Last season, Wolves Women were locked in a fierce battle for promotion to the second tier of the Women’s Super League. As the final matchday approached, they still held a mathematical chance of overtaking league leaders Nottingham Forest and securing a place in the higher division. What the squad did not realise, however, was that their hopes were doomed by an administrative oversight.

The deadline for submitting a promotion application had been set for February, but the club failed to file the paperwork on time. Although the team satisfied every sporting and infrastructural criterion, the governing bodies deemed the club’s full‑time programme requirements too demanding, and the application was consequently rejected. Even head coach Dan McNamara was unaware of the missed deadline until it was too late. The news was delivered in the dressing room after the players had celebrated finishing second in the league.

Captain Anna Morphet described the moment as "a shock, complete disbelief" and said she was overwhelmed by emotion, struggling to find words as she tried to process the disappointment. In the days that followed, the squad took to social media to voice their frustration.

One player spoke of feeling let down by the club, another insisted they deserved better treatment. The outpouring highlighted a deep sense of anger over the lack of transparency and perceived insufficient support from the club hierarchy. The episode served as a stark wake‑up call for Wolves’ management.

Fast forward a year, and the team once again finds itself on the cusp of promotion. This time the promotion application has been lodged correctly, and the atmosphere around the club has shifted dramatically.

Morphet reflects on the previous season’s ordeal as "an incredibly tough moment" but also acknowledges that it became a galvanising force for the group. "Those kinds of challenges bring you closer together," she explains. "When you look around you realise how special this group is and the characters within it. If we hadn't had that bond before learning the news, I doubt we would have come through as strongly as we have." Morphet also expressed empathy for McNamara, who had to be the bearer of 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 the blame. I can’t imagine how hard that was for him." Coach Dan McNamara, a former Royal Air Force serviceman, still feels the sting of that night. He admits the moment was "one of the toughest things I've ever had to say." Drawing on his military background, he tried to steady himself and consider the best way to handle the situation.

"When I first heard the news I was emotional," he says. "Part of me wanted to tell the girls straight away and let everything blow up, maybe even hope they would skip the last few games. Instead, I kept the information to myself until after the final match.

We wanted the players to enjoy the culmination of their hard work before we brought them back down to reality. If we had crushed that moment, it would have been horrendous." McNamara also reveals that he never imagined he would stay with Wolves after that crisis. "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 stick together." The question then loomed: would the team dissolve, or would this become a watershed moment that propelled Wolves Women forward?

"Thankfully, it has been the latter," McNamara affirms. One year later, promotion is just a single game away, and the club appears fully prepared. Wolves have dominated the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division, winning 20 of 22 matches and finishing as the league’s top scorers.

Yet despite that dominance they missed out on automatic promotion, finishing a single point behind Burnley. The narrow margin only adds to the sense of injustice they feel.

"We do feel a little hard done by," McNamara admits, but his overriding feeling is pride in how the squad responded. "They have performed unbelievably well, despite moments of disrespect and adversity. They represent this club and this city with the utmost professionalism." Chairperson Jenny Wilkes, a local radio personality who first joined the club in 1999 at the request of former chief executive John Richards, describes the journey as "a rollercoaster." 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 would bring his equipment down to fill a huge divot in the middle of the pitch until it was sand.

That was the kind of pitch we played on back then," she reminisces. "Players had to pay their own subscriptions, the captain collected cash on training nights, and we even had to fight to buy kits at cost price." Those early hardships have given way to a more professional environment.

"It is a very different place now," Wilkes says. "We are working closely with technical director Matt Jackson, and communication has improved dramatically." The low point of last year could have been the start of a decline, but instead it has been followed by a series of near‑misses that have forged resilience.

Wilkes remembers a promotion bid halted by the pandemic, a play‑off defeat to Southampton, and the heart‑breaking disappointment of the missed application. Now, promotion to the Women’s Super League 2 would be transformative.

It would usher in full‑time professional status for the squad, a shift that McNamara acknowledges will require swift, comprehensive changes within the club. "If we get promoted, we have a very short time frame to completely overhaul the football club," he explains.

"For many of the players, this is the dream they have chased for years. To play even a small part in making that dream a reality would mean the world to me." Morphet herself 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 full‑time football would be seismic for her and her teammates, many of whom balance training with other careers. "We know it can be life‑changing," Morphet says.

"When you look at where we are now, it feels almost crazy that we got here, but thankfully we have emerged in a completely different light." After eight years and nearly 200 appearances, the club has become Morphet’s "home away from home." The chance to finally focus solely on football, without the burden of a second job, feels like a long‑awaited reward for the sacrifices made. "Deep down I knew I would never give myself the best chance to achieve the ultimate football dream – playing full‑time – without making sacrifices.

The amount of sacrifice we have all put in makes you feel that something good must be around the corner." That corner is now within reach. Wolves Women travel to the Pirelli Stadium in Burton to face Plymouth on Monday, 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 reclaim.