An expired passport and a transfer: The story of Wolves' last US tour in 1981

Or whether Matheus Cunha will be so taken in by the sights and sounds of the Sunshine State that he returns on holiday with his family next year.

Or if Craig Dawson creates such an impression in the friendly fixtures that he gets snapped up by one of the teams in opposition to Wolves immediately after returning from the pre-season trip. Ah hang on, that one’s sort of happened already. Hammer Time.

But replace those three names and scenarios with the Molineux class of 1981, and those are just three of the stories that emerged the last time Wolves travelled out to the States, and indeed played a fixture in Jacksonville just as they did – eventually - in the early hours of Sunday morning against West Ham.

John Richards so enjoyed visiting Disney World during the trip that he took his family back on holiday to sample the Magic Kingdom the following year.

Colin Brazier was quickly snapped up by the Jacksonville Tea Men who Wolves had played against for a temporary loan spell, later to return permanently.

And alas, poor Geoff Palmer. His previous passport had expired and his new one came through just as the rest of the squad were boarding the plane for the States. It was, like one or two tackles once made by the iconic Wolves full back, just a little too late. He didn’t make it.

All this drama for an end-of-season friendly which, in all likelihood, only came about because Wolves were in need of the financial benefits that accompanied it.

The carrot of heading to play the first ever international fixture at the Jacksonville Gator Bowl was as much about the finances as it was the football.

It was little over a year since they had lifted the League Cup, the club’s most recent major trophy, but equally only a year before they would go into receivership in what would turn out to be an extremely turbulent half a decade.

“From what I recall it was just one game at the end of the season at a time when the club were struggling financially,” striker and Wolves legend John Richards recalls.

“They were looking for funds from any source, and sponsors over in America must have offered something which made it worth heading over.”

The players certainly weren’t complaining.

For many, it was their first ever taste of life Across the Pond. Pre or post-season trips traditionally ventured no further than Europe.

Coming at the end of the 1980/81 campaign, in which Wolves had finished 18th and been defeated by Tottenham in a replay in the FA Cup semi-finals, there was not the same sort of intensity or training required as with pre-season trips when fitness was a pre-requisite.

And that led to a fair few describing the Trans-Atlantic excursion as something of a ‘jolly’.

“We hired a few cars and headed off to Disney World which was a magical experience,” Richards recalls.

“So magical that I took my family there for a holiday the following year.

“A few of the lads went for a game of golf – Hibby (Kenny Hibbitt) for one I’m sure – but the big thing I remember is how different America was for us all.

“The roads were massive, the cars were big and flashy, the big shopping malls where you could get lost, we’ve got them over here now but didn’t have them back then.

“The drive-through cinemas, there were so many more McDonalds over there, all the huge signs, it was like we were seeing the future.”

At the time Brazier, who operated in so many different positions for Wolves, had no way of knowing that he would be returning to Florida very shortly after the trip, but his first impressions were certainly extremely positive.

“It was just fantastic,” he recalls.

“I think to go over to Florida, with that weather, and the way we were looked after, we were concentrating more on partying than playing!

“Myself and a few of the younger lads went around Daytona Beach, we had a few games of golf, we enjoyed the sort of luxury that we weren’t really used to.

“Every time we opened our mouth, we had about 20 American people around us, and everyone thought we came from Liverpool because they knew all about The Beatles!

“It was an amazing trip.”