Musician and lifelong Wolves fan Robert Plant has paid £900 to play in Jody Craddock's testimonial match next year. Craddock, who called time on his playing career in the summer, saw his time with the club honoured with a fund-raising dinner at Molineux on Thursday night.

Plant, 65, best known as being the lead vocalist for Led Zeppelin, bid for the chance to turn out for his beloved team – his donation contributing towards a total figure in excess of £8,000 for Birmingham Children's Hospital, where Craddock's son Toby has been treated for leukaemia.

The former Wolves manager Mick McCarthy, assistant Terry Connor and a host of the 2008-09 promotion-winning squad were among the 280 in attendance.

Speaking at the event, McCarthy, now in charge at Ipswich, said of Craddock: "He's had a career of minimal fuss. Every manager in the country is looking for a defender who can head it and kick it – well, that's what he did. He was the nicest fella off the pitch but horrible to play against, someone who would put his heart and soul into it on the field and I loved him for it."

The Wanderers chief executive Jez Moxey added: "We could not have wished for a better ambassador or a better player for our club."

Craddock's testimonial will be between former players of Wolves and Sunderland and will take place in May 2014.