Why the Black Country derby means so much to Wolves and West Brom

Wolverhampton Wanderers v West Bromwich Albion. The Black Country derby. A fixture that goes back to the very dawn of English footballing time itself.

Now it's back as a league fixture for the first time in more than five years, and in front of fans at Molineux since 2012.

It was first contested as a league game in December 1888 - the very first season of the Football League - when Wolves won 2-1. However, Albion had already won their first two meetings, in 1886 and 1887, both in the FA Cup.

Since then, there have been so many derby memories, both magic and tragic at opposite ends of the emotional scale.

And, since the explosion of televised football, so many of those moments captured on video to be relived - or mentally erased depending on your allegiance - over and over again.

It's a fixture that the Black Country never stops talking about, the first the fans look for when the sides are in the same division.

And the pre-match banter begins earlier with every staging - and every look back at all those derby highlights from the past 40 years.

Steve Bull's first derby goal in 1989, a toothlessly grinning Iwan Roberts' Hawthorns hat-trick in 1996, George Ndah's double on the back of an inspired Keith Andrews performance in 2001 and two-goal Steven Fletcher's matchwinning efforts in May 2011 to help keep Mick McCarthy's side in the Premier League.

For Albion, there was Darren Bradley's 35-yard screamer in 1993, Bob Taylor's late Hawthorns clincher in 1995, Jordao's Molineux matchwinner in December 2001, the season when Albion pipped Wolves for promotion by three points, and Carlos Vela's injury-time equaliser in Roy Hodgson's first game in charge in 2011.

And then there was that famous 5-1.

February 2012. Wolves 1-5 Albion. A day when Peter Odemwingie netted a hat-trick and a slightly older Andrews rubbed it in by scoring against his old club.

Wolves were ripped apart and boss McCarthy lost his job the next day.

Sunday's game is the first chance since when a 'gold and black' Molineux crowd will have been there to see their team try to avenge that day of great gloating from the 'stars in stripes'.

Wolves, relegated at the end of that campaign, just as they were again in May, have since spent eight seasons in the top flight, to Albion's seven - but only once at the same time.

That was the post-Covid season of 2020-21, when both derbies were played behind closed doors - and the Baggies took four points out of a possible six off their neighbours, but still got relegated.

It all adds up to why this Sunday's meeting is so important.

The first chance to truly avenge that 5-1 embarrassment - Wolves' joint second-worst in a Black Country derby, bettered only by an 8-0 home defeat in 1894, way back in the latter days of Queen Victoria's reign.

The history of this fixture is important. So much so for Albion boss James Morrison that, on top of their usual training sessions, he has had his players in for extra pre-match preparation from one of the Baggies' club historians, who will have been able to chiefly inform his players that, in terms of the entire 138-year history of this fixture, it is very close - 55 Albion league wins to Wolves' 52.

But, in recent years, the Baggies hold sway.

Since the beginning of the new Millennium, there have been 18 league and cup derbies, of which Albion have won 10 and Wolves just four - but they did win the most recent meeting, the 2-0 victory in the FA Cup fourth round at The Hawthorns in January 2024.

That was an occasion scarred by the poor behaviour displayed by a minority of fans as play was halted for 38 minutes after police were assaulted, missiles were thrown and flares were set off.

It this week led to the two clubs sending out a joint statement highlighting the need to keep the rivalry friendly.

But Morrison himself has already added to the pre-match mind games by even hinting that he half-expects to still see Wolves striker Raul Jimenez out there on Sunday, despite boss Cesar Peixoto having ruled out the Mexican earlier this week with a knee injury.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said the Albion boss.

Peixoto has since assured the Albion camp that the injury is for real. "I don't play mind games," he told BBC Radio WM.

But always, in any derby game, all the talk counts for little when the game gets under way.

And, prior to his first taste of the fixture, Peixoto said he was well aware of what it means to the fans and had a message for his players.

"Play with passion but also with your head," he said. "I'm very competitive. I don't like to lose."

Much may depend on the mental approach of both teams.

Wolves, just three points adrift of Albion in the early Championship table and with a game in hand, have already tasted one derby this season - the 2-2 thriller with Birmingham City a fortnight ago, when they were forced to settle for a point after conceding a comical own goal.

But Jose Sa's mix-up with Jackson Tchatchoua is just the sort of thing that can happen in a derby game, when the atmosphere is white hot and tensions high.

And, although Albion boss Morrison is experiencing his first Black Country derby as a head coach, he played in five of them - including that 5-1 win.

"These are the games you want to be involved in," he said. "The outcome can be a real positive for the players and myself. You can cement a special place with performances in these games."