Blue plaque and book to celebrate an unsung football hero

Player turned scout who found dozens of talented youngsters

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TWO projects are underway to celebrate the achievements of a critical figure in Wolves' long history.

Mark Crook played for Wolves under the legendary Major Buckley in the 1920s, but it was his work as a scout, running the feeder team Wath Wanderers in his South Yorkshire homeland, that had the biggest impact on the club.

He discovered Hall of Fame talents like Roy Swinbourne and Ron Flowers, as well as the likes of Steve Daley, Gerry Taylor and Alan Sunderland.

Now, to comemmorate Mark Crook's legacy, a blue plaque has been fixed to the side of Cortonwood Miners' Welfare, at Brampton, near Rotherham. The ceremony took place on Friday May 30 at 2pm.

A book, Feeding The Wolves: The story of Mark Crook and the Wath Wanderers, will follow later this year.

The site at Brampton was the home of Crook's pioneering junior club which acted as a proving ground for teenage talent before they would go on to be assessed at Molineux by the powers that be.

Mark's operation ran from 1939 to 1970, but he continued scouting for Wolves right up until his death in 1977.

Research from football historian Chris Brook alongside Barnsley Chronicle reporter Ashley Ball has shown that 28 of Mark's discoveries played for Wolves' first team, and an astonishing 107 played professional football.