Hardcover Published 1st September 2025, 320 pages
Floodlights and Legends
Pure Black Country Magic
In Nights in Gold Satin: When Wolverhampton Wanderers Ruled the World, Jake Perry delivers something more than just football history—he gives us a love letter to Wolves, written with the kind of warmth and insight only a true fan could muster. Perry, already celebrated in the cricketing world for his sharp analysis and evocative storytelling, takes the reader back to the golden era of Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1950s, when Molineux’s floodlights drew the eyes of Europe and, for a moment, the world spun on gold satin turf.
Perry’s writing shines with nostalgia and clarity, capturing the drama of Stan Cullis’s side as they rose from postwar obscurity to become crowned league champions in 1954. He has a knack for weaving contemporary sources and vivid eyewitness accounts into a seamless narrative that feels intimate yet epic. The legendary floodlit friendlies—electric nights when Wolves hosted titans like Honvéd, whose Hungarian stars had just humbled England at Wembley—are brought to life with a journalist’s precision and a fan’s heart. Perry doesn’t just recount the matches; he explores their ripples through football history, showing how these encounters lit the spark that would become the European Cup.
What sets Perry apart is his ability to balance profound research with a storyteller’s touch. He unpacks the innovative tactics, the hard-nosed training sessions, and the sense of daring that made Wolves the envy of Europe. His affection for Wolverhampton is palpable, but he never lets nostalgia cloud his judgement; instead, he offers a clear-eyed tribute to a team who, for a brief time, were rightly hailed as “champions of the world”.
Nights in Gold Satin is filled with exclusive contributions from Wolves legends, each voice adding depth to the club’s mythology. Perry’s prose moves easily from the roar of the crowd to the quiet determination in the dressing room, and his memories—growing up a Wolves fan in the 1970s and ’80s—give the story an authentic, lived-in quality.
The novel is football writing at its best: evocative, informed, and unashamedly passionate. For anyone who loves Wolves or football’s grand old days, Jake Perry’s book is a must. He does more than document history—he makes you feel it, one golden night at a time.
ROYAL MAIL TRACKED 48 Delivered to You 1st Week, September 2025
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Published: September 1, 2025
Price: £19.99
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 1801509646
ISBN-13: 978-1801509640
Dimensions: 222 x 144 (mm)
Why Pre-order?
Since 2022, we've observed that publishers often opt for smaller print runs to manage costs effectively. This process has occasionally resulted in stock shortages. We strongly recommend pre-ordering to secure your copy and avoid disappointment.
