Last season, Wolves Women were locked in a fierce battle for promotion to the second tier of the Women’s Super League. Going into the final matchday they still held a mathematical chance of finishing above the league leaders, Nottingham Forest. What the squad did not realise was that their hopes were ultimately unattainable.
The deadline for submitting a promotion application had been February, and the club had missed it. Although the team satisfied all the required criteria, the board concluded that the demands of a full‑time programme were too great at that moment. Even head coach Dan McNamara was unaware of the oversight until it was too late. After the team secured second place, the news was delivered in the dressing room.
Captain Anna Morphet describes the moment as a painful memory: “It was a shock, complete disbelief. A flood of emotions. I didn’t know what to say, so I said very little and just tried to absorb what was happening.” The disappointment quickly spilled onto social media, where several players voiced their frustration.
One spoke of feeling abandoned, another insisted the squad deserved better treatment. The lack of transparency and support from the club sparked a broader outcry and forced the organisation to confront its shortcomings. Fast‑forward a year, and Wolves Women find themselves once again on the cusp of promotion.
This time the promotion paperwork has been filed correctly, and the atmosphere around the club has shifted dramatically. Morphet reflects on the previous year’s ordeal as both an “incredibly tough moment” and a galvanising experience. “Those kinds of crises bring a group closer together,” she explains. “When you look around you realise how special this team is, the character of each player.
If we hadn’t built that closeness before the news came, I don’t think we would have recovered as well as we have.” She also expresses empathy for McNamara, who was the bearer of the bad news. “For Macca, who has poured his heart into this club for years, to be the one to tell us – I know he would never try to shift blame onto anyone else.
I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for him.” McNamara, visibly moved when recalling that night, says it was one of the toughest things he has ever had to say. A former Royal Air Force serviceman, he drew on his military background to manage the emotional strain. “When I first heard the decision I was emotional.
Part of me wanted to tell the girls immediately and let everything explode, maybe even have them skip the last few games,” he admits. “Instead we kept the information to ourselves until after the final match. We wanted the players to enjoy the moment they had worked so hard for before we brought them back down to earth.
Doing otherwise would have been cruel.” He also reveals that he never imagined staying at Wolves again. “I could have walked away, but the girls said, ‘Should we give the club another chance? Do we really want to go elsewhere?’ The consensus was to stay together.” The question loomed whether the team would dissolve or use the setback as a turning point. “Thankfully it’s been the latter,” McNamara says.
One year on, promotion is now a single game away, and the club appears ready for the challenge. Wolves have dominated the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division, winning 20 of 22 matches and topping the league’s scoring charts. Yet automatic promotion eluded them; they finished a point behind Burnley and missed the title on goal difference.
“We do feel a little hard‑done‑by,” McNamara concedes, “but the overriding feeling is pride in how the squad responded. They performed unbelievably well despite occasional disrespect and adversity. They represent this club and this city with distinction.” Chairperson Jenny Wilkes describes the journey as a rollercoaster. A local radio presenter, she joined the club in 1999 at the invitation of Wolves legend and then‑chief executive John Richards.
She set up a limited company, secured sponsors with help from former England cricketer Rachel Heyhoe‑Flint, and witnessed the evolution of the women’s game from its humble beginnings. Wilkes recalls early days when a player’s father would bring heavy road‑working machinery to flatten a divot in the middle of the pitch, turning it into sand because that was the surface they had to play on. “Players had to pay their own subscriptions, the captain collected cash on training nights, and we even had to fund coach transport. Getting the club to let us buy kits at cost price was a battle.” Those hardships have largely faded.
“Now it’s a completely different environment,” she says. “We’re the closest we’ve ever been to promotion, and better communication with technical director Matt Jackson has put us in a stronger position.” Wilkes has endured near‑misses before—a promotion bid halted by the pandemic and a play‑off defeat to Southampton—so the disappointment of last year is not new. Yet the prospect of moving up to the second tier of the WSL would be transformative, ushering in full professional status for the squad.
McNamara acknowledges the logistical challenge: “If we get promoted, we have a very short timeframe to overhaul the entire club structure.” For many players, promotion is a lifelong dream. “Being part of making those dreams come true would mean the world to me,” he says. Morphet was among the first three women to sign a semi‑professional contract with Wolves, yet she still works several days a week as a physiotherapist. The possibility of a fully professional contract would be seismic for her and her teammates.
“We know it can be life‑changing,” she notes. Reflecting on how far the club has come, Morphet says, “When you look at where we’re at now, it feels crazy that we’ve gotten here, but we’ve emerged in a completely different light.” Feeling finally valued by the club, even if belatedly, is special for Morphet.
After eight years and nearly 200 appearances, the balance between her day job and professional‑level training could soon tip in her favour. “I always knew deep down that I would never give myself the best chance to achieve the full‑time dream without making sacrifices,” she says.
“The amount of sacrifice we’ve all made makes you feel that something good is on the horizon.” That horizon is now within reach. Wolves Women face Plymouth on Monday at the Pirelli Stadium in Burton, with a place in WSL 2 at stake for the winner.
After another roller‑coaster season, Morphet, McNamara, Wilkes and the entire squad deserve the moment they have fought so hard to earn.