Thousands raised on special night for Wolves legend Steve Bull
More than £11,000 was raised for charity as Wolves legend Steve Bull was honoured at Molineux.
Avid fan Steve Plant organised the night in celebration of the 306-goal scorer, ahead of the launch of Plant’s new-and-improved ‘They Wore the Shirt’ book.
This was the third tribute night organised by Plant and event compere Steve Saul, with the previous two being for Derek Parkin and Kenny Hibbitt – and a huge £11,800 was raised for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
The Hayward Suite was full for the event last Friday, and Plant said: “At nights like that, if you manage to raise five or six grand for charity, you’ve done well.
“But we raised double than usual, so it blew me away.
“The evening was a ‘This is Your Life’ kind of set-up, from the fans’ perspective.
“We’ve previously done them for Derek and Kenny as we’re going down the list in terms of Wolves appearances.
“Bully had 30 of his best friends and family there, and there were 270 there in total – sold out.
“The auction alone raised £6,000 – all for Birmingham Children’s – and a match-worn, signed Raul Jimenez shirt went for £1,550.
"I’d been working on the night for Bully and the book over the past 12 months – a lot of work went into it – and I’ve seen him since and he absolutely loved it, so that was a real relief.”
As part of the fun-filled night, Bull was presented with a special painting by club programme artist Louise Cobbold.
She recreated the former striker’s favourite-ever photo of him – celebrating in the teal away shirt at Grimsby as he scored a hat-trick on the opening day of the 1996/97 season, by Dave Bagnall.
“It was an unbelievable night to be fair,” said Bull.
“It was really nice to hear stories from fans and former team-mates of mine.
“Everybody enjoyed it, so my thanks go to Steve Plant and Steve Saul for arranging it all.
“It was a top night. I thoroughly enjoyed it and wish Planty all the best with the new book.”
For Plant, it was a special night ahead of another big occasion coming up this Friday.
He is launching ‘They Wore the Shirt’ at Molineux’s WV1 Bar – and all the tickets have been snapped up, too.
The first edition came out in 2016.
In total, 1877 copies were printed to mark the year the club was founded and sold online, at the Wolves Club Shop and at a number of local pubs who stocked a special beer to mark the launch.
The first book took fans through a spectacular 255 pages of history, featuring up-to-date photos of iconic strips, including John Richards’ 1974 League Cup Final top and Roy Swinbourne’s shirt worn in the famous victory over Budapest Honved. in 1954
It saw 113 shirts found and photographed in total, with supporters voting the Umbro 1977-79 home top as their favourite design.
“The first one sold out in eight weeks, but that was when we had only just been taken over by Fosun,” said Plant.
“We’ve really upped the size of the first book and altered a lot of it as well, so we’re hoping people will really enjoy it.”
Plant first got into shirt collecting to provide an interest for his Wolves-supporting father, who passed away in 2012, and the first book was in devotion to him.
This edition is too, but Plant said: “It’s dedicated to my dad, and to every Wolves fan who has lost a parent too.
“After all, our parents are largely the ones who got us into Wolves in the first place.
“In my opinion, and from the people who’ve seen it that I’ve spoken to, I think this one blows the first one away, I really do.”
There will be 2020 copies available, while there will be a new chapter included to focus on the remarkable three years since Fosun took over Wolves in 2016.
And 306 of them will be special Steve Bull editions.
All profits from the book, as they did with the first one, will go to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
For further details, visit www.theyworetheshirt.co.uk or email wolvesandengland@hotmail.co.uk
