Wolves Women target history a year on from the decision that threatened to rip the team apart
Wolves Women could make the biggest leap in their 51-year history on Monday.
Twelve months ago, they were a club in danger of imploding. There has been quite the turnaround from head coach Dan McNamara and his players in the period since, but it will count for even more if they can now take this huge step closer to the domestic elite.
In early May 2025, Wolves were reeling from missing out narrowly on claiming their divisional championship but, even more painfully, the discovery that even landing the trophy would not have delivered on their ultimate dream .
Wolverhampton Wanderers , the broader club under whose umbrella they fall, and former chairman Jeff Shi had declined to apply for the licence the team needed to join the second tier of the women’s game in England — then called the Women’s Championship, now the Women’s Super League 2 (WSL2) — even if they had pipped Nottingham Forest to the FA Women’s National League Northern Division title.
Ultimately, they fell short of top spot, and the only available promotion place, but the feeling of betrayal led McNamara and several of his players to question their futures.
Now, they are one win away from reaching WSL2 and in doing so taking Wolves Women to full-time status for the first time since they were founded in 1975.
“Nine months ago, I don’t think we even had a team with everything that was going on,” McNamara told a press conference ahead of their single-leg promotion play-off against Plymouth Argyle Women, which will be played on a neutral ground at Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium. “Now we’re heading into Monday full of confidence.
“I think the pressure’s a little bit more off us this time round because of the adversity we came through last summer. Who expected us to be where we are now? I’m really, really fortunate to have such a fantastic group that have really pulled together, and hopefully on Monday we can finally achieve that ultimate dream.”
Last season, Wolves took their title race with Forest to the final weekend of the season. After beating Liverpool Feds 6-0 in their last game, the team’s hierarchy had to inform the players that even finishing top would not have brought promotion because of Shi’s decision not to apply for entry to the Women’s Championship.
“Last summer, a lot went on,” said McNamara. “I was probably close to leaving myself, but having spoken to some of the big players within the group, we decided the journey wasn’t over.
“Last summer was a turning point for the club. We could have disappeared. But we decided to stick together. Some of the opportunities that arose for me personally didn’t feel right, and I have fallen in love with this club.”
This season, Wolves again missed out on the title on the final day, this time to Burnley , despite winning 20 of their 22 matches.
But a restructuring of the women’s football pyramid means an extra promotion spot is available and will go to either them or Plymouth, who finished as runners-up in the parallel FA Women’s National League Southern Division.
Jeff Shi has since left his role, to be replaced as interim chairman by Nathan Shi — no relation. And prior to that change, Wolves had already decided to apply for a licence to the rebranded WSL2.
Promotion on Monday would mean a commitment to the women’s team going full-time — a status already enjoyed by many of their rivals at third-tier level.
At the same press conference, McNamara refused to be drawn on whether Monday’s game might be his final one in charge after eight years but if the result goes against them, the Wolves hierarchy will have some big calls to make.
With the relegation of their men’s team from the Premier League bringing an inevitable drop in income for the club as a whole, the new chairman, along with sporting director Matt Jackson, will need to decide whether to continue the recent uptick in investment in the women’s team.
But beating Plymouth, who won 16 of their 22 games, would take many of the decisions out of their hands as WSL2 status comes with that commitment to adopt full-time status and other regulations regarding training facilities and infrastructure.
“There have been plenty of times over the last eight years where I have questioned whether we can do it, but I don’t think that feeling comes from within the women’s section,” added McNamara. “If we get what we need to keep competing, then I believe that the squad will compete. We’re looking ahead to next season and what that might look like, either in WSL2 or still in tier three, and there’ll be another opportunity.
“Whether that’s (with) myself or somebody else, I do believe good things happen to good people. I just hope we do get to share that moment together on Monday. It would mean the absolute world to me. I don’t think it’s the time to really discuss what next season would look like. Let’s see if we can do something special on Monday, and then we’ll look beyond that.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic .
Wolverhampton Wanderers, Women's Soccer
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