The tale of Wolves’ achievements in the USA in the summer of 1967 have been widely reported and were even the subject of the 'LA Wolves' documentary film.
However, less well known are the Stateside exploits of the Molineux men in 1969 and 1981, the first rather more successful than the other.
With the current Wolves squad at the midway point of their 2024 USA trip, historian and author Clive Corbett takes a look back at what the Old Gold were up to 55 year ago this summer.
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Just over a week after closing their 1968/69 league schedule with a 4-1 loss at Newcastle United on 21st April, Wolves were on the plane to Baltimore for their first outing as Kansas City Wolves in the 1969 International Cup.
They almost literally hit America when their Boeing 707, already short on fuel, burst a tyre on landing at Bangor, Maine. Once on terra firma Dave Wagstaffe’s suitcase was found to be en route to Las Vegas, and Phil Parkes had £100 taken from his hotel room in Kansas.
John Holsgrove recalls: "We went back to America in 1969, stopping in Kansas City. It was a nice place but would never be as good as Los Angeles. I came down for breakfast one morning and manager Bill McGarry asked me what I thought of the hotel. It was almost like a Travelodge and I told him that I didn’t rate it and he got up and stormed out.
"We went to Atlanta at the weekend and stopped in the same hotel as Tommy Docherty’s Aston Villa. It was like the seventh wonder in the world, lifts up the outside, we couldn’t believe it.
"After beating Villa we flew back to Kansas City and on the coach McGarry stood up and said, 'By the way lads, we’re moving hotel. Go straight back in, get your gear and we’re off to the Hilton!' He never said a word to me about it, he wasn’t going to admit it."
For the second time in three summers, Wolves undertook a punishing itinerary before returning home on 1st June. On this occasion, their opponents were Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis and Baltimore, otherwise known as Aston Villa, Dundee United, Kilmarnock and West Ham United. Home for Wolves was Kansas City.
The results were as follows:
- 2nd May | West Ham 3-2 Wolves (Mike Bailey, Peter Knowles) | Baltimore
- 4th May | Wolves 4-2 Dundee United (Knowles (2), Les Wilson, Bailey | Kansas City
- 7th May | Wolves 4-2 West Ham (John McAlle (2), Hugh Curran, Bailey) | Kansas City
- 11th May | Wolves 3-2 Kilmarnock (Curran (2), John Farrington) | Kansas City
- 14th May | Aston Villa 1-2 Wolves (Knowles (p), Derek Dougan) | Atlanta
- 16th May | Kilmarnock 0-3 Wolves (Dougan, David Wagstaffe, Curran) | St. Louis
- 24th May | Wolves 5-0 Aston Villa (Curran (2), Dougan, Knowles, Dave Woodfield) | Kansas City
- 31st May | Dundee United 3-2 Wolves (Dougan (2)) | Dallas
The ‘home’ triumph over Villa secured the titIe, rendering irrelevant a closing day defeat in Dallas. Success was rewarded when the Mayor of Kansas City presented squad members with Certificates of Citizenship, and John McAlle with a watch as Player of the Tournament. However, McAlle was clearly most touched when Peter Knowles told him: “I didn’t realise how good you were”.
During the tour, Dougan claims that he was approached by Nobby Clark, a character from his Peterborough days who was now involved with Arsenal. Having already been told in a Kansas hotel bedroom by a bourbon fuelled Hughie Curran that McGarry had brought him in to assume the Doog’s mantle, he was understandably interested by Clark’s suggestion that Bertie Mee was prepared to offer £90,000 to take him to Highbury.
however, it was a deal that McGarry was not prepared to countenance and Dougan was further frustrated when he recommended that the boss make an offer for a Kilmarnock forward, Tommy McLean, a skilful winger with the predatory instincts of a striker to boot.
Dougan recalls: "He scored twice against us, I think. I dreamed about a Waggy on the other wing. I would create havoc, getting more chances, scoring more goals."
The Doog learned that he was available for £80,000 and that he would have relished the thought of playing in the English first division. It is claimed that McGarry dismissed Dougan’s suggestion and, within a few months, McLean had started a successful 12 years at Glasgow Rangers.
Elsewhere, future legend Kenny Hibbitt came to wider attention when the 18-year-old received the honour of player of the tournament at the Europa-Festival in Altrip, a competition that involved junior teams of European luminaries like Inter Bratislava, Eintract Frankfurt and FC Bologna.
Wolves held Bologna to a goalless draw before slipping 1-0 to Mannheim and beating Dortmund 5-0. They ultimately secured fifth place with a 3-0 win over FC Fribourg and the squad, which also included Peter Eastoe and Bertie Lutton, headed off to VFR Rheinfelden for a second tournament.
Back in the USA, one particularly tangible benefit of the American tour was McGarry’s discovery of Frank Munro’s defensive skills. Speaking to Neville Foulger of the Birmingham Evening Mail, the manager said: "Munro’s performances out in America were a revelation. He has often said that he fancied playing in a strictly defensive role in the back four. Frankly, I never pictured him in this sort of position but I decided to give him a try."
This was of course a discovery that was to serve Wolves well for the best part of a decade.
In addition to the staple footballing details the first programme of the next season (for the game with Stoke City) contained Mike Bailey’s U.S. diary. The skipper reported on extensive sunbathing, Hughie Curran’s stint as a traffic cop, fabulous drug store breakfasts for only eight shillings and sixpence, and great interest in U.S. television coverage of Apollo 10’s Snoopy and Charlie Brown testing out space hardware in earth orbit.
Just two months later the attention of the whole world was focused upon Cape Canaveral and Mission Control in Houston as it awaited Neil Armstrong’s ‘giant leap for mankind’. In Staffordshire we eagerly awaited a take-off of a different kind.
Moving on 12 years, Wolves made a fleeting close-season visit to Florida, the last until this summer’s trip. For John McAlle this was a last tour before he joined Sheffield United.
On 16th May 1981 Wolves played, and lost 4-1 to, the Jacksonville Teamen, with John Richards scoring the only goal.
Scouse picks up the story: "I came back just to go on the tour, we went to Florida and played a game to pay for the trip really. We played against the Teamen, they had lost money in Boston and moved to Florida. John Barnwell knew the captain of the plane and we got first class, but we couldn’t get it going back though."
John describes an entertaining afternoon at an alligator farm: "There were some alligators in a big tank, 16 to 20 feet long, enormous. A man gave a talk, telling us that an alligator can only see in front, it can’t see to the side. He goes across and the alligator’s jaws go ‘whack’, he did it every day for a living. We then walked down these aisles full of alligators and as we turned the corner there was a big ‘gator with its mouth open and John Richards was laid there. We thought John was inside the alligator, but it was false."
McAlle continues: "We went to Universal Studios and had a funny picture taken on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, you can see Frank Munro at the front of the picture!" In reality, those pictured were Richards, Paul Bradshaw, McAlle, Andy Gray, Hibbitt and Willie Carr.
Reflecting on his departure he regretted the camaraderie that he was leaving behind: "They were a bunch of nice of lads and we all got on really well. We didn’t live in each other’s pockets but we all respected each other. We all knew what we could do and couldn’t do. That’s why we stayed together for so long, travelling the world with Wolves."
We can only hope that members of the 2024/25 squad will take away similar memories of their time with the club.
