26 September 1953 - Wolves Devour The Blues

On 26 September 1953, Wolves handed Chelsea a record loss, beating them 8-1 at Molineux.

Wolves were making a run at the league title after finishing third the previous season. Chelsea, who finished nineteenth, were looking to solidify their place in the top flight, but lost their last three games before facing Wolves and were again settling into the lower portion of the table. They arrived at Molineux in seventeenth, fourteen spots below the hosts.

The match started as expected, with Wolves taking a quick lead through a 3rd-minute penalty kick from Johnny Hancocks, but Chelsea kept it close through the first half and went into the break down only 1-0.

The second half was a different story, however. Dennis Wilshaw doubled Wolves' lead in the 48th minute, then Roy Swinbourne (pictured, 61') and Peter Broadbent (71') stretched the margin to 4-0. Chelsea's Roy Bentley scored in the 76th minute to narrow the gap, but Swinbourne got a second (79') and Jimmy Mullen's goal in the 86th minute capped the 8-1 victory, which remains Chelsea's biggest losing margin in club history.

The Blues got a measure of revenge by winning the return fixture in February, but Wolves went on to win the title, finishing four points over West Brom.

24 April 1954 - Wolves Hunger No More

On 24 April 1954, Wolverhampton won their first league title, beating Tottenham 2-0 in their final match of the season.

One of England's strongest teams at the mid-point of the twentieth century, Wolves had finished as runners-up three times before, in 1938, 1939, and 1950. They topped the table for most of the 1952-53 season, included as late as mid-April, but faltered at the end and finished third.

For most of the 1953-54 season, they were involved in a two-team battle for the title with West Bromwich Albion. On 24 April, Wolves were ahead of West Brom by two points, with each team having only one game left to play--West Brom at Porstmouth and Wolves hosting Tottenham at Molineux.

Playing before a crowd of 44,000, Wolves took the lead with a goal from center forward Roy Swinbourne (pictured) in the 18th minute. He then added a second in the 68th minute to seal the victory. As it turned out, they would have claimed the title even with a loss, as West Brom lost 3-0 (West Brom did not go empty-handed, however--they won the FA Cup a week later over Preston North End).

Wolves went on to win two more titles in 1958 and 1959, and finished as runners-up again in 1955 and 1960.