He was determined, though, that Molineux be finished for the all-seater deadline of this month and that its value in attracting the best players would then be seen. Jackie Shirtliff told me that she wanted to thank Graham after the club’s tour of Scandinavia for giving her a new husband.’Though he is mostly lauded in Wolverhampton, Sir Jack has had to contend with criticism that the money on the stadium might have been better spent on players. But my son said that I should meet him, as he is an awfully nice chap And he is He really has shaken this place up I think the players are fitter than ever before. ‘Yes, I was worried, as was my wife, about Graham Taylor because of the television documentary. They talked to the people’s choice, Gerry Francis, but he turned them down; Bryan Robson wanted, says Sir Jack, to bring too many backroom people with him. When the Queen came to the Bahamas, I told her – and football is not her favourite pastime – ‘Ma’am, you must realise people live for this game.’ ‘He and the board had, too, listened to the fans in Turner’s successor’s appointment. I never thought it would happen but I feel this awful responsibility to supporters.

And though Graham Turner was offered the more civilised opportunity of revolver and whisky bottle six months ago, Sir Jack, you sense, was ready to mobilise the firing squad.’Our fans kept on telling us that this man would not get us into the Premiership and I think they were right They usually are. At 71, he echoes Jack Walker in saying that time is running out for him to see his club among the elite. The bust of him in the lobby and naming the club restaurant ‘Sir Jack’s’ was not his doing, he says.But though he may be a modest and charming benefactor, even if unrealistically anti- European, the toughness necessary in accruing financial fortunes comes through. .’ – rather than his own, and the stands be named after such as Stan Cullis and Billy Wright. ‘I would have said: ‘Graham, you should be able to find 11 players good enough from the Midlands.’ ‘He has insisted that the stadium retain its evocative name – ‘I know it is Huguenot French, but nevertheless.

Outside Molineux, his Range Rover carries a bumper sticker: ‘Buy abroad – sack a Brit.’ He would not like Taylor to have signed Jurgen Klinsmann. He expects to make at least 10 visits for matches this season.Fiercely patriotic, he has bought Lundy Island for the National Trust and established a hospital on the Falklands. Which is he? ‘I suppose I am a bit of a tit.’The boy from Dunstall, less than half a mile from Molineux, made his pile in business in South Africa and the United States, setting up home in Freeport, Grand Bahama, most of which he now owns and runs as a British colony with red telephone boxes and Hackney carriages on the streets. ‘I don’t know how clubs survive without a golden tit or a fairy godfather,’ he says. Then he says: ‘Do you want to get into the Premiership?’ and I say ‘Yes.’ Then he says: ‘Do you want to win the FA Cup?’ and I say ‘Yes.’ And then I say: ‘Oh, go and buy him then.’ ‘Sir Jack is one of that breed of latter-day owners, rich men – like Jack Walker at Blackburn or Lionel Pickering at Derby – ready to throw money at their home-town club out of gratitude and sentiment, rather than ego. ‘I would say what I say to my son, Jonathan (the club chairman), when he comes to me and asks that question – this is blackmail.