# 1982–83 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. season

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. | Name | League | League | Milk Cup | Milk Cup | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | ENG | Paul Bradshaw | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | ENG | John Burridge | 42 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 46 | 0 |
| DF | IRE | Hugh Atkinson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | ENG | Bobby Coy | 15(3) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17(3) | 0 |
| DF | ENG | Alan Dodd | 27 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 3 |
| DF | ENG | Joe Gallagher | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | ENG | Mike Hollifield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | ENG | John Humphrey | 42 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 46 | 3 |
| DF | ENG | Geoff Palmer | 40(1) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 44(1) | 5 |
| DF | IRE | John Pender | 39 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| DF | SCO | Gordon Smith | 24(3) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 27(3) | 2 |
| MF | ENG | Paul Butler | 1(7) | 0 | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1(9) | 0 |
| MF | ENG | Ian Cartwright | 7(2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7(2) | 1 |
| MF | ENG | Peter Daniel | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| MF | ENG | Kenny Hibbitt | 27(4) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 30(4) | 3 |
| MF | SCO | Billy Kellock | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| MF | IRE | Anthony Kernan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | ENG | Mick Matthews | 40 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 5 |
| MF | ENG | Dale Rudge | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| MF | ENG | Dave Wintersgill | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | ENG | Wayne Clarke | 38(1) | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 41(1) | 12 |
| FW | IRE | John Croke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | ENG | Mel Eves | 40 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 19 |
| FW | SCO | Andy Gray | 33 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 10 |
| FW | ENG | Billy Livingstone | 10(1) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11(1) | 3 |
| FW | ENG | John Richards | 2(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(2) | 0 |

## Second Division

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
| 1 | Queens Park Rangers (C, P) | 42 | 26 | 7 | 9 | 77 | 36 | +41 | 85 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (P) | 42 | 20 | 15 | 7 | 68 | 44 | +24 | 75 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 3 | Leicester City (P) | 42 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 72 | 44 | +28 | 70 | Promotion to the First Division |
| 4 | Fulham | 42 | 20 | 9 | 13 | 64 | 47 | +17 | 69 | |
| 5 | Newcastle United | 42 | 18 | 13 | 11 | 75 | 53 | +22 | 67 | |