Molineux: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Ipswich Town

Sunday 20 April 2008

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Ipswich Town

Ratings

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Overall Ground Quality : 8/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 8/10

View of Action : 9/10

Quality of the game : 8/10

The "football" feeling : 7/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 7/10

Legroom : 7/10

Surrounding area : 7/10

Overall : 77/100

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Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Sheffield United

My (Adrian's) first trip to Molineux since the autumn of 2017. When I last visited, the rebuilt Stan Cullis stand was still to be complete so with this facility being open, I opted to sit there. In doing so, I've now watched football in this stadium on all 4 sides. The stand is imposing looking and the climb to the second tier it seems is only rivalled by the away area at St James Park! Don’t worry Newcastle fans you are still the winners!!! The downside was having to watch the Premier League relegation certainties Sheffield United for the second successive Sunday. They were better than last weekend, but that would not be difficult, they could and should have got something from the game but their failure in front of goal cost them. Wolves had the possession certainly in the first half but United had the chances and looked potentially dangerous on the break. Rhian Brewster was denied a goal by first a good block by Dawson and then a sharp save by Jose Sa. On another occasion he beat the offside but blazed wide and Manchester City loanee James McAtee also got through on goal but his left shot was blocked by Sa. No surprise then that Wolves took the lead on the half hour. Rayan Alt Nouri on the left crossed with his right foot and Spaniard Pablo Sarabia rose unchallenged to head home. It was almost 2-0 when Pedro Neto fired a 30 yard shot over the bar. We then witnessed the bizarre incident where two Sheffield United players squared up to each other and had to be separated. Souza and Robinson were then viewed by VAR as a possible red card, fortunately for them nothing became of it. It was an interesting first half but the second half was scrappy at times. Wolves frustrated the fans by seemingly happy to win 1-0. Only Sarabia had a shot of real note, curling a left foot shot just wide. Sheffield United started to believe they could get something coming close on numerous occasions, Sa saving yet again from Brewster and McAtee drilling a left shot just wide. So often though they chose the wrong pass, the wrong option, lacked composure in the final third and Wolves cleared the pressure with relative ease. Another strange incident in the second half when Sheffield United midfielder Vicinicus Souza lying on the floor injured, the Blades keeper Grbic kicked the ball towards the touchline allowing his team mate to receive treatment, however, his kick lacked power and didn’t go out of play! The ball was picked up by Wolves’ Sarabia, he initially played on but stopped when he realised what was happening and sportingly kicked the ball out of play. Que half the Sheffield United team going up to him and shaking him by the hand yet the Wolves fans were not so benevolent. Molineux as a modern stadium is unrecognisable compared to my first trip 40 years ago. It was my 9th visit, 3 wins and 6 draws. Not a bad record!

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-3 Bristol City

Our Tuesday night trip under the Molineux floodlights would see Wolverhampton Wanderers take on Bristol City in what would be a very entertaining match.

At 5.00pm, Adrian picked me (Ross) up from work in Market Bosworth and from there we made our way to Wolverhampton. We chose a combination consisting the A5 and a few shortcuts through Brownhills, Pelsall and Bloxwich to get to Wolverhampton. We parked the car on Springfield Road in Wolverhampton and walked 15-20 minutes to the ground.

With some time to spare, we ventured to the ASDA Supermarket behind Molineux to use the toilets and to buy some sandwiches. With Storm Aileen making its presence known with a sudden downpour of rain, we ate our sandwiches under the canopy of the store entrance before making our way around the ground taking a few photos before making our way into the Steve Bull Stand.

Molineux has been the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers since 1889 and currently has a seated capacity of 31,700.

Steeped in history, the famous ground was the first stadium ever built for the Football League, one of the first grounds in the country to install floodlights, as well as hosting some of the first European club games in the 1950s.

In the late 1970's, the club set about building a new stand behind the existing Molineux Street Stand, on land where housing had been demolished. The new stand, designed by architects Atherden and Rutter, had a 9,348 capacity, equipped with 42 executive boxes, although originally sporting red seats in contrast to the club's traditional colours. When the construction was complete, the old stand lying in front was demolished, leaving the stand some 100 ft from the touchline. This new stand, named the John Ireland Stand (after the then-club president), was opened on 25 August 1979 at the start of a First Division game against Ipswich.

By the time Wolves slid into the Fourth Division in 1986, the John Ireland Stand and the South Bank terrace were the only sections of the ground in use, after new safety laws implemented following the Bradford City stadium fire forced the closure of the North Bank and Waterloo Road Stand, which were very dilapidated. As well as that, attendances had fallen due to the club's on-the-field decline.

The club's perilous financial situation meant the stadium fell into ruin, with no funding either for repairs or to move the pitch. The club was saved from folding in August 1986 when Wolverhampton Council bought the ground for £1.12 million, along with the surrounding land, while Gallagher Estates, in conjunction with the ASDA Superstore chain, agreed to pay off the outstanding debt – subject to building and planning permission for a superstore being granted. Although the stadium continued in use, the disused sections were never reopened.

The takeover of the club and stadium by Sir Jack Hayward in 1990 paved the way for redevelopment, which was further prompted by legislation following the Taylor Report that outlawed terraces which affected Premier League and Division One stadiums from the 1993–94 season.

The North Bank terrace was demolished in October 1991 and the new Stan Cullis Stand was completed in August 1992, in time for the 1992–93 season. Next came the demolition of the Waterloo Road Stand, with the new Billy Wright Stand opening in August 1993. The final phase of the redevelopment came in December 1993, when the new Jack Harris Stand was opened on the site of the South Bank terrace.

The newly renovated stadium was officially opened on 7 December 1993, in a friendly with Honvéd, the Hungarian team who had been beaten in one of Molineux's most famous original floodlit friendlies.

In 2003, the John Ireland Stand was renamed the Steve Bull Stand (in honour of the club's highest goalscorer of all time), and at the same time the south-west corner of the ground was filled with 900 temporary seats, known as the Graham Hughes Stand, which, until their removal in the summer of 2006, raised the Molineux capacity to 29,400. This expansion occurred when Wolves were promoted to the Premier League, and allowed the club to set a record crowd for the redeveloped stadium of 29,396 on 17 January 2004, when they defeated Manchester United 1–0.

Plans were announced in May 2010 to begin an extensive multi-million pound programme of redevelopment to enlarge the stadium's capacity and develop its facilities in four phases. A full application for planning permission was submitted in September 2010, and granted three months later.

Phase 1 was confirmed in February 2011, and commenced on 23 May 2011 as demolition of the Stan Cullis Stand began. In its place a new two-tier stand (seating 7,798), complete with mega-store, museum, café and hospitality facilities, was planned for the 2012–13 season which extended around into the north-east corner.

This phase, costing an estimated £18 million, was carried out by contractors the Buckingham Group. By September 2011 the lower tier was opened to fans, permitting a temporary stadium capacity of 27,828. The stand was fully opened on 11 August 2012 for the club's first fixture of the 2012–13 season, creating a new official stadium capacity of 31,700.

What an exciting game played on a cold, windy night on a wet pitch.

Wolves will rue missed opportunities and will be wondering how exactly they managed to concede three sloppy goals.

They took the lead in 28 minutes when N'Diaye drove over a low cross from the right, Jota fired towards goal and Bonatini’s touch diverted the ball home.

Bristol City had looked workmanlike and caused one or two problems down the flanks and got themselves back into the game 2 minutes before the break. A corner on their right wasn't cleared, Bailey Wright’s left foot shot ricocheted off Aden Flint and City were back in the game.

Fielding in the visitors goal pushed away a dipping shot from Jota in first half stoppage time to keep the scores level.

However Jota was not to be denied. Just into the second half, a Wolves corner on the right was flicked on and the man from Portugal fired home from close range. He then hit the post as Wolves’ attacking play became incessant.

With near misses, crosses, and the City keeper making a couple of saves, against the run of play City equalised and it came from the penalty spot.

Callum O'Dowda’s cross was handled in the box by Vinagre and the eagle eyed referee pointed to the spot with Famara Diedhiou doing the rest sending the keeper the wrong way.

Suddenly Bristol came out of their second half shell and Wolves were rocking. The visitors surprised everyone when they took the lead for the first time with a third goal. Again, Wolves failing to deal with a corner and although Flint’s header was blocked, Matt Taylor fired the loose ball against the post and Bobby Reid stabbed in the rebound.

Home fans couldn't believe what they were seeing, but you sensed the game wasn't over, and Wolves got a point out of it thanks to captain Danny Bath a powerful header from a corner made it 3-3.

Wanderer’s biggest crowd for a midweek game for many years were well entertained and if this is what is on offer at Molineux under former Porto boss Nuno Espírito Santo, get down and enjoy.

At the final whistle, we made a quick get away by running back to the car in the drizzle in an attempt to avoid the anticipated heavy rain of Storm Aileen. We got back to the car by 9.50pm making our way back through Bloxwich, Pelsall, Brownhills and onto A5.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Ipswich Town

Molineux is home of Wolverhampton Wanderers (The Wolves). Adrian and I managed to buy our tickets on the day before Kick Off, but if it’s a big game then you want to buy your tickets in advance. For our pre-match meal we went to an ASDA Supermarket which is close to the ground. Adrian parked his car at the bottom of Waterloo Road near the Five Ways roundabout. Molineux has changed lots due to the Taylor Report after Hillsborough disaster which meant all stadiums in the top two divisions had to be all-seater. All whole ground has been re-developed in order, The Steve Bull stand, The North Bank (now the Stan Cullis stand), Waterloo Road stand (now Billy Wright stand), and the last stand was the South Bank (now the Jack Harris stand). All four sides are very similar. The game finished 1-1, Wolves goal scored by Ebanks-Blake and Ipswich's was scored by Miller.