Michael Kightly rolled back the years to fly the Wolves flag in the United States recently, attending the 2025 instalment of Premier League Mornings Live.
The 11th instalment of the yearly event took place in Kansas this September, following a successful gathering in Chicago last year, and former Old Gold favourite Kightly, who played 127 times in old gold and starred in the 2009 Championship title-winning team, was back representing Wolves.
As the Premier League continues to grow in the States, the event, which took place on 20th and 21st September, gave supporters of the English game based across the pond the opportunity to watch their team together and celebrate in a football carnival.
Kightly and the Wolves contingent landed in Kansas – located in the middle of the United States – the day before the event and explored the city, including the iconic Missouri River.
The media event then saw Kightly link up with a number of fellow former Premier League stars, including Alan Shearer, Jermaine Defoe and Kevin Phillips, and, more significantly, Matt Jarvis, who starred on the opposite flank in that famous 2009 Wolves side, and was in Kansas representing West Ham United.
The Saturday, when Wolves hosted Leeds United at Molineux, provided the centre piece of the weekend. Thousands of supporters attended, with the first arriving at 2am local time for the Merseyside derby, and the first Old Gold fans joining the queue at 5am, four hours before kick-off with Leeds, which surprised Kightly.
“It took me back a little bit, how big, not just the Premier League, but football is out there, and the support that Wolves have,” he said. “It was great to interact with the fans, and not just the Wolves fans, but all Premier League fans.
“For a few Wolves fans, their first year was my first year, so we could relate. It was great to talk about past experiences that we'd both been through – the promotion year and then staying in the Premier League. I know that Wolves is a massive club and when you're speaking to people from America, they're coming back with such much positive feedback about the club.”
Kightly watched the game with the Old Gold supporters in attendance and enjoyed the occasion, despite the 3-1 reverse back home at Molineux. Aside from the game, there was a Classic Football Shirts exhibition, VR experiences (including of Molineux) and FIFA competitions keeping supporters busy.
The trip was concluded with a visit to Children’s Mercy Park, home to Sporting Kansas City. He provided a Wolves shirt swap pitchside, before watching their MLS clash with Vancouver, which the visitors won 2-0, and for Kightly to be representing the club again, 13 years after leaving as a player, brought immense pride.
“It was really nice to put on a Wolves shirt and represent the club again, although I can't do it on the pitch anymore, it was nice to give a little bit back, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve been around the club a few times since retiring, and it's always great to come back. My boy’s in the academy at the moment, so I spend quite a lot of time at the training ground.
“I watch all Wolves games and my son is a big Wolves fan, and I’m a Wolves fan now because of my affiliation to the club. If I'm not commentating on Wolves, I'm watching for sure.
“Obviously, it ended up not being a great day for us against Leeds, but the fans still enjoyed it and they were still upbeat about this season, which was nice. It can only be positive to grow the Wolves brand, not just in our country, but in different countries, and America is a great place to start that.”
