Tributes to ‘wonderful’ Dot Wooldridge, the Wolves managers’ confidante

Wooldridge was a trusted confidante for several Molineux bosses – namely Graham Turner, Graham Taylor, Mark McGhee, Colin Lee and Dave Jones – and has been hailed as a ‘fountain of knowledge’ who was also the ‘model of discretion’.

From the glory days under Stan Cullis to the dark times of the mid-1980s, she saw it all at her beloved club and helped keep it afloat.

Having also served as assistant to former Wolves secretary Keith Pearson, she would have had a fantastic story to tell but, such was her utter professionalism, the secrets remained intact.

Club legend John Richards knew Wooldridge well from his time as a player and later as director and managing director, and he said: “She’s a long-time member of the Wolves family, and one of the stalwarts. What I remember about Dot is that she was the fountain of knowledge – if anybody needed to know anything, they’d go to Dot.

“But at the same time, she was also the model of discretion. And that was her role.

“She was secretary and worked closely with people like Richard Skirrow and Sir Jack Hayward, so she was a very important cog in the Wolves wheel, without a doubt.

“She was the constant, at Molineux for around 40 years. You can’t do any more than that, can you? She was loved by everybody who knew her. It’s a sad loss.”

Wooldridge first joined Wolves in the late 1950s, with requirements of her role ranging from helping with autograph requests to selling tickets as she worked with Cullis and Jack Howley.

She spent eight years away from the club to raise her two sons but was asked back in 1973, and nine years later, she became Pearson’s assistant. Amid the turbulent mid-80s, she was made redundant but soon reinstated.

Wooldridge then served as the full-time manager’s secretary under Taylor – having combined the role with other duties under Turner – and remained a source of wise advice for all Wolves bosses until her retirement in 2004.

Richards became a director in 1994 and then was managing director from 1997 until 2000, and he worked closely with her during those years.

“Like I say, she was the model of discretion and everything was kept confidential as far as Dot was concerned,” he said.

“You’d speak to her about all sorts of things – players, potential players, situations within the club – and the knowledge she had from all her time at the club was invaluable.

“Whoever asked her, they got a lot of advice and guidance as she was the constant.

“When there were lots of changes going on, Dot was there throughout all that time. She was the heart of Wolves.

“A club needs a strong base, with administration you have to keep the club operational, and she was very much a part of that.

“You had a lot of people moving around, people coming and going, but Dot was the permanent who brought that stability.”

Another of the many former players who remembers Wooldridge fondly is Andy Thompson, who said: “Dot was Wolves through and through. She was great to work with.

“She was the right-hand woman to Keith Pearson for a number of years, when me and Bully first joined the club in 1986.

“It’s a big loss and a shame as she was such a lovely woman, who had a lot of time for other people.”

Richards added: “There will be lots of players and staff who have fond memories of Dot, because she was such a wonderful person.

“And she was always very professional in her work. She was there for a long time, in very senior roles at the club as well. She was the consummate professional.

“Dot was professional, reliable and a wonderful person.”