Stephen George Bull M.B.E. - Bully to thousands of Wolves fans - the ex-Baggie who reignited the Wolves and brought them promotion from the depths of the fourth division.  Record scorer (306 goals) scoring 100 goals in two seasons, capped by England while in the third division and only the third England player to score on his debut (a win against Scotland). The greatest shame of all was that Bully had retired with knee problems before we reached the premiership.  But, such is his affinity with the club, that he had hired a box to watch the Divisional  playoff final at Cardiff with his friends when we were promoted into the Premiership.  Steve will always be respected by Wolves fans for his loyalty to the Club. The Club recognised Steve’s contribution to Wolves by renaming the John Ireland stand after Steve during the Premiership season 2003-4.

Radio Shropshire interviewed Bully and Graham Turner in November 2011 - to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Bully’s signing - listen by clicking on Bully’s picture

Click on the link for Bully talking about his England debut and other times in his career... http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/football-banter/Steve-Bull-s-tales-from-the-archive-Paul-Gascoigne-wouldn-t-pass-to-me-Terry-Butcher-was-ripping-the-dressing-room-apart-the-day-I-scored-on-against-Scotland-on-my-England-debut-article332513.html 

Bull scores on debut v Scotland

Steve Bull v Czechoslovakia

Steve’s official website is here or click on his picture (from his site)- you can contact him for personal appearances

and you can buy Steve Bull memorabilia and clothing from his web site - click on the picture above or here.  Much of Steve’s time is taken up now with his support for the Promise Dreams charity. 

There’s a new Bully fansite at http://freespace.virgin.net/steve.bull9/index.htm - check it out - it includes a list of all 306 goals!!!

Steve and Kirsty run major fundraising events throughout the year.  In 2005 they raised a staggering £100,000.  More details and the current Steve Bull Events programme is on the website here.  2006 while being London Wolves 40th anniversary it is also Bully’s 20th of signing for the Wolves from the Baggies.  For the events which were planned in 2005 click on the 20th badge....

Steve scored 306 goals in 545 games - over 56% and a terrific scoring rate.

Steve Bull was born on28th March 1965 in Wednesbury and came late into professional football when he signed professional forms at the Albion on 19th August 1985 when the management team were Nobby Stiles (England 66 World Cup Winner) and Norman “Bites your legs” Hunter.  He scored well for the reserves but only managed 8 first team appearances (2 league) and new manager Ron Saunders released him.  Fortunately for Wolves, new manager Graham Turner’s (Oct 86 - Mar 94) first signings struck real Old Gold.

His first game for the Wolves was a 3-0 defeat at home to Wrexham on 22nd November 1986  in the old fourth division (now second).  In his third game though (against Cardiff away in the Freight Rover trophy) Bully scored the winner and the legend began. He went on to score 15 goals in 30 appearances with strike partner Andy Mutch netting 11).  Fourth position and into the playoffs only to be beaten by Aldershot (the only time they ever escaped the fourth division before going bankrupt).

But the next season (87-88) was a record breaker in many ways - with Wolves doing the double - 4th Division champions and Sherpa Van Trophy winners.  Bully contributed 34 League goals, 6 FA Cup, and 12 in other competitions.  Not to be constrained now, Wolves rushed through the third division with Steve’s 37 League goals plus 2 in the FA Cup and 11 others.   At the end of the season, Bully, still technically a third division player, made his full England debut in the 31st minute replacing Fashanu and scoring against Scotland at Hampden Park. (May 27th 1989) and here is that goal (courtesy of Customs Wolf - just click on Steve’s picture (you can download this picture as part of a wallpaper from Bully’s site here.  More Bully goals are on Customs Wolf’s site here

Bully’s goal record for the Wolves

Here’s how London Wolves wrote up Bully’s 300th goal against Bradford City 18Feb98

We were expecting, having dropped from 1st to 4th in successive seasons to go straight through the 2nd division as well (now called the Championship).  But we could only manage 10th, although we did the double over West Bromwich and Steve was restricted to 24 League goals! 26+1 in 1990-1, 20+3 in 91-2, 16+3 in 92-3, 14+1 in in 93-4, 16+3 in 94-5 including one in the playoffs when we lost to Bolton, 15 the next year when we slumped to 20th. In 96-7 we recovered to third with Bully’s 23 goals but lost to Palace in the play-offs.  8 goals the next season (97-8) as Bully teamed up with a young Robbie Keane. 1998-9 yielded 3 league goals and 3 in the cup as Steve’s knees were giving out.  His last game was May 9th 1999 against Bradford City (the anniversary of the day he scored when we won the third division championship and of his first hat trick (in 1987 against Hartlepool).  Then on the preseason tour it was announced that he was to retire. Steve played a few games for Hereford in 2001 as he was assisting Graham Turner who joined them after leaving the Wolves.  He is still the manager, nearly 10 years on.  Bully was studying his coaching badges.   He put his name in the frame jointly with John Gregory to take over management of Wolves when Dave Jones was sacked.  The Club decided however on Glenn Hoddle, and entered into an initial six month contract which was followed up by a 12 month rolling deal.  See Glenn

Steve remains active at the Club for hospitality work and is seen here shaking Wolves Marathon Man (Phil Bant)’s hand at Moli this year with WWLSC club secretary Dave Slape looking on.  Phil raised nearly £5,000 for autism (here). His personal life has often attracted attention from the local media - especially the Express & Star, but much of that now is about his extensive work for local charities raising tens of thousands of pounds.  A three part - double- page spread interview by E&S Sports Editor Martin Swain, which focuses on Steve’s happiness he has found with wife Kirsty, concluded (Sep 30th) with “Steve Bull received no payment for these articles but the Express & Star has made a donation to Promise Dreams.  (for links to Steve’s events please visit the diary page here)

Steve’s  best goal for Wolves - “any of the four goals” he scored at St James’ Park to thrash Newcastle  on New Year’s Day in the famous “air lift” expedition.

His Wolves career was

Fee- £50,000 From West Brom  (a £64,000 package including Andy Thompson) November 1986.
Goals - 306 For Wolves (Club Record) , 4 For West Brom
International Goals - 4 For England (+2 for the B team and 3 overage U21)
Club Appearances- 561 For Wolves, 8 For West Brom
International Appearances - 13 For England
Hat-tricks - 18 For Wolves (Club Record)

Steve Bull was awarded the MBE for services to football

 

But, who better to pay tribute to Bully than Peter Woodifield, WWLSC Travel Secretary here on the Express & Star tribute page to Bully

Thanks for your loyalty

I have been privileged to see most of Bully's goals since he made his Wolves debut in 1986. Who can forget the last minute winner against Albion, that never to be forgotten New Years day 1990 in Newcastle when he scored all 4 goals in Wolves 4-1 win, and his stunning goal at Hampden Park on his England debut. One of my favourite Bully goals was against Bolton in 1988/89, when he scored the only goal of the match with a 25 yard low volley with his 'weaker' left foot, the ball not rising more than a few inches off the ground as it sped into the net. Thanks Bully for staying loyal to Wolves and the fans, you are a true Wolves legend to rank alongside the likes of Billy Wright, Stan Cullis, Ron Flowers, Derek Dougan, John Richards and many others who have graced the famous gold and black shirt. Also, for helping to restore the pride of a great club. Best wishes for whatever you do in the future, hopefully you'll get what you deserve - a job for life at Wolves.

Peter Woodifield, Rainham, Kent.

In the WWLSC magazine in November 1999 member Karl Conlon also wrote this tribute

I suppose the only place to start is at the beginning. The very first time I saw Steve Bull kick a ball in anger was against Hartlepool at home in the 1986-87 season.   After witnessing earlier in the season the farcical first replay against Chorley at home I vowed never to return until the Bhatti brothers had disappeared over the horizon. Yes, like many supporters that season, I joined the end of season bandwagon and, like everyone else, I wanted to be able to say I had witnessed \\olves’ final push for promotion and see our new god for myself. I cannot remember much about the game, but Bully hit a hat-trick in a 4-1 victory which clinched a dreaded play-off place. The 1987-88 season saw Mr Conlon firm1y back in the London Wolves' fold. I notched up my record number of attendances and. on top of that, I watched a couple of Bully's U21 and B- International games for England. My memory not being brilliant for detail, I can only remember a few events of that season. such as Colchester Away .Bully might not like me for recalling this. but even today I recall it with a chuckle. Colchester had been awarded a comer in front of the Wolves ' fans. Like the majority of people my eyes were trained on the Colchester player retrieving the ball. Suddenly there was uproar amongst the Wolves. supporters. When I looked to the penalty area. Bully and a Colchester player lay prone on the ground. The referee didn’t have a clue as to what had happened - neither did I. The referee went over to his linesman and then. to my horror, promptly sent Bully off.  It turned out that Bully and the Colchester player had been pushing each other when suddenly Bully nutted his opponent.

Another memory of that season was the last game away at Orient and the Wolves fans not leaving until their hero had done another lap of honour  well after the rest of the Wolves team, This was soon to become the noffi1 after every' last game of the season. no matter where it was played. Season 1988-89 brought another fifty goals from our hero, amongst them I witnessed seven goals within a three-week spell, a four-goal assault on Preston in a 6-0 win at home, followed by a hat-trick at home to Mansfield in a 6-2 win. Also during that season I saw Bully’s England L21 debut on home soil at Ipswich. About half-a-dozen London Wolves supporters had caught the train down to witness the event and I remember standing gob-smacked in the pub as coach after coach full of Wolves supporters passed the window- 500 or more had made the journey. Once in the ground the Wolves supporters requested a goal from their hero and he duly obliged. At Plymouth it \vas similar -about 500 Wolves fans but. alas. no goal from our hero this time. Sadly. I was only able to watch Bully's full debut against Scotland on the telly down at the pub 'but as my friend always reminds me. this didn’t stop me from having orgasms firstly when he came on as sub, and later when he scored. (ed - you can see this goal by clicking on the pic of Bully in his 21 shirt above)

The 1989-90 season saw Wolves and Bully one league away from the promised land.

During that season I was among the many Wolves' supporters at Wembley wearing our Wolves' shirts. I overheard one guy moan, "This is supposed to be an England match". Once again our beloved hero came up with the goods, two goals, the first being an absolute beauty, a volley from a Gazza through-ball in a 4-2 win.

The league game which has to stand out in every Wolves supporter's memory that season has to be Bully's 4-1 demolition of Newcastle at St James's Park. Some of us had flown to the game (me from London). This was for several reasons. First, Wolves hadn't won there for something like sixty years and la~t but by no means least, Bully's 4-goal salvo which destroyed Newcastle. Amazingly, whilst leaving the stand at the end of the game, this thick Geordie commented that Steve Bull wasn't very good. Despite trying to keep a low profile amongst them, I couldn't let our hero be maligned by this idiot, so I piped up, "Not very good. He destroyed your lot today". His mate laughingly replied, "He's right".

As I said earlier, my memory isn't exactly spot on regarding each season, so I'd like to finish with some of the great moments Steve Bull has given me and, I am sure, many other Wolves' fans.

The two goals against Torquay Away in the Sherpa Van Trophy - 1-0 to win three minutes remaining and all seemed lost. Shame about the second leg. The 1988-89 season away to Bolton. We were losing 1-0 until Robbie Dennison scored a brilliant equaliser from a free kick. Then up popped Bully with the Goal of the Game. Even Bully said it was one of his best. I remember him for some strange reason going away from the goal with the ball. It appeared that the chance to score had gone with him. Suddenly the ball was unleashed and headed to the corner of the goal, nestling in the back of the net.

The very last game of the same season was at West Ham. I visited for the first and so far the last time. After the final whistle and a 4-0 drubbing, the Wolves' supporters were calling for their hero to return to the pitch for his customary "Thank you". At the time this did not seem possible as several Hammers' fans had invaded the pitch to enrol themselves in a mass sing-song with Wolves' supporters. This would have meant our hero walking through the mass of Hammers' fans. To our amazement, Bully and, I think, Andy Mutch re-appeared. Not only did they walk through the mass to accept our applauds but I remember Bully especially received slaps on the back from the Hammers' supporters who wished him luck for the forth-coming World Cup in Italy.

These are only a few from many great memories which Steve Bull has given me. The 1999-00 season will not be the same with the absence of the Tipton lad in the number nine shirt.