Black and gold army enjoys title party

Whether Wolves had won or lost against Doncaster Rovers it did not matter in the slightest to the army of black and gold clad fans arriving at the stadium.

They were there to see them lift the hard fought-for Championship trophy and to applaud their heroes for ending five years of misery by getting back to the Premier League.

There were cheers for Wolves owner Steve Morgan as he arrived for the game. The sea of supporters parted immediately to allow him to park his Bentley at the front of Molineux. Standing by the statue of legend Billy Wright, women from two South Staffordshire families had come dressed in matching gold eye glitter and home-made wolf ears to see their team's moment of glory.

The ears were designed by 16-year-old Pip Matthews from Shareshill and worn by her mother Cheryl, 44, of Villa Close, her friend Hannah Cownley, 19, of Rosemary Avenue in Cheslyn Hay, Hannah's mother Linda, aged 44 and grandmother Jean Pilsbury, aged 76, of Broadacres in Coven. Linda said: "It's been a very emotional few weeks. Hannah was in a taxi when she heard Wolves had beaten Queens Park Rangers. She was texting me in tears."

Kevin Pemberton, a 47-year-old road sweeper from Hilton Street in Park Village, brought grandson Jordan Kavanagh, aged seven.

The season ticket holder said: "This is something he is going to remember for the rest of his life. He is old enough to know just how important this is for his local team. It's been a brilliant season for him." Mother and daughter Samantha and Georgina Cutler came from Farrington Road in Ettingshall Park came wearing their spiky hats.

Banks's admin worker Samantha, aged 38, said: "It's definitely been a better season this year. We are over the moon." Ludlow-born brothers Mark, Andrew and Stephen Hall have been dedicated fans all their lives but none of them live in Wolverhampton.

Engineer Mark, aged 43, lives in Worcester, 32-year-old architect Andrew is from Telford and 39-year-old teacher Stephen is from Southampton.

The three were wearing T-shirts mocking Wolves' arch rivals West Bromwich Albion who look set to be relegated.

Stephen said: "I would not have missed this for anything.

"There were some terrible moments when I would drive home hundreds of miles on Tuesday night wondering why I had come all this way to see a nil-nil draw. But Mick McCarthy has done us the world of good."

Father and son Steve and Liam Edwards, aged seven, now live in Ireland but still come back to Wolverhampton for matches. Steve, aged 52, lived in Kingswinford until 15 years ago but moved to County Cork to work.

Lorry driver Ivan Keown, from Bradley, was in the queue on Thursday at 4.30am to make sure he got tickets for his family of six.

For Gordon Higgins of Birmingham New Road, Coseley, the championship trophy was the end of a perfect 70th birthday.

The retired press operator said: "My children booked the Jack Hayward Suite here for my birthday last night and 78 people came. I could not have asked for a better celebration."