Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Kenny Hibbitt didn’t just wear the Wolves shirt – he truly graced it

“We had a wonderful time and it was a wonderful period at Wolves. It’s nice to know we’re back where we belong. I think the future looks quite bright and I think you guys will see something special over the next five to 10 years.”

The event was the second They Wore The Shirt tribute dinner organised by the remarkable fundraiser Steve Plant to recognise the contribution made by legends of the club, following on from last year’s accolade for all-time record appearance maker Derek Parkin.

Hibbitt is well-placed to speak about what can be regarded as ‘special’ in these parts. He was a central figure during the period of time Wolves could last be regarded as a force in English football. The fourth-placed finish of the 1970/71 season would earn a Champions’ League place these days but back then it was qualification for the UEFA Cup. It was one of three top six finishes for Wolves over the next 10 years, which also included two League Cup triumphs and a UEFA Cup final.

Only a relegation in the middle of the Seventies blotted the copybook. For those of us not old enough to recall that decade of football there are just the stories passed down. Listening to Hibbitt’s former team-mates speak so fondly of that era it was easy to appreciate how enjoyable it must have been to watch a team littered with so many top class players.

For younger supporters, Hibbitt’s former room-mate Willie Carr drew a modern-day comparison. “The nearest thing to Frank Lampard.” All those who played with him or watched from the terraces speak of his unerring ball-striking ability, with either foot. So it was a cause of much mirth in the room when his opening goal in the 1974 League Cup final was recalled as a terrible miss-hit that skewed fortuitously into the top right hand corner.

“Kenny blamed me for that one,” said John Richards, scorer of the winning goal in that Wembley final. “He said, ‘If you hadn’t distracted me it would have gone in the top left corner.’ It probably would have done.”

It is a source of similar amusement to his old team-mates that Hibbitt, infamous amongst them for having a whinge to referees during his playing days, has gone on to join their ranks as an assessor in his retirement.

“He was the biggest moaner at referees you’ve ever seen,” said goalkeeper Phil Parkes. “Now he’s looking after them.” Perhaps it was his competitive nature, he couldn’t help himself with a word or two in the officials’ ears to fight his and the team’s corner.

To this day, Hibbitt remains a competitive sportsman as Parkes explained through gritted teeth. “Kenny’s one of these guys that p****s you off,” he said, to widespread laughter. “Not only was he a great footballer, he’s a scratch golfer and he was a great cricketer too.”

So many of Hibbitt’s peers painted a picture of not just a great footballer, but a decent human being who knows the value of others. Barry Powell had lost touch with his former team-mate but the pair bumped into each other 20 years on from their playing days when they both applied for the Hednesford Town manager’s job in 2001.

Hibbitt got the nod and was duly appointed, but the first thing he did was to ring up Powell and offer him the role of assistant.

It was a sign of the bond between the players that so many remain close to this day and have gravitated back to the Wolverhampton area.

Steve Daley became a team-mate of Hibbitt’s at home and then overseas, when the pair played for Seattle Sounders in the North American Soccer League. Daley made the point that this area has a pull mainly because of what was achieved during that Seventies era and the impact it had on those who lived through it.

Carr and Hibbitt clearly earned a reputation for enjoying a drink on away trips but this was a coming of age, a generational innocence of the time.

“We used to have a couple of beers and some midget gems and just lie in our beds talking about the game the next day, and what lied ahead, and eventually we’d fall asleep,” remembered Hibbitt.

It was fitting that three generations of his family were in attendance, especially his grandsons who will have learnt just how good their granddad was and how loved he still is by followers of the gold and black. Odin Henrikssen and Stig Vangsnes, two members of Viking Wolves – the club’s Norwegian supporters’ club – travelled to England just to join this celebration. Here was a player who remains a hero to so many.

There was a lovely end to proceedings too, when Hibbitt recalled his own childhood hero. “When I was a kid growing up it was Bobby Charlton. He was my favourite because he was a right foot, left foot player. He was the bees-knees for me. He was the one I tried to emulate when I was a kid.”

At that point, Wolves fan and operations director for the Manchester United Foundation, John Eades, took to the stage with a letter written by Sir Bobby to commend his achievements.

It was an overwhelming moment for Hibbitt who was genuinely touched by the affection.

“Thank you for coming tonight and supporting me,” he concluded. “It’s a real privilege and honour to be up here, it’s one of the greatest nights I’ve ever had.”