Gallery | Wolves legends taken on tour of Compton Park

23rd March 2022

Former Wolves players were given the chance to roll back the years recently when some of the club’s legendary stars were invited to enjoy a special afternoon at the Compton Park training ground.

In association with the Former Players Association, 13 ex-gold and black heroes were given an exclusive tour of the Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground sponsored by Fosun International by head of football administration Matt Wild, where they saw everything from the kit room to the ice baths.

Kenny Hibbitt, Steve Daley, Geoff Palmer, Phil Parkes, Phil Nicholls, Terry Wharton, Gerry O'Hara, Mel Eves, Colin Brazier, Gerry Farrell, Norman Bell, Ted Farmer and FPA chairman and legendary striker John Richards were among those who attended the afternoon, which also included a spot of afternoon tea following their tour of the state-of-the-art facilities their modern Wolves counterparts have access to.

An absolute pleasure to welcome back some Wolves greats to Compton for an afternoon!

🙌 @WolvesFPA pic.twitter.com/d7UgLsJVd8
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 23, 2022

Ahead of the tour, the group had an extended chat with head coach Bruno Lage and his coaching staff, as well as being joined by defenders Conor Coady and Maximilian Kilman, offering the legends a chance to compare their eras at Wolves with the current regime.

Having spent time speaking with the backroom staff at Compton, testing out the equipment in the gym and playing games of table tennis and darts in the players’ lounge, they were then treated to some lunch in the first-team canteen, where they reminisced about their time in old gold.

Skip gallery content

Richards said: “This is the first time the former players have been able to enjoy a visit to the training ground of this nature and we had a fantastic afternoon.

“We were able to see the incredible facilities that the players now have access to, and some fascinating insight from staff in the medical and analysis departments of how they operate to keep Wolves so successful. It goes without saying that life at a training ground now is very different from when we were all playing!

“Getting the opportunity to chat to Bruno, his backroom staff, Conor and Max made the visit even more special and we couldn’t have made to feel more welcome. I just want to say a huge than you to Lin Kennings for organising the visit, Matt Wild, John Gough, Becky Elvins from the commercial department, the media team, infact everyone who played a part in such a brilliant experience.

“We are extremely appreciative of the strong links with Wolves and delighted that Wolves FPA is able to work so closely with the club as we do now in so many different ways – long may that continue.”