Wolves legend 'overwhelmed' at Wolverhampton freedom honour
Wolves legend John Richards said he was "a little overwhelmed" but it was a "real privilege" to be granted the freedom of Wolverhampton.The 74-year-old spent most of his footballing career at Wolves, scoring 194 goals in 485 appearances from 1969 to 1983 and was nicknamed King John by fans.He was awarded the freedom honour by the city council at the Civic Centre on Friday."I am a Lancastrian by birth but an adopted Wulfrunian and I've been connected with the city for more than half a century, I'm so proud to be part of this community", Richards said.
The City of Wolverhampton Council said he was recognised for his "outstanding" services to football alongside his commitment to the club's charitable foundation. The freedom is the highest honour the council can award and is only given to "exceptional cases", a spokesperson for the authority added. "I am aware of some of the people who have received this in the past so I am in esteemed company", Richards said.Other city stars granted the honour including another former Wolves striker, Steve Bull, along with heptathlete Denise Lewis and singer and actor Beverley Knight.
Richards won two League Cups with the club and also played in the first Uefa Cup final in 1972, which Wolves lost to Tottenham. He remains the second highest scorer in the club's history with one of his most memorable goals being in the 1974 League Cup final. That game marked his first at Wembley and he scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Manchester City. In Friday's ceremony he was presented with a scroll, badge and casket from the Mayor of Wolverhampton, councillor Linda Leach, who said Richards was a "superb ambassador" for the city.Leach added that the 74-year-old continued to support former players and raise money for charity. "He is truly deserving of this distinguished honour and on behalf of the people of Wolverhampton, I wish to thank him for all that he has done and continues to do for our city," she said.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Ange Postecoglou's triumphant sacking holds the key to modern football
Enjoy your launch. And for Ange Postecoglou, who always bristled at the idea that his wealth of coaching experience had somehow been earned in inferior competitions, perhaps his departure from Tottenham really can be a kind of springboard: to one of these prestigious, equally demanding leagues he keeps talking about. Maybe the struggling Gamba Osaka. Perth Glory could well have a vacancy soon. Motherwell are still looking. A step down? That's just your old-world, Eurocentric, Prem-brained snobbery showing right through there, mate. And so to Postecoglou's many rhetorical elisions can be added another: the triumphant sacking. Perhaps it was only in this universe – the post-truth universe – that such a feat was even conceivable. Along with the Europa League trophy he so stunningly spirited to north London, this may turn out to be the defining legacy of the Postecoglou interregnum. There have been better Premier League managers. There have been more charming and more entertaining Premier League managers. But there may never have been a manager better at defining his own terms of achievement; a managerial reign so evidently built upon a towering silo of nuclear-strength bullshit. From the very start, Angeball constructed its own bespoke logic as it went along. The journey matters more than the destination. There is a process, and we stick to it. There are principles, and however tough things get, you never deviate from or compromise on them. 'Even if we go down to five men, we will have a go,' he said after his nine men were defeated by Chelsea in November 2023. The idea of Champions League qualification as a goal in its own right, unaccompanied by broader progress: 'meaningless', as he put it in March 2024. In January 2024 he rejected the idea that a single trophy could ever constitute satisfaction or atone for mediocrity elsewhere ('You can't just sit back and say: 'I've just delivered a trophy, shouldn't I have some latitude to not be successful?''). In October 2024 he insisted that Tottenham's league performance should be regarded as the 'most meaningful' measure of his side's progress. Ange Postecoglou 2023-24: meet Ange Postecoglou 2025. The coach who promised to attack in all circumstances, who disdained the transformative effect of a single trophy, has just won a trophy with the lowest possession recorded in a European final because sometimes – as he put it in Bilbao – 'you have to change your approach'. A coach who urged us to judge him on the league now no longer judges himself on the league. A coach who blames Tottenham's abject league performance on a freak injury crisis also takes no responsibility for that injury crisis, for a style of play in which Tottenham comfortably spend more time in high-intensity sprints than any other Premier League team. A coach who claims he takes no notice of what is said and written about him has spent a suspiciously high proportion of this season reacting to things that have been said and written about him. None of this is a character judgment or smoking gun in its own right. Changing your mind when the facts change: this is, in fact, entirely normal and rational behaviour. Hypocrisy is what makes us human. Go back through everything I've written about Postecoglou over the last two years and I'm sure you'll find it riddled with compromising contradictions. For what it's worth, I think the decision to sack Postecoglou now is a big error on Daniel Levy's part. At a time when Spurs are undergoing all shades of upheaval off the pitch, trying to bolster an underpowered squad, a managerial search and a vibe shift is the last thing they need. Beyond this there is an enduring fascination to Postecoglou, the animal magnetism of the true ideologue. He came to the Premier League with no great reputation or playing record behind him. Tactically, he offered little groundbreaking or novel beyond a hard-running, hard-chasing dogma in which the only solution to every problem is to believe harder in the dogma. The dogma will win your duels. It will head away set pieces for you. And if it doesn't, it was ultimately your fault for not believing sufficiently in the dogma. In an important sense Postecoglou marked a continuation of the Mourinho-Conte axis: the latest in a series of coaches convinced that their own principles were stronger and worthier than those of the club, determined to prove to the world that Tottenham was terminally sick, yet they alone had the cure. All of a sudden, one February morning, the league is gone; survival secure. The new dogma is defending like hell against continental Europeans on a Thursday. In fact, scratch that: this was always the dogma. There was no old dogma. This was what you were trying to build all along. Of course this has always been Postecoglou's real superpower: the cult of personality, the ability to render words convincingly true simply by emitting them from your mouth, to build castles and citadels of bullshit, an apparatus of demagoguery so potent and alluring that it supplants all previous logic. Which – and no moral judgements here – is quite interesting, right? A 57-year-old Australian bullshits his way into a Premier League job, to spectacular away wins at Manchester City and Manchester United, to some of the most entertaining football ever seen from a Tottenham team in my lifetime. He convinces players to run themselves past the point of wellness. He convinces them to stick together amid a frightening assemblage of centrifugal forces. He convinces a significant part of the English footballing public that league tables are a form of fraud. And finally to a European title. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Plot twist: the bullshit works. This isn't a cheap con job. This is talent, as surely as substitutions or being able to put on a small-sided coaching session is talent. And what it exposes – perhaps 'indicates' is a better word – is how much of modern football is essentially an act of persuasion. Agents bullshit. So do analysts and marketers and journalists. An entire industry built on pure narrative skill, the ability to make things up on the fly and bring people with you. What matters is not what you say, but the conviction with which you believe it to be true at the time. And so the Postecoglou who declared at Celtic that he was 'exactly where I want to be' now seeks another fresh start. Perhaps a sideways move to another Premier League club, perhaps even a step up in class to the Greek Super League, the Korean K League, the League of Ireland. This part will not be a problem. Football has no shortage of soiled dreamers, clubs who missed the gold rush, fans whose only real desire is to feel something again. Marseille, Roma, Benfica, Schalke, West Ham. Leeds sacking Daniel Farke in November and going all in on Angeball feels like a perfect fit. There is of course an irony here. In his meticulously cultivated personal branding, Postecoglou often likes to paint himself as a throwback, an outsider, a counter-culturalist, the grizzled underdog. But in his reliance on patter and persuasion, bluster and bluff, he is in fact a very modern footballing phenomenon. This is Ange's world now, and we're all bullshitting in it.
Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Ange Postecoglou already lined up for return to club management within days of being sacked by Tottenham
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The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Ange Postecoglou already lined up for return to club management within days of being sacked by Tottenham
ANGE POSTECOGLOU has already had interest from other clubs since his ruthless Spurs axing - but may take some time out before getting back into management. The Aussie, 59, was brutally shown the door by Daniel Levy earlier this month, just 16 days since ending Tottenham's 17-year trophy drought with their Europa League triumph. 3 3 Thomas Frank is the North Londoners' No.1 choice as their next manager, with Spurs currently in negotiations with Brentford over compensation. It is thought that the Dane would like to bring star forward Bryan Mbeumo with him to North London. The Cameroonian could cost up to £60million with Manchester United also trying to sign him. Postecoglou, meanwhile, is understood to have been sounded out by clubs in England and on the continent already. But the former Celtic treble-winner, who is enjoying some time with his family, is happy not to rush any decision over his future. That does not rule out a quick return to management, however, should the right opportunity present itself. Postecoglou, who has won trophies in the second season of every post he has had where he has lasted that long in the role, is believed to fancy another crack at the Premier League. Some Spurs fans have been . JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS The Aussie was given the boot on June 6, which was exactly two years to the day since Tottenham announced his appointment in 2023. Some had suggested that date might be related to some sort of clause in the deal. Ange Postecoglou's BEST Press Conference Moments Ange Breaks Silence On Tottenham Sacking ANGE Postecoglou issued a statement just moments after being axed. It read: "When I reflect on my time as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, my overriding emotion is one of pride. "The opportunity to lead one of England's historic football clubs and bring back the glory it deserves will live with me for a lifetime. "Sharing that experience with all those who truly love this club and seeing the impact it had on them is something I will never forget. "That night in Bilbao was the culmination of two years of hard work, dedication and unwavering belief in a dream. "There were many challenges to overcome and plenty of noise that comes with trying to accomplish what many said was not possible. "We have also laid the foundations that means this club should not have to wait 17 more years for their next success. "I have enormous faith in this group of players and know there is much more potential and growth in them. I sincerely want to thank those who are the lifeblood of the club, the supporters. "I know there were some difficult times, but I always felt that they wanted me to succeed and that gave me all the motivation I needed to push on. "It's important to acknowledge the hard working people at Spurs who gave me encouragement on a daily basis. "And finally, I want to thank those who were with me every day for the last two years. "A fantastic group of young men who are now legends of this football club and the brilliant coaches who never once doubted we could do something special. 'We are forever connected. Audere est Facere.' But SunSport understands that was not the case at all and the fact the axe was swung on that date was a complete coincidence. Postecoglou left Spurs having won 47 of his 101 matches in all competitions. However, he did lose a staggering 34 of his 76 Premier League games. 3
