£1.75m ex-Sunderland, Wolves and Stoke City player details £90-per-week Championship contract

Former Sunderland defender Jody Craddock has stated that he was paid just £90-per-week during his final season at Wolves.

The centre-back joined Sunderland in 1997 for £300,000, making 168 appearances in all competitions before a £1.75million transfer to Wolves in 2003.

"They signed me on £90 a week," revealed Craddock on the In the Stiffs podcast which is hosted by former Wolves and Wales midfielder David Edwards. "I think that was the absolute minimal wage you could give a footballer. I think that's what it was."

Asking for more clarity, Edwards asked: "So that was Jez (Moxley) was it? Kind of saying, so at least they said 'We want you to get your testimonial'.

Craddock responded: "Which I never understood. If Jez would have said I'll give you a grand if you go in and train every day and try and get in the team, I'd have gone and done that. 90 quid a week and I'm thinking I'm not going in for that.

"Well, he just said, 'We'll sign you on a contract so that you get to your testimonial'. So you know, I'm grateful that they did that to get me to my testimonial."

Craddock's testimonial was eventually played in 2014 - a year after his contract at Molineux expired under then-manager Kenny Jackett, who decided against keeping the defender on the books.

He said: "I've come back and gone in to see him that first day and said, look, you know you go away at the weekend, are you going to give me a fair crack at this? This is me going into my 10th year at Wolves, by the way. I've gone in to see him that first day.

"I said are you going to give me a fair crack because my lad's in hospital and I'm not going to Ireland. If I'm just going there and at the end of it, you're going to go 'Oh we don't want you. He went 'No I'm not signing you' and that was literally the end of my career."

Craddock also turned out for Cambridge United, Stoke City and Sheffield United during a professional career spanning 20 years.