I think it was in his book, “ Thou Shalt Not Passâ€, I read that Alister Robertson, whilst playing for the Albion, was never really aware of an rivalry or hatred from Albion fans towards Wolves.
It was only when he was transferred to Wolves, in 1986 that it became apparent to him that Wolves fans hated the Albion.
It was during 1986/87 period that Albion, as well as selling Robertson also sold Steve Bull (1986), Andy Thompson (1986), Robbie Dennison (1987) to Wolves, who were in the old fourth division at the time and it was through these four ex-Albion players that Wolves started their recovery. Our manager at the time was the much maligned Ron Saunders, (Robertson never forgave him for selling him) I had a good conversation with Ron during his tenure and he told me the brief he had been given by our board was to sell players of any value and cut the wage bill. The board did allow him a small kitty for player recruitment, he said to me, and I quote “it’s easier to spend £1m on a player than £40,000, because you know your buying quality at a £1mâ€. Shortly after he spent £40,000 on a young black player with lightening pace but, at that time, little else, he went on to develop into a good player and goal scorer for us and others, including the Wolves, Don Goodman was his name.
In the 70’s and early 80’s I used to go nearly every other week to the Molineux with a good mate, who was a Wolves fan. I’m not sure if it was the John Ireland Stand or the Jack Harris Stand we were in, but I can’t recall an animosity from their fans towards me, even when we were the visitors there. I would never have done the same with my Villa mates as I’d have been lynched at Villa Park, my dad used to say they were a nasty bunch in his younger days as well, but never mentioned the Wolves in the same vein.
So from my perspective, the Wolves-Albion rivalry really found roots in the mid 80’s, I don’t think Wolves fan could forgive us for providing the nucleus of a team that saw them climb the league tables and they didn’t want to acknowledge that fact.
And for me, as far as rivals go “there can be only one†(sorry Highlander!) and it’s not the Wolves