Wolverhampton Wanderers fans and players gather in Barnsley for unveiling of blue plaque for football legend

Between 1938 until 1970 super scout Mark Crook’s ran one of the most successful experiments in footballing history with his feeder team the Wath Wanderers.

Playing at Cortonwood Miners’ Welfare, the team was the first nursery club of its kind, finding talent across the north for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The likes of Ron Flowers, Roy Swinbourne, Steve Daley, Alan Sunderland and Gerry Taylor were all Crook discoveries with as many as 108 professional players being found in total.

Many of them initially played for his Wath Wanderers side before moving on to Molineux and elsewhere.

Last month (May 30), at the welfare club where the team used to play, a blue plaque in Crooks’ honour was unveiled, with some of the players he discovered, Wolves fans and even local MP and secretary of state for defence John Healey attending.

The plaque was officially unveiled by Mark’s granddaughter, Jane Whitlam.

She said: "It was an incredibly emotional day for me and my family.

''To me, he was just my granddad, and you never expect anything like this.

''To see so many people there shows the huge impact he had in people's lives.

''As a family we're delighted this plaque is up for all to see and that it's still a place where football is played. My granddad would have loved that and I'm sure he'd be wanting to see which youngsters had the most ability to this day.

''He was so devoted to Wolves and it was a real pleasure to see so many Wolves supporters there to see the unveiling.

''Hopefully it'll be a calling point for Wolves fans in the future if they play a South Yorkshire team.''

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Steve Daley was among the former Wolves players in attendance with Jimmy Seal, Paul Walker and Bob Hatton also there.

All four of them had played for Crook before being deemed good enough to move to Molineux.

Jimmy added: “It was a good day and so well organised.

“It’s a fantastic tribute to Mark and I wish he was still alive to see it and get all the ‘well dones’ he deserved.

“I had already signed for Wolves, after being scouted by Mark, before playing for Wath Wanderers but my digs weren’t ready so I played for a month.

“I recognised the pitch – I didn’t think that I would because my memory isn’t the best – but I did."

A book on Crook’s achievements is now available to pre-order with profits destined to go to Brampton United JFC and the Wolves Foundation.

Author of the book, Feeding The Wolves, Ashley Ball said: “The unveiling was a momentous day and it was great to have so many people come to witness it.

“The plaque is a visual reminder that something special happened here all those years ago with a visionary like Mark at the helm.

“His idea to supply Wolves with players from a hotbed of football almost 100 miles away was ahead of its time and incredibly successful.

“A Wolves team without Ron Flowers in it would not have enjoyed the incredible success they did and that was all down to Mark.

“The plaque is just the first half of the story with the book set to round off one of football’s great untold stories.”

A copy of the book can be pre-ordered here.