Feeding The Wolves author Ashley Ball has delved into the achievements of the Wolves scout Mark Crook who ran a pioneering feeder team in Brampton for three decades...

THOUGH his job was to wrestle players away from Barnsley and send them to his beloved Wolves – an incredible 17 finds by one legendary scout ended up at Oakwell.

Mark Crook, raised in Wath-upon-Dearne, had played for Wolves between 1929 and 1934.

He made his way into the game after playing for Wombwell FC and was spotted by Major Buckley, then the Blackpool manager.

The Major, a transformative and progressive figure in the game, also took the winger to Wolves where he was briefly a team-mate of Stan Cullis.

Those relationships were key in what happened once Crook hung up the boots.

He decided to form a feeder team for Wolves back in his native Wath where he also ran a fish and chip shop and bookies.

The best junior players from around the region were identified by Crook or from within his network of contacts. He then played them as trialists in his Wolves Northern Intermediate League team, latterly based at Cortonwood Miners’ Welfare, and he then sent on the best for further assessment at Molineux.

Wolves were hedging their bets in their search for players by essentially having youth teams in both the Midlands and northern leagues with the latter being based in South Yorkshire and run by Crook alongside former Barnsley FC striker Malcolm Graham.

Crook’s Wolves side would have faced the likes of Barnsley, the Sheffield clubs, Leeds United and Newcastle United at their Brampton base with newspaper reports showing that both Denis Law and Billy Bremner played matches there.

Now research has shown that Crook found an incredible 114 players who went on to have professional careers either at Wolves or elsewhere.

Crook was instrumental in their signing of Roy Swinbourne and Ron Flowers, both in the Wolves Hall of Fame.

A team-mate of theirs was John ‘Jack’ Short from Great Houghton who was part of their first ever Division One title winning squad in 1953/54 and later played for Stoke City and Barnsley.

Flowers went on to win two more league titles with Wolves while Swinbourne, whom Crook felt was far better than Tommy Taylor, had his career cruelly ended by a knee injury.

Crook continued scouting right through until his death in 1977 for Wolves, though his club disbanded in 1970.

Two of his last finds were Martin Patching, the father of former Barnsley striker Cauley Woodrow, and former Yorkshire Schoolboy Ian Arkwright, from Shafton.

Other Crook alumni included the England international and FA Cup winning hero of 1979 Alan Sunderland who went to Molineux before he became an icon at Arsenal.

Cyril Knowles and Terry Cooper both played for his Wolves Juniors team but were turned down by the Wolves hierarchy and went elsewhere.

Cyril’s brother Peter, was, however taken on by Wolves and looked set to become an England international before he gave up the game to become a devoted Jehova’s Witness.

Crook ventured into Barnsley for players and much further with players also trialling from as far away as Cumbria and the North East while many promising youngsters from Barnsley would have played as trialists for him.

Future England cricketer Johnny Wardle played for Crook prior to one wartime appearance for Wolves and legendary Kestrel for a Knave author Barry Hines also very likely did.

Cudworth’s Steve Daley was one player Barnsley were left kicking themselves over as he made the move to Wolves after being on the fringes of the Barnsley Boys team.

He became the British record transfer in 1979 when he switched to Manchester City after eight successful years with Wolves.

Ken Knighton and Keith Burkinshaw, both solid professionals from Barnsley who later became managers, were also Crook finds.

As were Cyril Beavon and Joe Bonson – who both enjoyed good careers after initially signing with Wolves.

Barnsley did steal away an iconic name, though, with Harry Hough actually turning out for Crook’s team before making the move to Oakwell and becoming arguably the Reds’ finest ever goalkeeper. Crook had also tried to snare Wombwell’s future Busby Babe Mark Jones and almost ensured Darfield’s Kevin McHale signed for Wolves instead of Huddersfield where he linked up with a young Law.

A swap deal involving two of Crook’s former players, Jimmy Seal and Kevin McMahon, took place in 1972 with Seal being sent to York and McMahon coming in the opposite direction to Oakwell.

Seal joined Daley and another former Red Paul Walker at an event in May where a blue plaque was put up in Brampton to celebrate Crook’s achievements.

All profits are being split between Brampton United, who now play on the same pitches his team did, and the Wolves Foundation.

The book’s foreword has been written by ex-Wolves manager and Barnsley FC player, Mick McCarthy.