A VALE headteacher has swapped school league tables for football ones with the publication of his second book charting the fall and rise of his beloved football club.

Clive Corbett, headteacher at Pershore High School, has supported Wolverhampton Wanderers since he himself was a boy at school many years ago.

His latest book Out of Darkness charts this “life sentence” as Wolves, at one point one of the most successful clubs in the country, plunged from Division 1 to the bottom of League 4 in just three seasons.

Mr Corbett explained: “It covers the period 1977 to 1990 and follows on from my previous book Those Were The Days, which covered 1964 to 1977. And I plan to write a third, up to 2003, the year in which Wolves got back into the Premier League.

“It’s based on a season by season format and is laced with interviews with past players and managers, like Kenny Hibbitt and Willy Carr, and has taken four years to write.

“The club’s record goal scorer Steve Bull - he scored 306 goals for Wolves and was capped 12 times for England - helped me a great deal.

“In the period the book covers, specifically 1984 -86, Wolverhampton Wanderers went from Division 1, the equivalent of today’s Premier League, to the bottom of League 4 in three seasons.

“At that point this once proud club was getting an average attendance of 3,000 to 4,000 people at every game, down from about 50,000.

“Steve Bull joined in 1986 and his goals helped the club begin to climb back up, hence the book’s title Out of Darkness.”

Mr Corbett added: “I have been a Wolves fan all my life, it has been a life sentence you could say, but it was a pleasure for me to write this book despite their being a lot of miserable stuff in there. I knew it had a reasonably happy ending.

“Essentially it’s not just about a football club, it’s a real cautionary tale and hopefully it will appeal to all football fans, not just Wolves supporters.”

Out of Darkness is self published and retails at £19.99. To order a copy email gpbooks@hotmail.co.uk.