The April Edition of Wolves' History
24th April 1954: Wolves win the First Division for the first time
On the 24th of April 1954, Stan Cullis led Wolves to the First Division title for the first time in the club’s history. In the 1953/1954 season, Wolves won twenty-five games and scored ninety-six goals. Despite this, the season did not kick off well, with Wolves losing two of their opening three league games. However, Cullis’ men, captained by Billy Wright, turned it around and went eighteen games unbeaten between the 29th of August and the 5th of December. Notable wins included an 8-1 thrashing of Chelsea and a 1-0 win against local rivals West Brom.
17th April 1888: Wolves form the Football League
Wolves, along with eleven other clubs (Accrington Stanley, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion) formed the Football League following a meeting in Manchester on the 17th of April 1888. The season would begin later that year in the autumn and would run until the spring of 1889. In the opening season, Wolves finished in third place, twelve points behind runaway winners, Preston North End.
The Football League was formed with these 12 founder clubs - since then 136 different clubs have held League status pic.twitter.com/OA3gHXX0rj
— EFL (@EFL) April 17, 2014
15thApril 1938: Wolves record largest ever league victory
On the 15th of April 1938, Wolves beat Leicester City 10-1 in Wolves’ largest ever league victory. Dennis Westcott and Dickie Dorsett both scored four with the other two goals coming from Teddy Maguire and Bryn Jones. Coincidentally, it was also a Wolves player who scored Leicester’s consolation goal, with Billy Wright scoring an own goal. Wolves would go on to finish the 1937/1938 season in second place, just one point behind Arsenal.
(Dennis Westcott pictured above)
11th April 1959: Billy Wright becomes first player to be capped 100 times for England
On the 11th of April 1959, Billy Wright became the first player in the world to be capped 100 times for his country. After making his full international debut against Ireland in a 7-2 thrashing in 1946, Wright would go on to captain his country from 1948. His 100th cap came in a 1-0 win against Scotland at Wembley. Wright would go on to be capped a then-record 105 times for England. Wright also holds the record for the most consecutive appearances for England, with seventy consecutive appearances beginning on the 3rd of October 1951 and lasting to the 28th of May 1959.
25th April 1959: Wolves win back-to-back First Division Championships
Following fifty-six wins across two First Division seasons, Wolves were crowned as First Division champions for the second time in two years. Under Stan Cullis, Wolves scored 213 goals across the two championship-winning seasons. Wolves also came very close to making it a hat-trick of consecutive championships the following season, however, it was not meant to be as Wolves lost out to Burnley by one point in the 1959/1960 season.
-Louis Sharma
