The 1982–83 season was the 84th of competitive league football in the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers. They finished runners-up in the Second Division to win promotion back to the First Division after one season away.
Season summary Wolves were relegated from the First Division at the end of the 1981–82 season and went into receivership as financial difficulties following construction of the new John Ireland stand caught up with them. They came close to liquidation but were saved at the eleventh hour by a consortium fronted by former player Derek Dougan.
Dougan sacked manager Ian Greaves and replaced him with former Wolves teammate Graham Hawkins. Hawkins named Jim Barron as his assistant and put Frank Upton in charge of the youth team with a brief that young players would be important to the first team due to the club's tight budget. Indeed, three teenagers – Dave Wintersgill, Billy Livingstone and Paul Butler – made their debuts against Blackburn Rovers on the opening day of the new season.
Wolves were unbeaten for the first 10 matches and also went 817 minutes without conceding a league goal. Both runs were ended by Leicester City on 16 October, the first of five defeats in seven matches, but an 11-match unbeaten run followed and a 3–0 win over Leeds United on 3 January took Wolves six points clear at the top of the division. Promotion was secured by a 3–3 draw at Charlton Athletic on 2 May, despite Wolves struggling for form in the latter half of the campaign and eventually finishing 10 points behind champions Queens Park Rangers.
Squad Substitute appearances indicated in brackets Pos.Nat.NameLeagueMilk CupFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGKPaul Bradshaw00000000GKJohn Burridge4202020460DFHugh Atkinson00000000DFBobby Coy15(3)0200017(3)0DFAlan Dodd2730020293DFJoe Gallagher30000030DFMike Hollifield00000000DFJohn Humphrey4232020463DFGeoff Palmer40(1)5202044(1)5DFJohn Pender3912020431DFGordon Smith24(3)2102027(3)2MFPaul Butler1(7)00(2)0001(9)0MFIan Cartwright7(2)100007(2)1MFPeter Daniel1302000150MFKenny Hibbitt27(4)2102130(4)3MFBilly Kellock93000093MFAnthony Kernan00000000MFMick Matthews4052020445MFDale Rudge80001090MFDave Wintersgill20000020FWWayne Clarke38(1)12201041(1)12FWJohn Croke00000000FWMel Eves401821204419FWAndy Gray331010203610FWBilly Livingstone10(1)3100011(1)3FWJohn Richards2(2)000002(2)0
Second Division
Results
Second Division
wolvescompletehistory.co.uk - 1982/83 Second Division
Milk Cup
FA Cup
References
Bibliography