The history making Simkins have names etched into Wolves folklore

The first father and daughter to represent the club at senior level.

Simkin senior’s bow arrived in a 1-1 draw at Luton back in April, 1993.  While Simkin junior’s arrived courtesy of Wolves Women’s recent FA Cup tie against Manchester United at Telford’s SEAH Stadium.

For all the differences, there wasn’t actually too much between the two attendances – 7,348 at Kenilworth Road and 5,008 at Telford.

On top of an understandably close interest in the footballing fortunes of his daughter, Simkin is also a regular at the Banks’ Stadium with brother Neil, as his nephew, Tommy, is on loan to Stoke from Walsall and remains on course for a successful season and potentially promotion.

“It’s fair to say that football definitely runs in the family,” Simkin acknowledges.

“I love going to all the games but I’m probably way more chilled when I go to watch Tommy than my brother is,  and he’s asking me whether he should have saved it and so on. 

“And then I’m probably the same watching Lily, but that’s always the way, isn’t it? You are a bit more nervous and critical when you are watching your own!”

Handling the nerves is something which Walsall-born Simkin himself had to become accustomed to as a player when, back in the latter stages of 1992, he made the seemingly cataclysmic rise from non-league with Blakenall Town to the Championship via a move to Wolves for the princely sum of £10,000.

It was certainly a very different entry route into football than most.

By then 22, Simkin – who had a complete year away from football at 18 – was working as a carpenter, and yet hadn’t completely given up on pursuing his dream.

Spotted by legendary Wolves scout Ron Jukes, he was invited down for a trial, and promptly scored in a reserve game against Port Vale.

Both Vale and West Bromwich Albion were others to have the tough-tackling defender on their radar, but it was Wolves who pushed ahead with his signing, allowing him to make that step from the West Midlands Regional League to English football’s second tier.

“It was the time when there were still only two sides of the ground open, although the redevelopment was underway, and it was still clear just how big a club Wolves were,” Simkin recalls.

“In my first training session I came up against Bully (Steve Bull), which was quite a challenge, but he was a great bloke - just like everyone – and they all really welcomed me in.

“I know the game has changed so much now, but at the time Wolves, although a big club, was very much a family and community club, and I will always remember people like Dot (manager’s secretary Dot Wooldridge) and ‘Hughsie’ (Wolves club historian Graham Hughes).

“I know they are both no longer with us now but in the years when I came back to visit after retiring, it was people like Dot and Hughsie that I would always look out for.

“As a player, given how I had come through non-league, I was very raw, athletic and physical, and just gave my all every single game.

“It’s a working man’s game for me – fans want to see effort and determination – and that was me, a working man who just wanted to do his best.

“Of course I’d have loved to have made more appearances, both at Wolves and elsewhere in the Football League, but I think that was a lot down to how I arrived in the senior game having come through late from non- league.”

Simkin, now 54, wasn’t actually driving at the time so relied on lifts from his Dad to transport him to and from training.