40 years on from a Wolves trip to Brentford in midst of most troubling times

Nearly 40 years on from when they actually started a campaign against the same opposition, locked in the midst of a far more turbulent spell.

Scott Barrett was Wolves’ goalkeeper on that August afternoon which launched the 1985/86 schedule, one which would finish with the second instalment of an unwanted hat trick of successive relegations from top division to bottom.

Neil Edwards scored on his debut but Wolves were beaten 2-1 in front of a crowd of 5,876 at Griffin Park.

Ever the goalkeeper, Barrett recalls the pitch being one of the shorter in length of its time. As one of the few between the sticks to have actually scored a goal in a league fixture, he knows all about that sort of thing.

One of football’s legendary figures Frank McLintock was Brentford’s manager that day, and praised Barrett for making ‘three great saves.’

Barrett also knows, that whilst he loved his time at Molineux, and continues to harbour fond and almost encyclopaedic memories of those days from four decades ago, Wolves was a very different club back then

“It was an interesting time with the club in a bit of turmoil,” the now 62-year-old recalls.

“After the Bradford fire, only two sides of the ground were open and that was strange having played in front of all four in my first appearances.

“The Bhatti Brothers were in charge and the club was struggling.

“We used to get paid monthly and I remember one month when we didn’t get paid, and then we all received a big brown envelope full of cash.

“We didn’t really know what was happening from one month to the next, with players coming and going, and managers as well.

“It’s a pity that I’ve not yet been back to Molineux, on the inside at least, but having driven past it a couple of times, it’s obviously a very different club now to what it was then.”

Barrett’s arrival at Wolves came after he was spotted playing non-league for home-town club Ilkeston, where he had spent three years after being released after an apprenticeship with Notts County.

Originally becoming a goalkeeper as it was the only way his two older brothers would let him join in games on the streets or at the park, he had combined that non-league stint with a driving job, delivering car parts to garages in the local area.

Tommy Docherty was the manager who brought Barrett to Molineux, the keeper having played a few trial games in the reserves before interest from Derby - and the departure of John Burridge - chivvied Wolves along to make their move.

At 21, he was signed as cover for a highly-rated prospect who was even younger, then a teenager - but also a future Premier League winner and England international - in Tim Flowers.

“You could see what a talent Tim was, even at the start,” Barrett acknowledges.

“He was always destined for great things.”

It was Flowers’ absence, suffering a tooth abscess which prompted a sleepless night before an away game at Portsmouth, which opened up the opportunity for a Football League debut for Barrett, one which he marked with a clean sheet.

Pompey were flying high in the Second Division table, and Wolves less so, but Jim Melrose’s first half goal, and a strong defensive display in which Barrett, according to the Express & Star match report, put in a ‘nerveless display of bravery and sound handling’, was enough to secure the points.

“It wasn’t until the morning of the game that I knew Tim wasn’t going to make it, and with it coming out of the blue I didn’t have the chance for any nerves,” he says.

“I think I did o-k, in the first half I didn’t really have much to do, but in the second it was pretty much attack against defence but we managed to hold out.

“There was a bit of a party atmosphere afterwards and I remember (Chairman) Derek Dougan coming into the changing rooms and being very pleased, because it wasn’t a result anyone was expecting.”