suffered with prostate cancer since 2004 and undergone numerous operations and treatment procedures, he now wants to sell his creation to raise money for cancer charities.
“I want to auction it off to give something back to those who have helped me,” he said.
“I’ve been through hell and back in the last few years with cancer and operations related to it.”
The retired accountant added: “I’ve got no idea of valuation. I have spent quite a bit of time on it and a bit of money.”
Chris was a season-ticket holder for more than 20 years with his wife, Christina, before the pair gave up their seats in the Steve Bull stand due to ill health.
However, he still watches his team whenever he can and is now free of cancer.
He said: “This season I have watched when I can on the TV. I think it’s brilliant. I have never seen football like it by Wolves.
“They are the Manchester City of the Championship.”
He added: “My first game was against Bournemouth in the FA Cup in 1957 – the goalposts fell down in the first-half.”
Christina has given her husband’s creation her seal of approval, he says.
“She thinks it’s wonderful, she’s very proud of what I’ve done,” said Chris.
“She keeps saying ‘I wouldn’t have the patience to have done that’”
The model is around four foot long and two-and-a-half foot wide and depicts the ground during the club’s golden era in the 1960s.
Coffee stirrers were used to create the seats and tiers on the terraces, while rabbit hut wire was used for the barriers in the North Bank and South Bank.
“I always loved the old Wolves Stadium. It fascinated me – it was unique,” Chris said.
“All the really good times happened then – championships, cup wins, European matches under new floodlights and atmospheres beyond belief.”
He added: “I’m quite proud of it. People that have seen it think it’s wonderful.”
Chris dug out his collection of old Wolves books and magazines to give him an idea of the stadium’s architecture from the 1950s through to the 1970s for the build.
“I’ve got 40 or 50 Wolves books,” he said.
“I scaled it up on paper. I did my own drawings and built it from those.”
And he revealed the hardest part of recreating the stadium.
“The finer detail of the barriers and doing the seating areas in the two side stands,” he said.
Although an accomplished amateur carpenter with his own workshop, a project such as this was entirely new to Chris, who grew up in Bridgnorth, but has lived in Kidderminster since 1978.
“I’ve done nothing like that at all. Mainly it’s bigger things I’ve been working on.
“I actually built my own workshop and things for the garden.
He added: “It’s been the most complex of things I’ve ever done. It’s not something I could ever do again.”
Chris, who is one of eight siblings from a Wolves-supporting family, admits the project was a special one.
“In terms of doing a model it’s the only one I’ve ever wanted to make.” he said.
He added: “Hopefully it will finish up in the home of somebody that will appreciate it.”
