Former Wolves and England winger Matt Jarvis takes us through some of the teams which have played a key role in his career – as the opposition to some memorable moments.
Supported as a child | Manchester United
I was a Man United fan growing up – obviously, being from Surrey! That has changed since though. As you can imagine, when you play against them for so many years you sort of lose that ‘fan’ aspect. Probably because your mind is dominated by the want and need to win and needing to take points off them. I’m not so much of a fan anymore, more a follower of United now, and of course, all of the clubs I have played for during my career.
Best Wolves performance | Stoke City
I would probably have to say against Stoke at home, in the latter stages of my time at Wolves. I started up against Jonathan Woodgate and he got taken off after about 20 minutes because I got a penalty, he got booked and probably should have been sent off all within that time.
Favourite to play against | Liverpool
I tended to do well against Liverpool, whether it was home or away. To be fair, we never had a bad record against the so called ‘Big 6’, it must have been a case of proving a point to both ourselves and others in the league, but if I was to choose one, it would probably be Liverpool.
Most difficult Wolves game | Chelsea
When we had our first season back in the Premier League, I remember it was a big wakeup call when we played Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. I think we lost 4-0, or something close to that! It turned out to be a day of chasing shadows, and it was a real eye opener when coming back into the league. There was big moment of realisation that this was the level that we had to reach to compete at that level.
Bogey team | Reading
Reading would be the only one that springs to mind during the days in the Championship. We tended to beat all the big boys in the Premier League bit when we played teams more ‘on our level’, so to speak, Reading would maybe be the one I can remember struggling to get results from. I certainly remember playing Reading once when Michael Kightly and I both did our hamstrings in the same game!
Least favourite to play against
I don’t think I ever played against any team and not enjoy it, to be honest. I loved every single minute of game time that I had. It will always be what I miss most, just playing. Once it all finishes, you just look back and wish you could keep playing. I loved every minute of it.
Wanted to play against | Middlesbrough
This would purely just be for my dad, but I would have loved to have played Middlesbrough at the Riverside because he’s a big Middlesbrough fan. It’s the one stadium that I never played in that I wish I had, just because when I was at Wolves, we were always in different leagues to one another. Another frustrating part about that was when I was at Norwich, I could have had the opportunity, but I was injured. Typically enough, it’s the one stadium that my dad wishes he could have seen me play at.
Fitting into the current team | Wolves
I would have absolutely loved it. I think it would have been perfect for me too! The style of play, the system, playing with the three up front approach, I think I would have fit in quite well on that left-hand side. The whole club has come on such a long way since my time there, so it would have been awesome to play at the club with this current squad. I absolutely loved my time and the squad I played with, I could never have beaten that, but I can’t help but think I could have added something.
