Last season, Wolves Women were on the brink of climbing into the second tier of the Women’s Super League, holding a mathematical chance of finishing above league leaders Nottingham Forest on the final matchday. Unbeknownst to the squad, the effort was ultimately in vain.
The deadline for submitting the promotion application had been February, but the club never filed the paperwork. Although the team satisfied every required criterion, the board deemed a full‑time programme too demanding and withheld the application. Even head coach Dan McNamara was unaware of the omission until after the season had ended.
The news was delivered in the dressing room after the side secured a second‑place finish. For captain Anna Morphet, the moment remains a painful memory.
"It was a shock, complete disbelief. A flood of emotions. I didn’t even know what to say, so I stayed quiet and tried to absorb it," she recalled. Soon after, several players took to social media to voice their frustration.
One expressed feeling let down, another argued they deserved better treatment. The outcry centred on a perceived lack of transparency and insufficient support from the club hierarchy – a wake‑up call that forced the organisation to re‑evaluate its approach.
Exactly one year later, Wolves Women find themselves once again on the cusp of promotion, and this time the required application has been lodged. The circumstances have shifted, and Morphet describes the events of the previous year as an "incredibly tough moment" that also became a galvanising experience. "Those kinds of trials bring a squad closer together.
You look around and realise how special the group is and the characters within it. If we hadn’t built that closeness before the news broke, I’m not sure we would have emerged as strongly as we have," she said. Morphet also empathised with McNamara, who was the bearer of the disappointing news.
"For Macca, who has poured his heart into this club for years, to be the one to tell us – I knew it wouldn’t be anyone else, he would never shift the blame – I can’t imagine how hard that was for him," she added. McNamara, visibly moved when reflecting on that night, described it as "one of the toughest things I have ever had to say." A former Royal Air Force serviceman, he leaned on his military background to navigate the leadership test. "When I first heard the decision, I was emotional.
Part of me wanted to tell the girls immediately and let everything explode, hoping they might skip the final games of the season," he admitted. Instead, he chose to keep the information private until after the last match. "We decided the players deserved to savour the moment they had fought for before we brought them back down to earth. Stripping that joy away would have been horrendous," he explained.
He also confessed that he never imagined returning to Wolves. "I simply could not walk away from the girls.
They asked, ‘Should we give the club another chance? Do we really want to go elsewhere?’ The consensus was to stay together." The question loomed: would the team disintegrate, or would this adversity become a watershed moment for Wolves Women, a stepping stone toward greater success? "Thankfully, it has been the latter," McNamara affirmed. One year on, promotion is now a single game away, and the club appears ready.
Wolves have dominated the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division, winning 20 of 22 matches and leading the league in goals scored. Yet that dominance was insufficient for automatic promotion; they finished just one point behind Burnley and missed the title on the final day.
"We do feel a little hard‑done‑by," McNamara said, but his overriding feeling is pride in the squad’s response. "They have performed unbelievably well, despite moments of disrespect and adversity. They represent this club and this city with distinction." Chairperson Jenny Wilkes describes the journey as a rollercoaster.
A local radio personality, Wilkes joined the club in 1999 at the request 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 early struggles of women’s football.
"One player’s dad worked in road‑building machinery and would bring his equipment to the pitch to fill a huge divot with sand – that was the condition of our playing surface back then," she reminisced. "Players had to pay their own subscriptions, the captain collected cash on training nights, and we funded coach transport ourselves. Even buying kits at cost price was a battle." Those hardships have faded. "It is a completely different environment now.
We are closer than ever, and better communication with technical director Matt Jackson has lifted us into a stronger position," Wilkes noted. The emotional low of last year could have been followed by the highest of highs. Wilkes has endured near‑misses before – a promotion push halted by the pandemic and a play‑off defeat to Southampton – as well as the gut‑wrenching disappointment of the previous season.
Now, promotion to the second tier of the Women’s Super League would be transformative, ushering in full professionalism. McNamara acknowledges the logistical challenge.
"If we achieve promotion, we have a very short window to completely overhaul the club’s structure," he explained. For many players, the dream is to compete at the highest level.
"Being part of making that dream a reality would mean the world to me," he added. 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 prospect of a fully professional setup could free her from that double workload.
"We know it can be life‑changing," she said. Reflecting on the journey, Morphet finds the current situation surreal.
"Looking at where we are now, it feels crazy that it’s happened, but thankfully we have emerged in a completely different light." Feeling finally valued by the club, even if belatedly, is special. After eight years and nearly 200 appearances, Wolves Women have become her "home away from home." The sacrifices she and her teammates have made – juggling another job while training like professionals – may soon be rewarded. "Deep down I knew I would never give myself the best chance to achieve the ultimate football dream – a full‑time career – without making sacrifices.
The amount we’ve all put in makes you feel that something good is just around the corner," Morphet affirmed. Wolves Women now stand at that crossroads. They travel to Plymouth on Monday at the Pirelli Stadium in Burton, with a place in WSL 2 at stake for the victor. After another roller‑coaster season, Morphet and her teammates deserve to seize the moment they have fought so hard to create.