Farewell Duggie - the epitome of courage and rugged defence

FOLLOWING the sad passing of David Woodfield on May 1, this is not a resume of his career but a fan’s appreciation of his impact on a young fan in his early days of following the Wolves.

- By CLIVE CORBETT Bugle correspondent

Although ‘Duggie’ made his debut in April 1962 and first held down a regular place under Stan Cullis during the following campaign, it was during Ronnie Allen’s Division 2 seasons (when he missed only five league games and netted nine times) that he came to my attention.

Interestingly, Woodfield had been abandoned by Andy Beattie from the middle of March in the 1964-65 relegation campaign, when Ron Flowers and George Miller occupied the centre-back positions. As Wolves strode out at Highfield Road on 21 August 1965 for their first game in the second division since 1932, Duggie, Bobby Thomson, Peter Knowles, Terry Wharton and Dave Wagstaffe provided the nucleus of what would ultimately be the promotion-winning team of the spring of 1967. I so admired Dave's courage and rugged style, an approach that on 30 August 1965 against Manchester City saw him become the first Wolves player to be dismissed at Molineux for almost thirty years.