Wolves v Preston North End, 2nd May 1949

Very rare colour film of Wolves v Preston North End at Molineux on 2nd May 1949. Filmed by Eric Norman, thought to be a one-time director of Wolves, the silent footage records the triumphant homecoming of Wolves following their FA Cup Final success against Leicester City just two days previously ( • Wolves, FA Cup Semi-fi... . By defeating Leicester, Wolves won the FA Cup for the third time in their history as Stan Cullis marked his first season as Wolves manager with a major trophy. His tenure at Molineux would subsequently yield three First Division titles and a further FA Cup in 1960 ( • Wolves v Blackburn Rov... ).
For the match against Preston, there was one change to the Wolves team that defeated Leicester at Wembley. Dennis Wilshaw replaced Jimmy Dunn as Wolves lined-up: Bert Williams, Roy Pritchard, Terry Springthorpe, Billy Crook, Bill Shorthouse, Billy Wright, Johnny Hancocks, Sammy Smyth, Jesse Pye, Dennis Wilshaw, Jimmy Mullen.
The opening footage, filmed from the Waterloo Road Stand, pans right from the North Bank to the iconic Molineux Street Stand and the equally iconic South Bank to reveal a large part of the 54,425 crowd packed into Molineux. With Wolves clad in their true colours of old gold, the distinctive figure of Wolves and England captain Billy Wright is visible throughout the short film while the camera also captures the likes of goalkeeper Bert Williams, who would make his England debut later that month, the diminutive right winger Johnny Hancocks and striker Sammy Smyth who scored six goals in the FA Cup competition including one in the final itself. Against Preston, the prolific Hancocks scored in Wolves' 2-1 win with Jimmy Mullen, his team mate on the opposing wing, the other goalscorer on the day that the FA Cup returned to Wolverhampton.

[@vordman]

The ground still looked like this right up until the late 70s. The South Bank was an awesome terrace. Possibly the biggest in the country, along with, possibly, the Holt End at Villa Park.

[@1061andy]

wonderful footage pre floodlight era - so glad I can remember molineux as it used to be

[@andrewbrownhil2430]

Now that is a full ground. Proud to be a wolves fan.

[@wellington-yh8rc]

Wow , the way the F.A.Cup is brought out on a reverent stretcher - amazing to see it being trared with such love and respect .

[@andymurday4538]

Great footage. Would love to see more colour movies of footy matches from 40s and 50s.

[@dropdeadgorgeous6]

Great bit of historical footage. Never seen it before. Thanks for uploading...

[@gontzallekzeit2050]

Una auténtica joya esta filmación. Preciosa. Pura historia.

[@Aquiesce24]

Amazing. Thank you for uploading it.

[@marooki10]

Fantastic stuff...Makes you Proud...Thank you

[@cerneuffington2656]

Really great to see this.

[@womba68]

what a magnificent video.

[@darkbluecentral2478]

Excellent

[@wellington-yh8rc]

Amazing historical footage , never seen by many I would think .

[@TimeMeddler]

Great footage. I’ve just checked the fixture list and see that Wolves played five games in eight days that week, starting with the FA Cup final. They’d never stand for it nowadays, lol.

[@davebevington2090]

This is great, thanks for sharing

[@tomdrowry]

South bank 1:08 One of best stands in football history- shame it's been knocked down.

[@liamwhitcombe1237]

Thomas Drowry Would've looked a bit out of place to the rest of the ground now though wouldn't it Tom? So I suppose it was best in the end

[@steve9542000]

the largest football terrace in the english league until they started to demolish it in the 1980s.

[@wolvowarrior9159]

@@steve9542000 largest end terrace i europe

[@suffern63]

@@wolvowarrior9159 Bigger than the Celtic end at Hampden?

[@wolvowarrior9159]

@@suffern63 yes it held 36000 before they started bringing in safety regulations, then it was reduced to 28000 & more lately 21000 prior to segregation of fans in 1978, it was then further reduced to around 16000 I think. Wolves only had a total 8000 seats prior to ground redevelopment, the north bank held 8000 & the enclosure about 4000. The record attendance was 61000.

[@bowbutter7608]

MY FIRST GAME 1968 ALWAYS WOLVES NICE TO SEE OLD CLIPS OF GAMES 🐺

[@EddyFong]

Thanks uploader!

[@mrpookywooky66]

That's how i remember Molineux....shoe horned into the south bank!!

[@MarmaladeStex]

Now they are Premier League bound & Playing Brazilian/Barcelona/Man City Style football & 30,000 Tops if not slightly more!.

[@i_know_youre_right_but]

Lol

[@garrywood5345]

70 years ago...Incredible footage..Then again this year SAMSON and DELILAH was released 1949.

[@peterturley2960]

There is only one true football living legend of a football club in all its' tradition and glory- it is not Manchester United, it is the famous and revered Old Gold and Black, the living legend that is Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club- and the Wolves will be roaring again very soon again to be feared!

[@maradellabianca381]

George Best as a boy was a Wolves fan.

[@davidcarter3109]

Will all future kit suppliers to The Wolves please note the shirt colour. That is OLD GOLD. Not the insipid colour you dish out nowadays. Thank you.

[@DavidWright3101663156gilbert]

I wonder if will ever see Molineux full again????? Vintage.

[@andybelfield6034]

Not that full mate. Don't know what the official attendance was but looks like around 60 thousand to me

[@djangorheinhardt]

Was Tom Finney playing at this time.?

[@marknewbold2583]

FA Cup stretchered off after 64minutes

[@matshagglund3550]

I'll bet 20% of local population being in that match.

[@druidus]

Is this a library?

[@gsf67]

Good Lord, they used to pack em in like sardines in those days.

[@peterturley8846]

Reserve game?!!

[@TM-xz3wj]

Why is Motson not doing the commentary?

[@mahirhussain4890]

He was only 3 years old

[@luduteixeira3869]

😷😷😷VOCÊ NÃO VER NOMES DE PATROCÍNIO ⚽⚽⚽