Wolves old boys’ tribute to NHS aid work

Over the past few months, Henry has co-ordinated a fundraising drive featuring former players, staff and the club’s supporters, supported by Wolves Foundation and the Former Players Association, to go towards expanding the capacity at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital.

Several members of the FPA committee – including vice-chairman John Richards and Steve Daley – also helped Wolves Foundation by making calls to supporters to check on their welfare over the last two months during the lockdown.

There had been the desire to try and extend the help being offered in the community just at the time Henry launched his fundraising appeal, which the FPA were delighted to support.

“There had been a fair few calls between John, Steve and myself, thinking about whether there was anything else we could do to offer support at such a challenging time,” says FPA manager Richard Green.

“Then Karl got in touch to tell us about his appeal, and we were delighted to support him and the other former players with a £5,000 donation and to spread the word among our members.

“It has been a fantastic effort from Karl and the other lads including Matt Murray and Danny Batth, with the support of Wolves and the Wolves Foundation.

“As a former players’ association, we hold two major events each year, an annual dinner and a golf day, from which we raise money to donate to different local charities.

“As soon as we heard about this fund, everyone was unanimous in deciding that we had to show our support to those brave and courageous NHS staff going into work day after day to battle the coronavirus on the front line.”

The golf day, originally scheduled for September, has now been put back to

October, but the annual dinner, which was to include the next inductees into the Wolves Hall of Fame and due to take place at Molineux last month, had to be cancelled.

“We are keen to ensure that we will hold these events, and we will have something to look forward to, but only when it is safe to do so,” added Green.

“When we do all get going again, when you consider the fantastic fundraising efforts from the likes of Karl, Matt and Danny, it is great to think that we might be able to call on some ‘younger’ former players who are clearly still so keen to stay involved with Wolves to expand the FPA family even further.

“It will be fantastic when all the players from the different eras are able to get together again, but, for now, hopefully everyone is able to stay safe and stay healthy before we meet again in the future.”