Latest News
Premier Leaugue
Lee Hughes’ frosty Wolves reception
Wednesday, 22/09/2010
by Shoot's Wolves blogger, Nathan Lloyd.
I’ve always enjoyed the banter chucked at former Albion players who return to Molineux for the first time to play for a different side.
Usually the player in question, a Kevin Phillips or a Bob Taylor, will be subjected to a few boos and the odd chant of “Albion reject, Albion reject, wooo”.
But the vitriol directed towards a returning Lee Hughes from the terraces in Tuesday’s League Cup clash at Molineux was never likely to be that light hearted.
I did toy with putting on a few quid on Hughes to get the first goal in the game, which he predictably delivered, but he committed such a despicable crime that I couldn’t bring myself to bet on someone who I personally felt shouldn’t be involved in the game at a professional level anymore.
With the atmosphere inside Molineux already, shall we say 'slightly hostile' towards Hughes, he decided it would be a good idea to celebrate the scoring of that first goal by revealing a t-shirt simply saying ‘boing boing’, something which was ill-advised and I can’t imagine was condoned by his club.
I’m sure I wouldn’t have been too chuffed if I’d been getting pelters from 11,000 Wolves fans for 120 minutes, and perhaps some of the chants did cross the line, but surely Lee will have known that this was an unfortunate inevitably of his association with the stripy lot down the road combined with his shady past.
Since leaving prison, Lee has been given a second chance at playing professional football, and surely somebody should be advising him to keep his head down and at least put on the pretence that he is thankful to be turning out for Notts County and not Featherstone FC – his old prison team.
However, you simply cannot lay any blame at Lee’s door for what happened after the game, when a mindless few attacked the Notts County supporter coaches with bricks as they headed home
And as a result we now have an elderly lady in hospital and kids who will have travelled back terrified and who will probably always associate Wolverhampton with their traumatic experience.
Bizarrely some bright individual decided that the game should be a stewards-only fixture with no police presence and I’m sure the tabloids will have a field day by adding our recent ‘dirty team’ tag with a new ‘dirty fans’ label.
If those that attacked the coaches are identified, then they should be banned for life from Molineux, that’s if they are Wolves fans in the first place, which I doubt.
Oh and we won the game 4-2.
Comments
Add a comment
Please sign in to add a comment
Order comments by Date | Rating
Total comments: 17
Ipswich99999
Friday, 30/09/2011
i agree with bigbadbob
bigbadbob
Wednesday, 01/12/2010
Lee Hughes stands testimony to the fact that many footballers who have been blessed with an abundance of footballing talent have sadly missed out on a degree of common sense.
For every professional footballer there are hundreds of thousands of fans who would love to change places with them, even for a day let alone a lifetime. Is living a good, honest and decent life off the field too high a price to pay to have the chance to be a well paid footballer? The chance to live the dream?
Many footballers think so and are a credit to the sport but unfortunately from time to time you come across those who think that they are untouchable and that the law somehow does not apply to them. Often these guys fall from grace, for some the fall is really hard! Having been given a chance to take up the dream again I would have expected at least a degree of humility from Lee Hughes. If it was up to me I would have banned him from the game for life!
jacanory7wx,
Thursday, 18/11/2010
who cares?
JacobWolves
Thursday, 14/10/2010
I’m trying to get a Wolves item, top of the comments pile. Or should I have not said that?
Does anybody know if Lee Hughes actually got any punishment for what he did?
JacobWolves
Tuesday, 28/09/2010
What Lee Hughes did when he was sent to prison was unforgiveable.
I agree with Nathan and others, he was lucky enough to come back and be given a 2nd shot. Why didn’t he just keep his head down, surely out of respect to the family who lost their son/husband/father etc?
sbull9
Saturday, 25/09/2010
Baggieade
Not being there you obviously don’t know the facts. When he was substituted he took his shirt off and walked the width of the pitch for all to see, he should have got a second booking and got sent off by the way. I am interested to know why there would have been violence without Hughes. There is NO history between the clubs and what happened on Tuesday has not happened at the Molineux for a very long time.QED.
baggieade
Friday, 24/09/2010
Hughes would have got a terrible reception with or without his conviction. The conviction is just something extra to abuse him with on the night. Hughes did his time and actually got a stiffer sentence than many other people get for similar offences. As for playing football afterwards. Wouldn’t anyone try and get back into their previous career if they went to prison?
I would be interested to know how many people in the stadium knew what was on his T Shirt? He flashed it for a few seconds to one stand and only those in the first couple of rows would have seen it.
As for incitement if the words Boing Boing were the reason for the violence then perhaps you should play your games in an empty stadium. The violence happened and would have happened with or without Hughes.
Westport Wolves
Thursday, 23/09/2010
BAGGIEADE, The Wolves fans slating of Hughes wasn’t just down to his time with albion and the fact that he supported them as a lad, but more so to do with his previous conviction. As Nathan has pointed out, ex-baggies players usually get a bit of grief and called ‘rejects’ but nothing more sinister. The venomous abuse Hughes gained on Tuesday night was more a product of the fact he’s back playing football at all.
As SBULL9 has stated, someone at Notts Co should be advising him and that advice should be to keep your head down and do what’s necessary. Unfortunately Hughes took the opportunity to wind up an already hostile crowd and possibly incite a ‘stronger reaction’. This is no excuse for what happened to the Notts Co fans, but Hughes did nothing to calm the atmosphere on the night. You question why the morons didn’t target the players coach if they were upset at Hughes, but you forget that morons don’t think. You also mention Wolves not having a fantastic reputation; Pot, kettle and black my feathered friend.
sbull9
Thursday, 23/09/2010
My sentiments entirely Nathan.
Nathan Lloyd
Thursday, 23/09/2010
I really feel for the Notts County fans who were caught up in all of these and I feel slightly ashamed of the few idiots bringing down the good name of Wolves.
If any other ex-albion player had lifted his shirt up to reveal the ‘boing-boing’ message, then I doubt that Wolves fans will have been that bothered.
Apologies to any Notts County fans who were caught up in the after-match fracas, and I hope the lady in hospital makes a speedy recovery.
sbull9
Thursday, 23/09/2010
Anyone who can’t understand what effect what Hughes did would have made has no idea of the history between the two clubs. As I said before, I don’t for a minute condone the violence but if Hughes hadn’t have been playing that night it wouldn’t have happened. That’s a fact. Also if Bull had done something similar at the hawthorns can you imagine what the reaction would have been? He scored there, that was enough. Why couldn’t have Hughes just accepted that he had made his point by scoring? No, he uses a premeditated symbol to incite the crowd. That is what is unacceptable in the modern game. He, just like the morons who attacked innocent people on the coaches, should be punished.
Lee Price
Thursday, 23/09/2010
If fans can dish it out, surely a little bit of light-humoured banter from players should be taken? ‘Boing boing’ is not offensive, it’s acknowledging the reason he’s being heckled by the Wolves fans.
If he can take the stick, why not celebrate scoring to silence it by giving a bit back?
To blame that as the reason behind the violence is short-sighted. I’m sure the idiots behind the actions would’ve found something equally as insignificant to react to if there’d be no horrifying t-shirt messages.
I think it’d be ridiculous for the FA to punish Hughes. He’s a human – we’d all want to give a little back. It’s that interaction between the fans and players that makes the game what it is.
I love dishing some stick out to players from the stands, but when they respond with a bit of wit or banter, I appreciate it even more.
This was hardly Eric Cantona soaring into the crowd foot first.
baggieade
Wednesday, 22/09/2010
There was nothing offensive on his shirt so not sure what action the FA could take.
Hughes is different to the average footballer who says he supports a team in that he actually used to regulary watch games and whillst a West Brom player always travelled to games even when suspended or injured and watched the match from the away end. I think any regular football fan (rather than someone who just comes from that particular town) who happened to play against their rivals and score would do something similar. In fact most would have a much more worrying comment than just Boing Boing.
As for Wolves fans it isn’t like they have a fantasic reputation prior to this game and have been provoked by one person wearing a shirt with Boing Boing on it into throwing bricks.
sbull9
Wednesday, 22/09/2010
Baggieade - You missed the point, obviously. IF HUGHES HADN’T INCITED THE CROWD IT WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED.
baggieade
Wednesday, 22/09/2010
SBULL9, if Lee Hughes was the influence for the trouble then why didn’t your mindless morons attack the team coach rather than throw bricks at pensioners?
Nathan Lloyd
Wednesday, 22/09/2010
SBULL9 - The likelihood is that the idiots who targeted the Notts County coaches probably didn’t even attend the game.
However, even though I can’t connect Boing-gate with the trashing of the coaches, I do think that the FA should investigate Hughes behaviour and punish him in some way.
The best reaction we could have given him when he revealed his crudely written top would have been to laugh or just simply ignored him.
sbull9
Wednesday, 22/09/2010
Whilst in no way can I condone the behaviour of some mindless morons the simple fact is that without the influence of Hughes last night there would have been no post match trouble. He should also be punished for this incitement of trouble. There has never been any history of trouble between Wolves and Notts County to my knowledge.