Last season, Wolves Women were locked in a fierce battle for promotion to the second tier of the Women’s Super League. Heading into the final matchday they still held a mathematical chance of finishing above the league leaders, Nottingham Forest.

The players, however, were unaware that their hopes were ultimately doomed by an administrative error. The club’s promotion application, which had to be lodged in February, was never submitted. Although Wolves met every sporting and infrastructural criterion, the board concluded that the demands of a full‑time programme were too great at that moment. Even head coach Dan McNamara only learned of the missed deadline after the season had ended.

When the squad gathered in the dressing room following their second‑place finish, the news was delivered in a stark, quiet moment. Captain Anna Morphet described it as "a shock, complete disbelief" – an emotional flood that left her momentarily speechless as she tried to process the reality of the situation. The disappointment quickly spilled onto social media. Players voiced feelings of betrayal, disappointment and a sense that they deserved better treatment.

Fans echoed their frustration, demanding greater transparency and more robust support from the club’s hierarchy. The episode acted as a wake‑up call for Wolves, exposing a gap between on‑field ambition and off‑field administration. Fast‑forward one year, and the team finds itself once again on the brink of promotion.

This time the paperwork has been filed, and the club has taken concrete steps to address the shortcomings that led to the previous debacle. Morphet reflects on the past year as "an incredibly tough moment" that also served as a galvanising force for the squad. "Those moments bring you closer together," she says.

"You look around and realise how special this group is and the characters in it. If we hadn't had the closeness we built before finding out that news, I don't know if we would have come through as well as we have." Her comments highlight the way adversity forged a stronger bond among the players, turning a painful memory into a source of collective resilience.

Morphet also expressed empathy for McNamara, who had to be the bearer of bad news. "For Macca, who has put in so much work for so many years to have to be the one to tell us – I knew it would not be anyone else, he would never shift responsibility – I cannot imagine how difficult it was," she added. The coach, a former Royal Air Force serviceman, drew on his military background to navigate the emotional turbulence.

McNamara admits that the moment remains one of the hardest he has ever faced. When he first received the news, he felt a surge of emotion and contemplated revealing it immediately, even if it meant the players might skip the final games of the season. Instead, he chose to keep the information under wraps until after the last match, allowing the squad to enjoy the culmination of their hard work before confronting the harsh reality.

"We decided that the girls needed to enjoy the moment together before we brought them back down to earth right away," he explains. "We did not want to take away that moment they had worked so hard for. If we had done it, it would have been obviously horrendous." When the club’s future hung in the balance, McNamara considered leaving.

Yet the loyalty of his players convinced him to stay. "I just could not walk away from the girls.

They said, 'look, shall we give the club a chance? Do we really want to play elsewhere?' The general consensus was that we wanted to stick together," he recalls. The question then was whether the team would dissolve or emerge stronger. The answer, as the season now shows, is the latter.

Wolves Women have won 20 of their 22 league fixtures in the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division, scoring more goals than any other side. Despite this dominance they fell just short of automatic promotion, finishing a single point behind Burnley. McNamara acknowledges the sting of that narrow miss: "We do feel a little hard done by," he says, but his pride in the squad’s response outweighs the disappointment.

"They have done unbelievably well. Through disrespect at times, through adversity at times.

They represent this football club and this city impeccably." Chairperson Jenny Wilkes, a local radio personality who first joined the club in 1999 at the invitation of Wolves legend John Richards, describes the journey as a roller‑coaster. She founded a limited company to secure sponsorship, with help from former England cricketer Rachel Heyhoe‑Flint, and recalls the humble origins of the women’s side. "One of the players' dads worked in road‑working machinery and he used to bring the machinery down to bang a big divot in the middle of the pitch until it was sand, because that was the sort of pitch we were playing on in those days," she reminisces. "Players had to pay subscriptions.

It was the captain's job to collect the cash on training night. We had to pay for the coach transport.

Even getting the club to let us buy the kits at cost price was a battle." Those early hardships contrast sharply with the present. Improved communication, a professional technical director in Matt Jackson, and better financial backing have transformed the environment.

Wilkes notes, "It is a much different place. This is the closest we have been. It has helped the club to see things in a bit of a different light. I am working closely with Matt and we are in a much better place now that we have better communication." The emotional low of last year could have been the end of the story, but instead it set the stage for a potential high.

Wilkes has lived through near‑misses before—a promotion bid halted by the pandemic and a play‑off loss to Southampton—and she knows how close the club can come to its goals. This season, promotion to the second tier of the Women’s Super League would be transformative, ushering in full‑time professionalism for the players. McNamara acknowledges the logistical challenge such a step would entail.

"If we were to get promoted we have a really, really short time frame to try and completely change the football club," he explains. For many of the squad, the prospect of playing in a fully professional environment is the fulfilment of a lifelong dream.

"To be able to play a small part in creating their dreams would mean the world to me," he adds. Anna Morphet herself was among the first three women to sign a semi‑professional contract with Wolves, yet she continues to work several days a week as a physiotherapist.

The possibility of a fully professional contract would dramatically alter her routine and financial security. "We know it can be life‑changing," she says.

"When you look at where we're at now, I think it just seems crazy that it happened but thankfully we have come out in a completely different light." After eight years and nearly 200 appearances, Wolves Women is now a "home away from home" for Morphet. The sacrifices she and her teammates have made—balancing full‑time jobs, training like professionals, and enduring the heartbreak of last season—are finally on the cusp of being rewarded.

The upcoming match against Plymouth at the Pirelli Stadium in Burton is more than just another fixture; it is a decisive showdown with a place in WSL 2 on the line. As the team steps onto the pitch, the narrative comes full circle: from administrative oversight that robbed them of promotion, to a united squad ready to seize the chance they have earned. The story of Wolves Women illustrates how resilience, solidarity and a commitment to improvement can turn a painful setback into a catalyst for future triumph. The club’s journey serves as a reminder that success is not solely measured by trophies, but also by the strength of character displayed when adversity strikes.

The next chapter promises to be a defining one, and the players, staff and supporters alike are prepared to write it together.