Today is the turn of Richard Skirrow, who spent over 20 years as Club Secretary with Wolves and is now the Foundation’s longest-serving trustee. Once upon a time not so long ago a local derby with Aston Villa would have made for a very busy matchday for Mr Skirrow!
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First of all Richard, can you chat to us about your background and growing up?
I always describe myself as a Yorkshire-born Mancunian! I am a Yorkshire cricket fan but I grew up in the Hyde area which was Cheshire at the time before now being classed as Greater Manchester. I was a Manchester United fan and enjoyed a good few years of the Best, Law and Charlton era. That was my team to start with but I am now, without any divided loyalties whatsoever, a Wolves supporter.
I went to Birmingham University which I enjoyed and in what was my final year, 1976, came across to Molineux for the FA Cup quarter final replay between Wolves and United. I had been to the first game at Old Trafford which finished 1-1 and the replay was a great game, particularly for a United fan, when they came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 after extra time. That was my first involvement with Molineux and a very happy one as well. At that time anyway!
Let’s move on from that! What did you study at University and how did your working life begin?
I studied Mathematical Sciences at University after which I went back to Manchester and studied as an accountant with Touche Ross, qualifying in 1979. I left the firm in 1981 to spend some time travelling and, after that, I took a job as Financial Accountant with a manufacturing company in East Manchester, later becoming Financial Director. By this time, via a mutual friend, I had got to know Tom Finn, who was the club secretary at Oldham Athletic. Tom had progressed from carrying out the audit for Oldham to join them and become the youngest club secretary in the Football League at one stage. He moved to West Ham as Club Secretary and I was lucky enough to get a recommendation from Tom, at least in getting them to speak to me, to then apply successfully to become Financial Controller at West Ham in January, 1992.
How did it go at West Ham?
I actually joined West Ham because they were looking to strengthen their finance department having introduced their Bond scheme, encouraging supporters to secure their seat for a considerable period of time in return for a sizeable initial investment. Unfortunately, it produced a hugely negative fan response and very few Bonds were sold. It was a big change to go from a senior position in a manufacturing company to relocate to London to start off in football. But I certainly have no regrets whatsoever and enjoyed life at West Ham. Jane, my partner at the time and now wife, also enjoyed living in the London area during my time at the club.
Had you always wanted to work within football?
I would say some form of work involving sport was always there as an aim, even a dream maybe, as I have always liked most types of sport. Having got to know Tom, what he was doing was an ideal job from my point of view. I was looking for an opportunity to try and do the same and as time went on it all just fell nicely into place. Tom left to join Wolves and I combined my Financial Controller role with also becoming Club Secretary at West Ham. After 18 months or so at Molineux, Tom moved on as the opportunity had arisen to join Blackburn Rovers which was more on home territory for him as well as them being reigning Premier League champions. He had told me what a good club Wolves was, and I applied for the job and was delighted to be successful, starting as Club Secretary in December, 1996.
And you would go on to spend quite a bit of time at the club?...
Yes, I went on to work at Wolves for just over 20 years and it was really enjoyable. That time included plenty of ups and downs – probably not enough ups – but it was a very good place to work with very good people. The big thing with Wolves which immediately struck me, which will lead us on to the Foundation later, is that the football club really is the biggest show in town. West Ham will never be that in London but Wolves is certainly that in Wolverhampton. The heartbeat of the city.
What sort of memories stand out from such a long spell of time?
Every promotion season was special. We only had three during my time, the play-off win in 2003, the Championship title in 2008/09 and then the League One title in 2013/14. I retired in March, 2017, not long before Nuno arrived as Head Coach and the recent upward curve began.
The 2003 play-off final was a game and an occasion that is so close to the heart of every Wolves fan, isn’t it? If there was one Wolves goal that I had to watch on a continuous loop it would be Mark Kennedy’s opener which was so sweetly struck. In the context of the occasion, it was a wonderful moment which took an incredible atmosphere up another notch and was such a perfect start to the game.
The 2008/09 season was also hugely enjoyable. Mick (McCarthy) has a real gift of bringing everyone together and you always feel under his management that you are part of one big team. We also had a group largely made up of young and ambitious players who had progressed from further down the league structure and it all gelled so positively. The game that stands out for me from that season was the 3-1 win against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in the November time. I remember travelling back with Jez (then Wolves Chief Executive Jez Moxey) after watching the team record a seventh successive win for the second time in that season. At that point we had won 15 of the first 19 league games of the season which was a remarkable run. As a result, I was then, possibly for the first time during my stint at Wolves, confident that we were the best team in the division in which we were playing and obviously that maximises the opportunity of getting promoted. To win so convincingly at Sheffield United, which is never an easy place to go, made me feel that everything was going to turn out really well that season. We had a bit of a wobble just after the New Year but thankfully my earlier optimism proved to be well placed!
The League One season turned out to be an enjoyable one, even though it started with no one wanting to be in that division. That double relegation had been horrible for anyone connected with Wolves. And of course, the League One season was only enjoyable by being successful first time around under Kenny Jackett. Kenny did a fantastic job by rebooting the club and providing the catalyst for the successes which have happened since.
Can you just describe the role of Club Secretary at a football club?
I think it is a job where the role can be very different from club to club. Primarily you are the person that has got to make sure the club stays within the rules and regulations of the leagues and the Football Association. That involves transfer and player contracts which I drafted although for most of my period there Jez would be the person who agreed the terms. The way it was run at Wolves for most of my time was that it was very much a senior management team involved in the key decisions and I was a part of that. I was responsible for the football budget including the cost of the training ground, away travel for all teams, pre-season tours, the kit and the player and staff wage budgets.
From 2005 I was based at Compton, so I was effectively the lead non-football person in terms of the training ground running smoothly, functioning to the benefit of the team and the academy whilst also staying within budget. Overall, I had a dotted line involvement in many aspects of the club, for example working with accounts management staff on finances, stadium management on stewarding and policing and the general organisation of fixtures, the media department on trying to get the right tone along with the right content, and several other areas besides. I was also Company Secretary so would attend Board Meetings and contribute amongst many others to all of those discussions including planning for the future and issues around governance. It was a very varied role and one I really enjoyed.
The decision to retire and move on from the club – how did that come about?
By the time the Fosun acquisition took place in the summer of 2016, I had already decided I would probably be moving on. I had thought of retiring when I had completed 20 years at Wolves by which time I had reached my early Sixties. With Fosun coming in and taking the club into a new era, it was always going to be better for them to have someone in position who planned to be there for much longer than I was intending to be. So, it felt like the right time to make the decision.
Taking on my role, Matt Wild came in who had briefly been my assistant at Wolves before going to fulfil the Club Secretary position at several different clubs and I knew how good he was. Of course, having worked at the club for so long, I do miss it from time to time but as I have said to other people, it’s not like you have left, say, an engineering company and have little idea what is now going on. It is Wolverhampton Wanderers and you can read about the club all day long if you want to! You don’t know the ins and outs of what is happening behind the scenes but it is easy to feel you are still somehow connected. The club have also been very good to me in that I am still welcomed back for games although I don’t come to all of them and certainly don’t want to abuse any goodwill. When I do get back, I really enjoy meeting up with former colleagues and matchday staff and catching up.
And Wolves also called on your services during the Europa League run of 2019/20?
I was asked to be the Club’s Liaison Officer for the UEFA delegate at home games in the Europa League which was a really nice thing to do. It is basically being somebody who knows their way from ‘A’ to ‘B’ and is known by staff so that you can get from ‘A’ to ‘B’ with the minimum of fuss. That was very enjoyable particularly as the games were also very enjoyable and the fact that Wolves in Europe wasn’t something that I had experienced during my time at the club.
Moving on to the Wolves Foundation, what has been your involvement with the club’s official charity?
I think I am the longest-serving trustee now to the extent I can’t quite remember when I started! I think I was known as a trustee when the charity was known as Wolves in the Community around 2000 and then onto Wolves Community Trust and the Foundation as it has now become. I am very pleased to have this role and I think the Foundation is an organisation that has done so much good work and is one of the best in football. And it is still growing.
How would you assess the impact of the Foundation?
By being part of ‘the Wolves’, the work of the Foundation offers an opportunity to make a real impact within the local community but also brings the responsibility of having that impact. Will (Head of Foundation Will Clowes) is very good and leads the charity impressively, Steve Morgan was always very supportive during his time as Wolves Chairman and Fosun have continued to be supportive since taking over.
It is also important to note that the players and managers have always been very supportive and never more so than when Nuno made such a substantial donation to Feed Our Pack to help launch the project last year. In recent years projects such as Feed Our Pack, Head 4 Health - which has just celebrated its third anniversary - PL Kicks which continues to be so influential, the various education programmes like PL Primary Stars and PL Inspires – they are all so important. The Premier League deserve credit for providing so much funding to help the Foundation’s work and I think they regard Wolves highly and from the feedback received seem to look on the Foundation as a charity that delivers very well.
And finally Richard, away from your involvement with the Foundation and still watching Wolves when you can, how has retirement treated you so far?
I have always enjoyed being active although, like so many people, have been affected by the pandemic over the last couple of years. My main hobbies – many of which are shared with Jane - include live sport, live music, travel, pubs and restaurants. We had a period where none of those were possible but they have all come back on stream again more recently. I watch live football and cricket primarily, do quite a bit of walking and am fortunate to have good groups of friends for socialising. I have a walking trip to Portugal in May which should have happened back in May, 2020, which will be my first time abroad since the pandemic began. The trip is in the hills above Porto so I will be packing a Wolves shirt!
That’s great Richard, many thanks for your time and for being such a proud supporter and trustee of Wolves Foundation.
