Wath Wanderers

[long ball man]

I had a meeting in Wath-on-Dearne on Friday. It's not a particularly pre-possessing kind of place and I guess that Wath Wanderers came into being purely because thats where Mark Crook came from and he wanted to start a team back home. Still any small town that produced Roy Swinbourne, Ron Flowers and Steve Daley (there may well be more) has to hold some affection for Wolves fans.

I just got thinking could we resurrect Wath Wanderers today and indeed how about equivalent Wolves' boys teams in other hotbeds such as North East, East London and Merseyside. I suspect there might be something in the academy structure which prevents this today but I think that having such a network of nursery teams would be great PR and relatively low-cost too. As recently as the 1990s I can remember Stourbridge Falcons being known as Forest Falcons (possibly produced Darren Wassell)

Any mileage in this idea?

[glasgowwolf]

Some clubs do have these feeder schemes, they are basically pointless now.

There are that many teams with scouts every area is saturated and in some areas 2nd rate players are signed by academy's just to make up the numbers.

Academy's have the best available player in each position, and will reease them when they can get a better player in that position.

IMHO starting satelite centres of excellence as they have to be called are a drain on funds

[BlahBlah]

Stourbridge Falcons had some great players, John Ford being another who had to get away from the Midlands via Cradley Town to play league football...(I think Wassell had already broken through before Forest began to back Stourbridge Falcons)

Falcons had Lee Sharpe and he was turned down by both Blues and Albion. Those trials weren't instigated by the clubs, but by his dad making a bloody pest of himself....so much for local scouts.
By the time they'd got a trial lined up at Wolves he'd decided to join Torquay because they really took an interest.
Lots of Midlands lads ended up down there because of Torquay's strong Midlands interest....including Dean Sturridge and Darren Mooore.
When a mate of mine played for them, over half their first team was from the West Midlands or Birmingham...all picked up for nothing under the noses of our own clubs.

I guess it's only worth putting money into a kids team if you're confident you've got the talent scouts to make it work.

[jayeff17]

Peter Knowles was a WATH player

[Exile Wolf]

Agree with Glasgow on this. A couple of weeks back I was at a tournament being run by APR (Ashmore Park Rangers). A couple of their players had been picked up last season and where then told they couldn't play for their local team of the Academy. Thankfully the parents have seen sense and got them to return to normal football after all I thought for U10's it was all about enjoyment.

Also on the same day after a team won through to the final, one of the parents put a complaint in against a team who had played an academy player. So the poor lad was unable to play in the final.

[quirky_birky]

I had a meeting in Wath-on-Dearne on Friday. It's not a particularly pre-possessing kind of place and I guess that Wath Wanderers came into being purely because thats where Mark Crook came from and he wanted to start a team back home. Still any small town that produced Roy Swinbourne, Ron Flowers and Steve Daley (there may well be more) has to hold some affection for Wolves fans.

One of my old teachers hailed from Wath - he never said much good about it. I was up there a few years back visiting friends - not much to it really - blink and you miss it (not necessarily a bad thing!). Wouldn't surprise me if the older generations hold some affection for Wolves.

[leedswolf]

Any mileage in this idea?

30 miles isn't it? I'm not sure about Steve Daley, but I'm pretty sure Alan Sunderland played for Wath Wanderers.

Sadly Wath-upon-Dearne suffered as a result of Thatcher's determination to dismantle the coal mining industry in the UK.

[UNCLE REMUS]

30 miles isn't it? I'm not sure about Steve Daley, but I'm pretty sure Alan Sunderland played for Wath Wanderers.

Sadly Wath-upon-Dearne suffered as a result of Thatcher's determination to dismantle the coal mining industry in the UK.

Yes he did, so did Knocker. There was a WM programme about Mark Crook. The programme stated that he discovered Alan Ball, Bob Wilson and that he also recommended that Charlton Brothers.

[leedswolf]

We already know about Knocker, who's father was a pro RL player for Wakefield Trinity.

Joe Armstrong is attributed to 'discovering' Bobby Charlton.

John Short and Gerry Taylor were 'products' of Wath Wanderers also. Just checked and indeed Steve Daley was with Wath.

[marrs-guitar]

There was a WM programme about Mark Crook. The programme stated that he discovered Alan Ball, Bob Wilson and that he also recommended that Charlton Brothers.


it's here if anyone's interested

part 1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/realmedia/dan_wath_1.ram

part 2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/realmedia/dan_wath_2.ram