With the late Mark Kendall having kept goal for both Wolves and Tottenham in his successful career, the popular gloveman was the subject of the 'On Both Sides Of The Fence' feature in Tuesday's matchday magazine.  The article is reproduced below.

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It is well known by comment footballing consent that goalkeepers have that added touch of eccentricity to the point of sometimes being described as a little bit crazy.

 

No argument there.

 

But it is not only via an ever-lively and bubbly personality that former Wolves and Tottenham gloveman Mark Kendall - the late, great Mark Kendall - remains so fondly remembered.

 

Because the Blackwood-born Welsh under-21 international was also a mighty fine goalkeeper.

 

Raised in South Wales, nurtured in North London and then flourishing most successfully in the Midlands, the man who made 177 appearances in Wolves colours will never be forgotten for his part in helping the club's spectacular revival of the late 1980s.

 

While Bull and Mutch provided the goals, the likes of Downing and Dennison the midfield cocktail of grit and silky skills, and Streete and Robertson the defensive nous, the keeper behind all of that was so spectacularly good about Wolves as they stormed up through the divisions was none other than the larger-than-life Kendall.

 

It is now almost two years since the hugely premature loss of a character whom in the words of so many of his team-mates, "was never seen without a smile on his face".

 

As that man Steve Bull recalls, Kendall was as engaging and humorous off the pitch, as he was fiercely competitive and determined on it.

 

"Mark was a real character," Bully recalls.

 

"He was deadly serious on the pitch but full of fun and laughter off it.

 

"He loved the rest of the lads and we all loved him.

 

"I don't think I ever saw him fall out with anybody - he was a true gentleman."

 

If today's opponents Tottenham have since enjoyed the talents of Robbie Keane which were largely honed in the gold and black half of the Black Country, it was the same in reverse for how Wolves were the ultimate beneficiaries of Kendall's formative years spent at White Hart Lane.

 

Having been recommended by Spurs' Welsh scout Harold Joy, Kendall, already a Welsh schoolboy international, signed apprentice forms in 1975.

 

Success with the club's junior teams preceded the arrival of a first professional contract, followed by a first team debut in a 2-2 draw at Norwich in November, 1978.

 

"Mark was in the first team picture at a time when the club were trying to find a successor to Pat Jennings, who had moved on after 13 excellent years," one Tottenham fan recalled this week.

 

"It was a very tough act to follow!

 

"Mark came into the side as a young keeper, and as is the way with young keepers, he did make the odd mistake.

 

 

"He was up against Barry Daines at the time, and while Barry hadn't played that many games previously he'd got that extra experience of having been understudy to Pat and worked with him for a number of years.

"Mark still ended up making 36 senior appearances at a time when the club were in the top flight, and I am sure his formative years with Spurs played a big part in the career he went on to enjoy.

 

"His sudden passing was certainly greeted with real sadness by everyone connected with Tottenham, particularly those who had played alongside him such as the likes of Steve Perryman."

 

All in all Kendall made 214 appearances in Spurs' various teams - the last of which came at senior level against Arsenal in August, 1980.

 

A successful loan spell with Newport preceded a permanent switch back to his native Wales, where Kendall went on to miss just seven league games in five years, rattling up an impressive total of 347 outings in all competitions.

 

Little wonder then that Wolves soon came calling.

 

Brought in on loan in December, 1986, it was the afternoon of January, 24, 1987 - the day when a certain successor to Wolves' goalkeeping mantle Wayne Hennessey was born - that Kendall's performance in a 2-0 win in Cardiff convinced boss Graham Turner to make the switch more permanent.

 

It was to prove one of Turner's shrewdest acquisitions.

 

 

Robbie Dennison, who now summarises for Wolves home and away on Beacon Radio, was another of those impressive acquisitions who followed Kendall into Molineux just a couple of months later.

 

"It didn't take long to realise the sort of great character that he was," says the former Irish winger.

 

"They always say that you have to be mad to be a keeper - and that certainly applied to Kendo!

 

"He was great fun, always bubbling, right from the first time you'd see him coming in of a morning.

 

"I don't think I ever saw him feeling down and he was just a great personality which in turn was great for the team.

 

"You have to also remember that he was a very good keeper as well, particularly his shot-stopping.

 

"Although we scored a lot of goals with that team we also kept a lot of clean sheets, and while I know that was down to a lot of people it always starts with a very good goalkeeper.

 

"He was always a vocal presence both on and off the pitch, and said exactly what was needed to be said in the dressing room which is exactly what you want."

 

Kendall's spell at Wolves which ultimately transcended three-and-a-half years, was a particularly happy one as regards family life as well.

 

Wife Gaynor, and then young children Lee and Lori moved up to the Midlands and established many friendships which live on to this day.

 

"Dad once said to me that Wolves was the club and time he enjoyed the most in his career," says Lee, now 29.

 

"He had some great times there - we all did - the club played a massive part in our lives.

 

"I remember being mascot for the play-off game against Aldershot although as Wolves lost I don't think I was a particularly lucky omen!

 

"But of course there were happier times to come with the league titles and I remember watching the Sherpa Van Final at Wembley as well as the Centenary Cup the month before.

 

"I remember how great it was going to the parties after the successes as well as the celebrations at the Turners' house when all the kids would go along and join in.

 

"I made a lot of friends at school and so on and still regularly come back to the Midlands to see them."

 

Those celebration parties must have come thick and fast during Kendall's Molineux tenure between the posts.

 

His first half-season may have finished with that play-off disappointment against Aldershot, but the following two were both 'champion', the Fourth and Third Division titles snaffled in successive years.

 

 

The Sherpa Van Trophy success also dove-tailed with the Fourth Division in a 1987/88 campaign in which Kendall kept a club record 28 clean sheets in league and cup.

 

A much-loved figure with fans and team-mates alike, he didn't really need any boosting in the popularity stakes but. even so, it arrived with the penalty save at The Hawthorns which preceded the last gasp Bull winner to ensure the first meeting with old rivals West Bromwich Albion in five years ended in Wolves' favour in late 1989.

 

And there was a peculiar twist of fate in store for the Kendall clan later that day.

 

Because Lee was just setting out on a goalkeeping career of his own which saw him on the books of Crystal Palace and Cardiff before finding a home in the Welsh Premier League where he currently plays for Port Talbot.

 

"I think all lads are inspired by their Dads and perhaps it was no surprise that I wanted to be a goalkeeper," says Lee.

 

"It's ironic really because I started playing for one of the Madeley Sports Junior teams which Dad ran while he was at Wolves.

"We used to play on a Sunday so he could take the team but then that Albion match was moved to the Sunday.

 

"He saved a penalty from Bernard McInally, and Wolves won 2-1.

 

"It was played at lunchtime, and afterwards we went straight off in the car for what was my debut - and I saved a penalty and we won 2-1 as well!

"Clearly he was always going to be a major influence on my career."

 

And then there was the song.

 

"Mark used to get some real banter going the crowd," recalls Bully.

 

"They kept asking him to show them his backside - and he usually obliged!"

 

Obviously the precise wording of the acclaim thrown at Kendall cannot be repeated in a family programme.

 

Although it was often heard regularly at the time - even in the supermarket.

 

"We used to be out shopping and fans would come up and banter with my Dad and say,  Kendall, show us your, well, backside," says Lee.

 

"And then he'd just drop his trousers!"

 

 

"He always loved it at Wolves and his relationship with the fans and was actually very disappointed when he left although these things obviously happen in football."

 

It was for Swansea that Kendall departed in May, 1990, and after a brief loan spell at Burnley it was in non-league football back in Wales that he completed his playing days.

 

And from there of course was launched a whole new career, from keeping goals to keeping the peace.

 

A Police Officer with the Gwent Constabulary, Kendall ultimately progressed to the role of Detective Constable, and twice received commendations, once when making an off duty arrest when witnessing an assault by four men and another when confronted by a man wielding a chainsaw.

 

Having then moved into the role of training fellow officers he was named National Trainer of the Year in 2007.

 

Tragically however, on May 1, 2008, he passed away at the age of 49 after collapsing at his home.

 

A measure of the enormous esteem in which he was held was shown by the rousing minute's applause in his memory at Wolves' final game of that season against Plymouth, not to mention the 500-plus turnout - with a strong Molineux influence - at St Theodore's Church in the village of Ynysddu for his funeral.

 

 

"It was a desperately sad day," another of Kendall's former team mates Andy Thompson said at the time.

 

"But the turnout showed how highly thought of Mark was by so many people. He was very much part of the life and soul of that Wolves team."

 

Yet amid such a sudden and painful tragedy, there was a legacy of Kendall's time at Wolves which also provided strength to his family at the time of their greatest need.

 

"We had some wonderful messages after Dad died," says Lee.

 

"A Wolves fan put a tribute site on Facebook and the well-wishes we got on there were incredible.

 

"It gave us some real strength at what was obviously a very difficult time."

 

Mark Kendall, always enjoyed and never forgotten.  And one for whom both teams tonight owe a debut of gratitude.