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“‘Did That Really Happen?’ – Wolves Legend Steve Bull’s Jaw-Dropping World Cup Flashback
Steve Bull: The Tipton Hero Who Took Wolves to the World Stage
- Italia ’90. The summer of Pavarotti’s unforgettable theme tune and England’s dramatic run. But for Wolves fans, it was something even more surreal—a Second Division striker from Tipton sharing the World Cup spotlight with the game’s global elite.
That striker? Stephen George Bull—or just Bully, as he’s lovingly known. Over a whirlwind five years, he rose from non-league football and a career-threatening knee injury to wearing the Three Lions at the World Cup, carrying the hopes of a fanbase that had lived his journey every step of the way.
The moment still feels dreamlike for those who witnessed it—either from the stands in Italy or through TV screens back home. A Wolves icon, not just rubbing shoulders with England greats like Lineker, Gascoigne, and Waddle, but scoring goals for his country on football’s grandest stage.
Bull’s call-up in 1990 ended a 28-year drought for Wolves players at a World Cup, the last being Ron Flowers in 1962. And to this day, no other Wolves player has featured in one since.
“I come downstairs every morning and see that England shirt signed by Sir Bobby Robson and the players,” Bull said this week. “I still have to pinch myself. Did I really do that? Is that really mine?”
It almost didn’t happen. At 17, a floating piece of bone in his knee threatened to end his dream. But Bull fought back. He joined Wolves from West Bromwich Albion while they were in the depths of the Fourth Division, and within four years, he was off to Italy with the national team.
It’s a story so extraordinary, it borders on fiction. 306 goals for a single club. 50 goals in back-to-back seasons. An England striker plucked from Division Three. It all began with a boy kicking a ball against a wall in Tipton, a place known locally as “The Lost City.”
After catching the eye at Tipton Town, he signed for West Brom before Wolves swooped in late 1986. From there, he became the driving force behind the club’s resurgence.
His goal-scoring heroics soon drew attention from England Under-21 boss Dave Sexton, who handed Bull his first international appearance as an over-age player in Albania. Six weeks later, he scored his first goal for England’s B team at Portman Road—watched by hundreds of Wolves fans.
But the real breakthrough came at Hampden Park, when Bull scored on his full England debut against Scotland, just weeks after turning out for Wolves in the Third Division.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he remembers. “It was a perfect first touch off my shoulder, then I smashed it in and dropped to my knees.”
Then came the pivotal friendly against Czechoslovakia. Alongside Paul Gascoigne, Bull made his case for a spot in the World Cup squad by scoring twice in front of thousands of ecstatic Wolves fans.
“That night changed everything,” Bull said. “Gazza delivered two brilliant passes. I finished them off—a chest-and-volley, then a header. From that point on, our places for Italy were all but sealed.”
Despite being surrounded by household names, Bull never felt out of place.
“At first, I felt like a little fish in a big pond, but players like Bryan Robson made me feel right at home. And once I trained with them, I knew I could play at that level.”
The advice from Wolves boss Graham Turner was simple: Just be yourself. Play like you do for us.
And he did—on the biggest stage of all.
