Billy Wright’s omission from the Football Association’s 150 year commemorative crest is an insult to one of the all time greats of our national game.
Naturally I, like every other Wolves supporter, am heavily biased towards an icon of our club’s proud history.
But when you strip away the emotion and leave only the facts, I’m confident every football fan would agree that Wright’s exclusion from the crest is abhorrent.
These are some of those facts:
Pictured: Portsmouth win the FA Cup in 2008 with a team that subsequently leads them towards financial ruin.
Not pictured: Billy Wright becomes the first player in the entire world to win 100 caps for his country.
Pictured: Howard Wilkinson joins the FA.
Not pictured: Billy Wright leads his country out as captain for the 90th time, a record that has never been surpassed and only equalled by the great Bobby Moore.
Pictured: Don Revie becomes England manager. He fails to qualify the national side for a single major tournament, a feat only matched by Steve McClaren.
Not pictured: Billy Wright captains his country in three consecutive World Cup finals (1950, 1954 and 1958).
I could go on.
I haven’t even mentioned that Wright made 650 appearances for club and country and was never once sent off or even cautioned by a referee.
Surely then, in an era when the FA are struggling to clean up our game, he should be carried front and center, not shoved to one side?
If you agree, please do take a moment to add your name to the online petition started by Wolves supporter Chris Ward. You can go there directly by clicking here. There’s also a dedicated Facebook page that’s been setup here.
In addition I’ll be putting this article out on Facebook and Twitter, so if you’d like to support the petition, please do share it with your respective networks.
Wright’s omission is a total disgrace, not only to Wolves fan but to any football fan anywhere on the planet. Sir Billy was an icon and example to future generations in every sense.
This is where Morgan and Moxey could earn a little of our respect. They should be bombarding the F.Alls. and every other club chairmen and CEOs. Billy Wright was the reason I have supported The Wolves for over 50 years, if not for him it would of been Fulham.
now if you had said ” this is where moxey and morgan could earn a little money from the fans” youd have probably heard on the news two top football bods arrested for speeding on way to london fa headquarters!!! phatty boy it is so bloody disgraceful on top of every other episode of the tweenies endured lately! im going up to gornal tomorrow evening for a funeral friday and for the first time ever i cant be arsed to go to the mol saturday…..
This is typical of the FA – bunch of London centric ignorant pillocks. If Billy had played for West Bloody Ham, there’d be a gold plated statue of him on top of Nelson’s bloody column. It’s also a National Disgrace frankly that Stan Cullis didn’t get a knighthood. They aught to be ashamed of themselves…
My father told me that Wright was a man of integrity, talent and modesty – qualities that the F.A, operating in its bloated, commercialised bubble, no longer seems to value.
absolute disgrace by f.a. billy wright is a legend and should be first name on there most people no that with any sense how i forgot its the f.a.
Just how remarkable it is that playing so many games for club and country Sir Billy never even got booked .! And playing in a largely defensive challenging position .
Don Revie ? Howard Wilkinson ?
Blimey , with those two on there , why not David Mellor ? or Karl Henry ? …
Well put Thomas .. However it’s should be a darn sight more damning than that.
By trying to find justification or corellations for some of the inclusions compared to the ommissions .. I can’t.
I had the pleasure to see Billy play.
Billy’s football era was about no substitutions, 2 points for a win, leather football and dubbing on boots.. and honest , down to earth trainingb and graft.
Billy was at the forefront of this era .. he and Wolves featured on one of the first ever sportsnight progs , being interviewed to find out what made WOLVES so outstanding in their heyday.
Just gaining 100 caps was a massive achievement unlike todays wimps where some gain a cap for a 10 min cameo.
What on earth have Howard Wilkinson, Gerrard, Golden Balls, Revie and others given ahead of Billy …. THEY LIVE in A MEDIA WORLD ..unfortunately BILLY DIDN’T ..
I forgot to put the 2 other big factors … MONEY and THE LIMELIGHT.
Absolute disgrace, but lets not forget who the FA is run by and how it is run.
Wolves is just viewed as a small provincial team that is fast disappearing.
That Wright and i also think Stan Matthews went through a career with out being cautioned is an achievement that should be lauded to the highest. OK OK I know folks wwill say thinks were different back then true we had refs who knew the laws of the game and didnt play to the gallery (TV). But refs still got the book out regulalrly. Dont think Wright was a softee you dont play 105 times for your country if you dont tackle hard. When Wright tackled someone they knew they had been tackled. The difference with Wright and Mathews is they were honest players who loved the game and honored it with integrity.
I’m not sure what is more damning, the fact that he has been excluded or some of the ones who have been honoured by the FA.
This is what Wikipaedia have to say about Don Revie…..
‘In 1977, while still under contract to the English FA, he quit as England’s manager to become coach to the United Arab Emirates. This was the first time a manager of England had resigned from the position. The circumstances of Revie’s departure immediately provoked controversy. Revie snubbed the FA by selling news of his resignation to the Daily Mail, where the story broke before the FA had received his letter of resignation. Some football supporters were incensed at reports of Revie’s lucrative contract with the UAE team (£340,000 for four years), and accused him of acting selfishly and disloyally. The FA suspended Revie from football for 10 years on a charge of bringing the game into disrepute. Revie contested his suspension in a lawsuit against the FA, and the court overturned the suspension.
Honouring a man they suspended and whom then took them to court but not a man who captained his country with honour and respect 90 times. No wonder there is so little honour and respect in the game they run today.
says everything about the bloated eton boys club !
Excuse me going off the subject but i didn’t want anyone to miss this quote from our new manager on the sanitised….
“The chairman wants me to get the wage bill down with the amount of players we’ve got.I’ve got one eye on that and one eye on making us a better team”
So there we have it. Even our manager is not fully focused on making us a better team.
He’s not saying any more that he’s got too many players to work with, he’s admitted there’s pressure to reduce the wage bill. This just months after Morgan made a net profit on transfers of over £20million.
i bet billy wright would have been ashamed!!
Don’t forget the parachute payments of £15M Martin- and of course the mythical “Treasure Chest”. We’ve all been predicting this is how it would go – no one in so far and at best we’ll get a cheapo, a free agent or a loanee. These b*gg*rs have as much ambition as a flower pot.
Yes to all the above. Please get rid of Blobbys photo and put Billy there.
Like that suggestion muchos.
Who makes the decisions on this I wonder, amazed at Revie being on there??…I will be adding my name to the petition, that’s for sure!
the barstewards at the fa seem to make cock – ups only equalled by ginger pubes and sad act!! i for one dont care though cos billy wright was ours and WE know the heart of the man and the dignity he carried…ballcocks to the f— all and to morgit and poxey!! WE ARE WOLVES!!!!!!!!!!! tablets please..wheres my mummy?
Shocking! As a Wolves mad kid growing up in the 70s there were no end of dads of other kids telling me all about Billy anf the great team of the 50s. And I loved it! I remember hiw proud I was to be a Wolves fan back then and how special Billy was and still is. The FA really do know nothing!
I can recall as a 9yr old being depressed for weeks when he announced his coming retirement.
Still treasure my Billy Wright Football Annual……………… a real book with real stuff in it.
All i can say is scre the FA what an absolute blloper they have made just confirming what the world knows. They simply forgot, no other possible explanation.
hey change of subject I see we got a 16 yr old LB in the England U 17s. For me we should start him Saturday or do we have to have another 3 yrs of good old wardy.
See Deano pointing out we got 5 right wigers but only one left back. Whose that then????
Thomas: you forget, Wolverhampton is in the Midlands. The same reason accounts for
John Richards and Kenny Hibbitt never having made it into the England team. Had BW played
for Spurs or Arsenal…or even Fulham or QPR….
Good point lovesW, you’re absolutely right.
However, King John actually did get one full England cap. It was under Alf Ramsey in the end of season Home Internationals competition against N.Ireland on a Friday night in Belfast.
Ramsey played our deadly striker wide on the left instead of where he belonged, up front banging in the goals. Unsurprisingly he had little impact and never got another cap. Terrible waste of a real goal machine.
And by the same biased logic, Bully never got the international recognition he so richly deserved.
Bobby Robson bottled it in the 1990 semi final against Germany, preferring to keep fuckin’ big ears Lineker on, just in case it went to penalties, instead of putting Bully on.
He was in his prime, had just spent the previous 2 seasons knocking in over 100 goals for fun, and would have scared the jerries shitless.
Instead, what happens? Bully stays on bench, game goes to penalties, as usual, and England lost, as usual.
Even though he was supposedly a good manager, i will never forgive or forget Robson for that omission.
If Bully had been in London, or up North, then he’d have had over 100 caps for certain sure.
Fuck ‘em all.
Well said Clive – ignorant sods the lot of them! There is a definite anti-midlands bias in the footballing establishment / cockney national media – it’s a bloody disgrace Bully only got 12 caps (7 as sub). Have you noticed as well whenever there is a footy program on about the 70′s / 80′s there is absolutely no footage of Villa & Forest (let alone Wolves) – despite the fact that they were winning championships / European cups. Yet I know every bloody Liverpool (cheeky loveable northerners , ferry cross the Mersey, Ringo Star bollocks) final off by heart, they’re on the telly so bloody often.
Fuck ‘em all.
Martin: I know about the one John Richards cap. But does one cap make any difference ? You get the point though, I see. Another rise in form for Jarvis, and he will be in the England squad again, with a better chance of staying there now that he plays for WHU.
Absolutely, get your point completely which is pretty much my point too. If he had played for a ‘fashionable’ club he would have been played in his rightful position and given a proper opportunity and got a lot more than the one cap.
Anyway, i remember watching the game on telly and it only seems like yesterday. Although according to Wikipaedia it was played on Saturday not Friday and it was a home game at Goodison Park not away in Belfast. Still it was 40 years ago!
yeah but who gives a damn about any of em……….WE ARE WOLVES !! maybe its what we need – everybody hates us mentality . lets create a siege mentality ….f the lot of em!!! fight fight wherever you may be we are the WOLVES of the black country!!
I posted about our Billy last week when i read about it in the E&S.
Trouble is though the FA mafia won’t change a thing,they don’t give a shite, it wouldn’t make any difference if JC signed it him self.
Stubborn load of bastards.
When you consider the facts alone, and I know Thomas stopped way short of where he could have, the omission of Sir Billy as both a footballer and gentleman is even more bewildering.
And to rub salt (and most likely vinegar) into the wound, Walkers Crisps poster boy Lineker got perhaps the biggest and most prominant places, with quite frankly, a stupid look on his face…..probably taken after a missed tap in from 6 yards, when his influence had Bully assigned to the bench.
Some of those pictured probably earn more in a month than Billy did in his life, and still complain if the ball takes a bobble due to a “poor” playing surface, or take to the sidelines if their gloves get wet.
The whole thing leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
If ever the FA needed a role model for how the game should be played fairly, and dignity displayed off the field as well as on, they shouldn’t have had to look further.
While as soon as Rooney learned of his inclusion, which thankfully is of the back of his head, he probably went of to tweet his mates #meditonthefashield
Wright was a one club man who defied the norm on many levels. At 5 foot 8 inches he wouldn’t get a look-in for the back four of modern day teams. However his shortness of stature didn’t stop him from outjumping forwards like Nat Lofthouse and dominating in the air on a regular basis (timing of the jump was his secret). As the Captain of England and married to a popstar (Joy Beverley) they were the Posh ‘n Becks of their day. Interestingly they could only afford to rent a one bed flat in Park Avenue 300 yards from Molineux (a far, far cry from Beckingham Palace).
I’m sure that the spotty youths who populate the marketing department at the FA believe that history only started in 1992 (when the Premier League was formed) and Don Revie was their nod to Ancient History. With Wright they should have included Duncan Edwards, a son of Dudley, who many thought could have gone on to be one of the greatest English players ever had his life not been taken in the Munich Air Crash.
Some of the modern day players on £50k a week wouldn’t deserve to sit on the same bench as these two giants of the past.
The FA seem to have forgotten not only what Billy did for his country and for Wolves but all he contributed during a lifetime commitment to football. Many will remember his contribution to ATV at a time when football on TV was a special event. Perhaps further support for the petition could be sought from Arsenal fans, though many would not be aware of his connection with the club; not their most successful manager but nevertheless coincidentally achieved the same win percentage as MM did with Wolves.
If the Football Association had any shred of decency they should apologize for their hideous omission. Do they have any idea what an achievement earning one hundred caps for England is? Obviously not, they wouldn’t know a true legend if they saw one, they know sweet FA.
It is a disgrace but like Old Goldy says no one likes us much. At least we are not a milk and water club getting patronising pats on the back like west sandwell.
This is typical of the FA – bunch of London centric ignorant pillocks.
And that’s why Wembly is not within spitting distance of the NEC as we all know. So far up them selves they need torches to see in the day light.
Sad fact is they plain and simple are so inept that thye forgot.
On team topics does anyone else notice that the club is now so crass as to be obviouslly inciting players like henry to go on the clubs site and talk up Deano as the best new manager they have ever worked for. Look we are all behind him we dont need the club persuading players who got the last guy the sack to tell us what a great selection M&M made makes me puke.
Yeah – I’ve noticed this – how training is fun again and so on. I remember them saying the same things about TC and Staale. I wish they would do their talking on the pitch.
More worrying are the daily comments coming out which indicate no one much is coming in this window. Now that’s a fc*k*ng surprise
was it a slip of the tongue or what? when DS was musing with the Sky pundits last night and he referred to Aston Villa as WE
He should be kicking that shower of shite into shape not playing kin pundit.
Any proper reason why he was omitted from crest? Disgrace. What does a fella have to do? Watched the history of the fa cup the other night, waiting tentively for wolves victories, not even a mention. I thought the 50 ‘s would have been a certainty. Obviously it was the decade of Matt busby in the fa’s eyes. Typical
Maybe Im a bit confused…this is to commemorate 150 years of the Football Association, that is English football….its to be worn on the England shirt by England players! I really don’t get half of what is on the badge!
Ashley Cole!!!! WTF? To a lesser extend Gerrard and Rooney! At a stretch I can sort of understand George Best being there…even though he was Irish he was undoubtedly the greatest player to grace the football league…but only an English team would be trotting out with an Irish man on their shirts!!!!
As you say…no Sir Billy Wright!!!! No Bobby Robson (a far more successful England and football manager than Reevie, Wilkinson or Taylor…mind he did only manage Barcelona! What about Duncan Edwards? Even the bloodied Ince from Turin, don’t forget that Ince was the first black player to Captain England, and more importantly play for Wolves, and a collection of lesser clubs I believe! In terms of iconic English footballers and English footballing moments…there is a lot that’s missing from this crest!
If Maure are on there with the European Cup, why not our own legendary Wolves team of the 50s…we did after all start European Footballs greatest competition! Or the Forest and Liverpool teams of the 70s and 80s…even a hint! No Brian Clough (no surprise there!) No Bill Shanley, Bob Paisley, Stand Cullis, (not sure if Matt Busby is there or not!) even Alex ferguson for that matter…all were managers who have set epocs in English football! At least we do have Graham Taylor, Don Reevie and Howard Wilkison…but why?
Interesting I don’t think I see Preston North End mentioned…being the first ever winners of the football league…or Manchester City being the current champions of England!
This badge barely covers Iconic English footballers, English footballing moments or to that matter Iconic English football teams or achievements.
Better not to be on the badge if you ask me…you are in better company Sir Billy!
For me, there are not many who are fit to wear anything to do with England, and pride.
The present crop of players, ALL a bunch of losers, over and over.
The previous generation, same sad bunch of no hopers.
In Bully’s era, one or two, but their names escape me.
Apart from Steven George Bull, the most recent, and its been a bloody long time, player who showed enormous pride in playing for England was Emlyn Hughes.
In his day and before, it was a priviledge and an honour to be asked to wear the three lions.
Now, it’s a chore, a must do coz “I’m so fuckin’ good for my club and I earn a brazzillion pounds a minute doing nothing but diving and cheating.”
Pride in representing your country?
Your having a laff.
Look to the Olympians if you wanna see pride.
they treat billy wright in the same disgusting manner as they treated stan cullis with absolute distain