Mike Bailey - 80 years young.

[Frank Lincoln]

A bit late I know, but yesterday Mike Bailey was 80. He was our 1974 League cup captain, and a true leader on the pitch . I think Mike played over 350 games for Wolves, and epitomised everything that was good in a midfielder back then. Strong, tireless and fearless. He was an inspirational leader of the pack, and in my opinion the best captain Wolves have had in my time watching Wolves.

Belated happy birthday Mike. May there be many more to come.

 

[Supadavewolf]

He is up there with the best.

The ultimate 'barrel-chested' midfielder.

Belated happy birthday!

 

[reanswolf]

Yes was our superb Captain! A true Wolves legend!

 

[oldgolded]

Greatest captain of my era. Would always be in my best/favourite Wolves side.

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

A bit late I know, but yesterday Mike Bailey was 80. He was our 1974 League cup captain, and a true leader on the pitch . I think Mike played over 350 games for Wolves, and epitomised everything that was good in a midfielder back then. Strong, tireless and fearless. He was an inspirational leader of the pack, and in my opinion the best captain Wolves have had in my time watching Wolves.

Belated happy birthday Mike. May there be many more to come.

Well said Frank, agree 100%.

‘The Skipper’, easily the best leader we’ve had in my time!

The club brought out a video in October 2019 to celebrate 130 years at Molineux! In it Mike speaks about joining Wolves and playing at Molineux and I quote….

“Wonderful…. I’m going to play in this team, in this ground, and I loved it…. Completely loved it!”

 

[Jack Russell]

As I said in the OP to the comms thread yesterday -

And - A very happy 80th birthday to Mike Bailey who demonstrated, to perfection, how midfielders should play.

 

[Wednesbury Wolf]

Great captain, absolutely the best we've had since I started going in 1970.

 

[Scallywolf]

A belated happy birthday Mike Bailey.

The best captain in my 57 years supporting our great club..

Great player, captain and clubman.

 

[Jonzy54]

Great player
Great Captain
Thanks for the memories

 

[Dubwolf71]

Belated happy birthday Mike.

Always remember him from my first days following Wolves. Had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago when he was signing his autobiography in The Western. Lovely man as well.

 

[Burton Wolf]

Very Best Wishes Mike. I'll never forget our day out at Wembley.

 

[Tarcisio Mifsud]

My greatest Wolves player and captain of all times. I have the honour to have a photograph with him when Wolves played in Malta in 1971.

 

[goldeneyed]

Wonderful captain, leader, midfield enforcer and character. A Wolves legend in that wonderful team of the 1970s. A huge happy birthday Mike.

 

[reanswolf]

Imagine him next to Hibbitt and Neves today.

 

[Wednesbury Wolf]

Imagine him next to Hibbitt and Neves today.

To be fair I imagine Kenny and Mikes legs have gone a bit.

 

[Deleted member (smith)]

A belated happy birthday Mike Bailey.

The best captain in my 57 years supporting our great club..

Great player, captain and clubman.

57 years is a long time …I believe that is my time span too…although not being local I don’t think I got to molineaux until much later…I wish I could remember…I am guessing it was wolves v Ipswich and mike Bailey was captain….I believe wolves legend chopper Jefferson was playing for Ipswich … when could that be ? I am thinking about 1970?….anywho in those days post Ron Flowers , Mike Bailey was Wolves as Coady is now. Super captains all.

 

[Scallywolf]

57 years is a long time …I believe that is my time span too…although not being local I don’t think I got to molineaux until much later…I wish I could remember…I am guessing it was wolves v Ipswich and mike Bailey was captain….I believe wolves legend chopper Jefferson was playing for Ipswich … when could that be ? I am thinking about 1970?….anywho in those days post Ron Flowers , Mike Bailey was Wolves as Coady is now. Super captains all.

I remember the rivalry between Peter Knowles and David Burnside. Knowlesie is my all time favourite player (Neves is running him close though).

Derek Jefferson! Now there’s a name from our past. Bought from Ipswich and played in contact lenses. Did he ever have a good game in central defence for us?

My support started after the glory years of Wright, Slater, Flowers, Clamp, Broadbent, Bert Williams and so many more great players and legends. My brothers told me all I needed to know about those legends and the history books back them up and quite rightly. Managed by another legend in Stan Cullis, who to this day, never received the credit he so richly deserves from the ****ney, Manchester, Scouse loving media.

Never forget Mike Bailey, brilliant skipper, shaking his fist at team mates to get the best out of them. Parkes/Pierce, Taylor, Parkin, Bailey, Munro, McAlle, Hibbitt, Sunderland, Richard’s , Dougan, Wagstaffe. What a team they were. I was at Wembley when we beat City’s all stars Bell (RIP great player), Marsh (didn’t accept his losers medal), Lee, Summerbee etc etc. That was in 1974. Who can forget manager Bill McGarry running on the pitch to hug goalkeeper Gary Pierce (it was his birthday) at full time. I think Bill was just copying Bob Stokoe of Sunderland, who did the same to Jim Montgomery after they beat ‘dirty’ Leeds the previous year in the
F A Cup. I remember that League Cup victory more than the one in 1980 over Cloughies Forest when Emlyn picked up the trophy he had never won before even after playing for Liverpool. I remember Andy Gray’s tap in though after the mix up between Needham and Shilton following Peter Daniel’s long ball. I was playing amateur football on the day of the match and remember asking if anybody knew what the score was every 5 minutes!

Like so many fans it’s been a roller coaster ride for many of my 57 years and my Wolves support has never and will never die. It’s wonderful to be in the Premier League taking on and beating the so called Super Six. So difficult to compare football of today to the early/mid sixties. Fabulous pitches compared to mud heaps, super fit players earning obscene money compared to Johnny Haynes, the first £100 a week footballer. Club merchandise sold around the world for ridiculous prices. Clubs paying the equivalent of a supersonic aircraft to buy a player. Agents creaming it. Clubs owned by billionaires and millions of £ in debt. So many other changes in our beautiful game and too many to mention.

The introduction of VAR is testing everyone’s love of our beautiful game and is probably the most radical change in our game in my lifetime imo. It is supposed to be helping referees (who are currently the worst I can remember). I personally think it should be binned and just get back to how it was before. The standard of refereeing must definitely improve though. If not binned let’s have the referees available after matches to explain so many contentious decisions instead of having pundits, ex managers and ex players trying to explain.

Oh well I’ve got my Wolves books to keep me company. Bully, Mutch, Sir Jack, the 3 parts closed Molineux, Barnwell and Barker (the 2 B’s) against Atkinson and Addison (the 2 A’s from them lot down the road at the same time) are amongst the pages.

I can never forget standing in the old Molineux Street stand on a freezing winter midweek night match against Rochdale in the very, very dark days of the old fourth division. Barely 5,000 in Molineux and drawing 1-1 when Andy Mutch got the winner in the last minute. Don’t know why I remember it but it now seems to epitomise how far we had sunk.

I wouldn’t change one minute of my 57 years. Not one. Hope there are many more years to come. It’s wonderful to be where we are and just a couple of top class signings, including the box to box attacking midfielder we are craving, will make such a difference.

It’s the hope and love of my home town club that keeps me sane (occasionally insane). I have a receding hairline and have to wear specs. I’ve got the Wolves strips, polo shirts, old programmes (wish I had kept some of the old Sporting Star or ‘pink) and some unforgettable memories and I haven’t mentioned Nuno, McGhoo, Graham Taylor (rip), Graham Turner (started the revival), Brian Little, Sammy Chung, Graham Hawkins (rip), Kenny Jackett, Merlin Mick, Dave Jones. There are many more managers I could name. Some ok, some good and some awful depending on your opinion. I have seen many, many great players wear our iconic gold and black as well, some I have mentioned. Some have worn the strip with pride. A small minority have not but that is for another day.

70 years old next birthday. My brain tells me I could play 90 minutes now but my body tells me it would be 90 seconds. Played lots of amateur league football as well. Wolves have been there throughout with me and my family and I would not have changed one minute.

COYW!

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

I remember the rivalry between Peter Knowles and David Burnside. Knowlesie is my all time favourite player (Neves is running him close though!

Derek Jefferson! Now there’s a name from our past. Bought from Ipswich and played in contact lenses. Did he ever have a good game in central defence for us?

My support started after the glory years of Wright, Slater, Flowers, Clamp, Broadbent, Bert Williams and so many more great players and legends. My brothers told me all I needed to know about those legends and the history books back them up and quite rightly. Managed by another legend in Stan Cullis, who to this day, never received the credit he so richly deserves from the ****ney, Manchester, Scouse loving media.

Never forget Mike Bailey, brilliant skipper, shaking his fist at team mates to get the best out of them. Parkes/Pierce, Taylor, Parkin, Bailey, Munro, McAlle, Hibbitt, Carr, Richard’s , Dougan, Wagstaffe. What a team they were. I was at Wembley when we beat City’s all stars Bell (RIP great player), Marsh (didn’t accept his losers medal), Lee, Summerbee etc etc. That was in 1974. Who can forget manager Bill McGarry running on the pitch to hug goalkeeper Gary Pierce (it was his birthday) at full time. I think Bill was just copying Bob Stokoe of Sunderland, who did the same to Jim Montgomery after they beat ‘dirty’ Leeds the previous year in the
F A Cup. I remember that League Cup victory more than the one in 1980 over Cloughies Forest when Emlyn picked up the trophy he had never won before even after playing for Liverpool. I remember Andy Gray’s tap in though after the mix up between Needham and Shilton following Peter Daniel’s long ball. I was playing amateur football on the day of the match and remember asking if anybody knew what the score was every 5 minutes!

Like so many fans it’s been a roller coaster ride for many of my 57 years and my Wolves support has never and will never die. It’s wonderful to be in the Premier League taking on and beating the so called Super Six. So difficult to compare football of today to the early/mid sixties. Fabulous pitches compared to mud heaps, super fit players earning obscene money compared to Johnny Haynes, the first £100 a week footballer. Club merchandise sold around the world for ridiculous prices. Clubs paying the equivalent of a supersonic aircraft to buy a player. Agents creaming it. Clubs owned by billionaires and millions of £ in debt. So many other changes in our beautiful game and too many to mention.

The introduction of VAR is testing everyone’s love of our beautiful game and is probably the most radical change in our game in my lifetime imo. It is supposed to be helping referees (who are currently the worst I can remember). I personally think it should be binned and just get back to how it was before. The standard of refereeing must definitely improve though. If not binned let’s have the referees available after matches to explain so many contentious decisions instead of having pundits, ex managers and ex players trying to explain.

Oh well I’ve got my Wolves books to keep me company. Bully, Mutch, Sir Jack, the 3 parts closed Molineux, Barnwell and Barker (the 2 B’s) against Atkinson and Addison (the 2 A’s from them lot down the road at the same time) are amongst the pages.

I can never forget standing in the old Molineux Street stand on a freezing winter midweek night match against Rochdale in the very, very dark days of the old fourth division. Barely 5,000 in Molineux and drawing 1-1 when Andy Mutch got the winner in the last minute. Don’t know why I remember it but it now seems to epitomise how far we had sunk.

I wouldn’t change one minute of my 57 years. Not one. Hope there are many more years to come. It’s wonderful to be where we are and just a couple of top class signings, including the box to box attacking midfielder we are craving, will make such a difference.

It’s the hope and love of my home town club that keeps me sane (occasionally insane). I have a receding hairline and have to wear specs. I’ve got the Wolves strips, polo shirts, old programmes (wish I had kept some of the old Sporting Star or ‘pink) and some unforgettable memories and I haven’t mentioned Nuno, McGhoo, Graham Taylor (rip), Graham Turner (started the revival), Brian Little, Sammy Chung, Graham Hawkins (rip), Kenny Jackett, Merlin Mick, Dave Jones. There are many more managers I could name. Some ok, some good and some awful depending on your opinion. I have seen many, many great players wear our iconic gold and black as well, some I have mentioned. Some have worn the strip with pride. A small minority have not but that is for another day.

70 years old next birthday. My brain tells me I could play 90 minutes now but my body tells me it would be 90 seconds. Played lots of amateur league football as well. Wolves have been there throughout with me and my family and I would not have changed one minute.

COYW!

Wonderful post!!

 

[Jonzy54]

I remember the rivalry between Peter Knowles and David Burnside. Knowlesie is my all time favourite player (Neves is running him close though!

Derek Jefferson! Now there’s a name from our past. Bought from Ipswich and played in contact lenses. Did he ever have a good game in central defence for us?

My support started after the glory years of Wright, Slater, Flowers, Clamp, Broadbent, Bert Williams and so many more great players and legends. My brothers told me all I needed to know about those legends and the history books back them up and quite rightly. Managed by another legend in Stan Cullis, who to this day, never received the credit he so richly deserves from the ****ney, Manchester, Scouse loving media.

Never forget Mike Bailey, brilliant skipper, shaking his fist at team mates to get the best out of them. Parkes/Pierce, Taylor, Parkin, Bailey, Munro, McAlle, Hibbitt, Carr, Richard’s , Dougan, Wagstaffe. What a team they were. I was at Wembley when we beat City’s all stars Bell (RIP great player), Marsh (didn’t accept his losers medal), Lee, Summerbee etc etc. That was in 1974. Who can forget manager Bill McGarry running on the pitch to hug goalkeeper Gary Pierce (it was his birthday) at full time. I think Bill was just copying Bob Stokoe of Sunderland, who did the same to Jim Montgomery after they beat ‘dirty’ Leeds the previous year in the
F A Cup. I remember that League Cup victory more than the one in 1980 over Cloughies Forest when Emlyn picked up the trophy he had never won before even after playing for Liverpool. I remember Andy Gray’s tap in though after the mix up between Needham and Shilton following Peter Daniel’s long ball. I was playing amateur football on the day of the match and remember asking if anybody knew what the score was every 5 minutes!

Like so many fans it’s been a roller coaster ride for many of my 57 years and my Wolves support has never and will never die. It’s wonderful to be in the Premier League taking on and beating the so called Super Six. So difficult to compare football of today to the early/mid sixties. Fabulous pitches compared to mud heaps, super fit players earning obscene money compared to Johnny Haynes, the first £100 a week footballer. Club merchandise sold around the world for ridiculous prices. Clubs paying the equivalent of a supersonic aircraft to buy a player. Agents creaming it. Clubs owned by billionaires and millions of £ in debt. So many other changes in our beautiful game and too many to mention.

The introduction of VAR is testing everyone’s love of our beautiful game and is probably the most radical change in our game in my lifetime imo. It is supposed to be helping referees (who are currently the worst I can remember). I personally think it should be binned and just get back to how it was before. The standard of refereeing must definitely improve though. If not binned let’s have the referees available after matches to explain so many contentious decisions instead of having pundits, ex managers and ex players trying to explain.

Oh well I’ve got my Wolves books to keep me company. Bully, Mutch, Sir Jack, the 3 parts closed Molineux, Barnwell and Barker (the 2 B’s) against Atkinson and Addison (the 2 A’s from them lot down the road at the same time) are amongst the pages.

I can never forget standing in the old Molineux Street stand on a freezing winter midweek night match against Rochdale in the very, very dark days of the old fourth division. Barely 5,000 in Molineux and drawing 1-1 when Andy Mutch got the winner in the last minute. Don’t know why I remember it but it now seems to epitomise how far we had sunk.

I wouldn’t change one minute of my 57 years. Not one. Hope there are many more years to come. It’s wonderful to be where we are and just a couple of top class signings, including the box to box attacking midfielder we are craving, will make such a difference.

It’s the hope and love of my home town club that keeps me sane (occasionally insane). I have a receding hairline and have to wear specs. I’ve got the Wolves strips, polo shirts, old programmes (wish I had kept some of the old Sporting Star or ‘pink) and some unforgettable memories and I haven’t mentioned Nuno, McGhoo, Graham Taylor (rip), Graham Turner (started the revival), Brian Little, Sammy Chung, Graham Hawkins (rip), Kenny Jackett, Merlin Mick, Dave Jones. There are many more managers I could name. Some ok, some good and some awful depending on your opinion. I have seen many, many great players wear our iconic gold and black as well, some I have mentioned. Some have worn the strip with pride. A small minority have not but that is for another day.

70 years old next birthday. My brain tells me I could play 90 minutes now but my body tells me it would be 90 seconds. Played lots of amateur league football as well. Wolves have been there throughout with me and my family and I would not have changed one minute.

COYW!

Excellent

 

[Big Saft Kid]

Happy birthday, Mike. A born leader, and as hard as nails. So many great players in that 70s team.

 

[Sammy Chungs Tracksuit]

One much used but rarely deserved word sums Bailey up. Legend.
The 70s team that Bailey captained was also rammed full of legends. Doog, Richards, Munro, Waggy, Hibbitt, Parkin are the players that most readily spring to mind.