The night Wolves: They called them ‘The Invincibles’. “We didn’t just beat teams; we butchered them,” said their No9. And they did. Week in, week out.

They called them ‘The Invincibles’. “We didn’t just beat teams; we butchered them,” said their No9. And they did. Week in, week out.

The name was Honved. Its ingredients included Messrs Grosics, Bozsik, Czibor, Koscis and that No9, a certain Puskas. All were at the peak of their thunderous powers.

An undaunted pack of Western Wolves called out the consensual best team on planet Earth. The leader of the pack, Stan Cullis – a bald, bold Chesireman – told the British press his Wolverhampton Wanderers side could “even beat Puskas and them”.

It seduced chuckles. Initially. The British press were, however, hype machines. Before long their call-outs rendered response. “Yeah, we’ll go there again and shut you up,” was how Gyula Grosics recalled it.

And that’s what the world expected. Hungary had beaten England 6-3 at Wembley in the hitherto biggest upset in international football history, thumped the same team 7-1 in Budapest, and finished runners-up at the 1954 FIFA World Cup™ – and West Germany’s Final victory, over a team they lost to 8-3 in the group stage, was wholly facilitated by Ferenc Puskas’s hobbles.

The date was set: 13 December 1954. The venue was set: reigning English and Hungarian champions would collide. The world would talk.

The organisers wanted to make what they billed as a ‘world championship’ extra special. Floodlights were used to accommodate Blackpool Illuinations, a short distance north-west, but never at a football game. Now they would be. “It was surreal,” recalled Wolves captain Billy Wright, who had experienced his worst days on a football field in those aforementioned beatdowns in London and Budapest.

Another beatdown appeared on the cards after just 14 minutes in front of 55,000. Sandor Kocsis, AKA ‘Golden Head’, opened the scoring with his head – what else? – before Ferenc Macho made it 2-0. Zoltan Czibor went close to making it three. Then Puskas almost broke the crossbar. But 2-0 is how the first half ended.

Shortly into the second, Johnny Hancocks pulled one back from the spot. Thereafter, the atmosphere was volcanic. Wolves pressed. Honved repelled. Then, with 15 minutes remained, Roy Swinbourne headed home an equaliser.

If that raised the roof, what was to happen 95 seconds later sent it to Heaven. Les Smith, Bill Shorthouse and Dennis Wilshaw combined sumptuously to set up Swinbourne, whose finish was palacial. Wolves 3-2 Honved. That’s how it finished.

“We’re the world champions!” exclaimed Cullis, whose declaration was backed by the British press. One European media disagreed. L’Equipe pestered UEFA to organise a club championship to determine the continental kings. The organisation took heed. The European Cup was born.

The name of Wolverhampton Wanderers has never graced that hallowed trophy. The West Midlands club didn’t even get a prize to parade under the never-seen-before floodlights 60 years to this Saturday. Their immaterial prize, however, was to be infinitely remember for having caused one of the biggest shocks in European club football history.