Wolves fans will be hoping their tie with Chorley this weekend goes better than their last meeting in 1986
By Steven Pye for That 1980s Sports Blog
The 1980s had started well for Wolves. They won the League Cup at Wembley in March 1980, with £1.49m record signing Andy Gray scoring the winner against Nottingham Forest, and went on to finish sixth in the First Division that season. The future was looking bright under manager John Barnwell. Yet the foundations for a decade of decay had already been established.
The club had spent as much as £3m on the new John
Ireland Stand at Molineux – more than twice the
British transfer record when it opened in 1979 – and debts started to mount when they were relegated in 1982. A consortium fronted by club legend Derek Dougan stepped in to save the day. Enter the Bhatti brothers, Mahmud and Mohammad Bhatti, who were the “financial muscle” behind the takeover deal. The mere mention of the siblings probably brings Wolves fans out in a cold sweat. The Saudi Arabian brothers did little in their reign of terror to help the ailing club. By 1986, Wolves were struggling to stay in business.