Steve Bull reveals four big moves he turned down in his career…one because ‘it was too wet up there!’

In the latest part of a Ladbrokes Fanzone exclusive, Wolves legend Steve Bull reveals the four clubs he could have joined and talks about the end of his career.

Click on the links for part one in which he chatted about his love for the Black Country, part two for his thoughts on Pedro Neto and his shock prediction to win the Premier League, and part three for his take on the Gary Lineker fight rumour, Italia 90 and his England debut.

The four times I nearly left Wolves

I know of four clubs I could have gone to in my career. I loved Liverpool as a kid, growing up, because they were always one of the best sides to watch. They played in red, and I always thought that if the chance ever came up to go and play for them, then I might have gone. But that’s only because they were my boyhood club. I’m gold and black through and through, but they’re my boyhood club, so it would have been a really tough decision, I think.

But the four clubs the manager told me about over the years…the first was Torino. Back in 1990, after the World Cup, Torino came in for me for about £1.75m. I’d been playing with England in Italy for the best part of six weeks, travelling here, there and everywhere, eating all sorts of stuff. And, to be honest, I just liked my own English people, English food, the home comforts…and, let’s be honest, they wouldn’t have been able to understand me!

The second club was Newcastle. This was Newcastle, before Andy Cole signed for them, I knew I could have gone up there. I’d just had my first boy at the time, and the potential disruption to family life was the main thing which put me off making that move.

The third club that came in for me were Coventry City, and Big Ron Atkinson. They came in and offered me a five-year deal, but what he was offering me across five years, I was earning at Wolves in three, and so staying with the club for me, at that time, was a no-brainer. It was simple.

And then the last club, which I know of, that came in for me was Celtic. A massive club, but I just thought it would be too wet up there for me – it was always raining!

They’re the four I know about, for sure. Any other speculation, or anything else you’ve ever read, I knew nothing about.

Any regrets? Absolutely none at all. There’s no part of me that wishes I’d have played for any of those clubs. I’ve got no regrets in my career, from the first time I kicked a ball at Tipton Town, to West Brom, to Wolves, to finishing my career.

I never had an agent, and if I would have done, then maybe he’d have pushed for me to go somewhere else. But I’d have dug my heels in, I can promise you that!

When I first went to Wolves, I think my contract was something like £125-a-week. I think I scored something like 17 or 19 goals that season. I was that sheepish, though, I can remember knocking on the manager’s door to ask him for more money. I was just shaking.

“Alright, gaffer, how you doing?”

“Alright, Steve?”

He wouldn’t look you in the eye. He had the biggest eyebrows.

“Can I have a rise? I’ve just scored 19 goals for us.”

“I’ll have to ask Jack Harris. I’ll get back to you.”

Five days later, he came back to me:

“I’ve got you another fifty quid a week. Is that alright?”

I just thought ‘oh my word!’ Nowadays, it would be an extra five or ten grand. For context, I would have thought the top, top earners at that time would have been on a few grand a week.

I would have managed Wolves if they’d asked

I had a stint with Graham Turner down at Hereford towards the back end of my career, where I was coaching their strikers, and I signed a contract where I played a few games for him. All of a sudden, though, I was travelling down to Hereford two, sometimes three times a week, for training and for games. I just thought ‘why am I doing this?’

So I left there, and I got a job with Stafford Rangers, where I stayed for about eight months, as their manager. I wanted to enjoy that role, you know, but then I’d find myself in the boardroom with about eight other people, arguing across the table over fivers and tenners. I’m just sat there thinking ‘do I really need this?’

So I came out of that job, and I’d lost the desire, if I’m being honest. Now, if Wolves had ever came to me and asked if I wanted to be part of anything behind the scenes, as, I don’t know, a motivator, or something like that – because my knees are buggered – I’d honestly have jumped at the chance.

If the Wolves job had come up, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, on an interim basis, or something, then I might have had a go at it.

All my mates cared about was getting free tickets to games…they told me my first touch was shocking!

The attention I’ve had from the local press over the years, on the back pages and the front, has been really weird for me, to be honest. First of all, you don’t ever think you’re actually going to become a professional footballer, full stop, especially when I was at Tipton Town. And then I got a couple of nights a week over at West Brom, and that’s where I’ve got to thank Nobby Stiles and Johnny Giles, to be fair.

Nobby Stiles took me under his wing when he was at West Brom, because a scout down at Tipton had recommended me to him.

“I’ve got this young lad, he’s working 13 hours a day at the moment. Get him out of his work and he’ll score you goals.”

I was training with West Brom on Tuesday nights and Thursday nights, and I was doing that for about three months before I got a 12-month contract. After that, I was banging in goals for fun in the reserves team before I made the first-team squad with the likes of Garth Crooks and George Reilly. I think I scored something like three in five for the first team before Nobby Stiles left and Ron Saunders came in.

I don’t know whether he had to balance the books, or whatever, but he sold me and Tommo [Andy Thompson] for £64,000, for the pair of us. We’ve never looked back since. I still pinch myself to this day.

It’s funny, when I think back to the early days at Wolves, and how my mates were around me. All they were interested in was tickets to the games! “Bully, get me two!” “Bully, get me three!” None of them were telling me I was going to make it, or anything like that. They were just worried about going to the games!

Like my parents, though, they kept my feet firmly flat on the ground. I still keep in touch with all of my mates from school, from my old work, all that kind of thing. They pinch themselves sometimes on my behalf, I think. I still get it a fair bit now…

“How did you do it? What did you do? You hadn’t got a first touch – you were shocking!”