Highlights from a League Cup 3rd Round replay between Charlton Athletic and Wolves at The Valley on 8th November 1995.
In the previous season, Graham Taylor's Wolves team had been denied promotion to the Premier League following a desperately unfortunate two-legged Play-off defeat to Bolton Wanderers. An appearance in the quarter-final of that season's FA Cup also demonstrated the potential of Taylor's side. Optimism was therefore high among Wolves fans at the beginning of the 1995-96 season but, ahead of their match at Charlton, Wolves had won just four times in fifteen league matches to leave them a lowly 18th in Division One with pressure mounting increasingly upon manager Taylor. Just days before their match at The Valley, in a 1-0 defeat at Barnsley, a desperately poor performance from Wolves had provoked fierce criticism and condemnation from supporters.
One player that escaped the critics following his commanding performance in the match at Barnsley was former Dutch international John de Wolf. Against Charlton, de Wolf formed part of the same back four that had figured in the debacle at Oakwell. Taylor, however, made two changes to his team through the introduction of South African winger Mark Williams in place of Paul Birch and the selection of Neil Emblen ahead of prolific striker Steve Bull.
In contrast to the problems experienced by Wolves, 10th placed Charlton were making a strong challenge for the Division One play-offs. Alan Curbishley's team entered their League Cup tie against Wolves unbeaten in five matches; a run of four drawn matches that also included a 0-0 draw at Wolves in the League Cup that ensured a replay. Included in a strong Charlton team were former Wolves right-back John Humphrey and right-midfielder Shaun Newton, who joined Wolves in August 2001 and formed part of the team that was promoted under manager Dave Jones in 2003.
Just four days after their League Cup encounter, Wolves and Charlton met again in a Division One match at Molineux. Once again, the outcome was a scoreless draw and following another inept performance from Wolves and a subsequent post-match demonstration from angry supporters, Graham Taylor was sacked as manager.
Originally broadcast by Central Sports Special with commentary provided by Brian Moore.
