Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Full name	Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club
Nickname(s)	Wolves
Founded	1877, as St. Luke's
Ground	Molineux, Wolverhampton
Capacity	31,700
Owner	Steve Morgan
Chairman	Steve Morgan
Manager	Dean Saunders
League	The Championship
2011–12	Premier League, 20th (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (commonly referred to as Wolves) is an English professional football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at Molineux. They currently compete in the Football League Championship, the second highest level of English football, having been relegated from the Premier League in 2012.

Historically, Wolves have been highly influential, most notably as being founder members of the Football League, as well as having played an instrumental role in the establishment of the European Cup, later to become the UEFA Champions League. Having won the FA Cup twice before the outbreak of the First World War, they developed into one of England's leading clubs under the management of ex-player Stan Cullis after the Second World War, going on to win the league three times and the FA Cup twice more between 1949 and 1960. It was during this time that the European Cup competition was established, after the English press declared Wolves "Champions of the World" following their victories against numerous top European and World sides in some of British football's first live televised games.

Wolves have yet to match the successes of the Stan Cullis era, although, under Bill McGarry, they contested the first-ever UEFA Cup final in 1972 and won the 1974 League Cup, a trophy they lifted again six years later under John Barnwell. However, financial mismanagement in the 1980s led to the club's very existence being under threat as well as three consecutive relegations, before a revival and back-to-back promotions under manager Graham Turner and record goalscorer Steve Bull saw them finish the decade in the Second Division, winning the Football League Trophy along the way.

Despite the financial backing of then-owner Sir Jack Hayward during the next decade, they were unable to regain a place in the top flight until 2003, when manager Dave Jones ended their nineteen-year exile but only for a solitary Premier League season. The club returned for a three-year stay at the top level after Mick McCarthy led them back as Football League Championship champions in 2009, but his dismissal in 2012 preceded relegation back to the Championship. Their current manager Dean Saunders was appointed in January 2013, at the time becoming their fourth different manager in the space of twelve months.

History

Further information: List of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. seasons

Graph charting Wolves' performance from the first season of the English Football League in 1888–89, to 2010–11, when they finished seventeenth in the Premier League.

The team were founded as St. Luke's in 1877 by John Baynton and John Brodie, after a group of pupils at St Luke's Church school in Blakenhall had been presented with a football by their headmaster Harry Barcroft. Two years later, they merged with local cricket and football club The Wanderers, to form Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The club were initially given the use of two fields – James Harper's Field and Red House Park – both off Lower Villiers Street in Blakenhall. From there, they moved to a site on the Dudley Road opposite the Fighting Cocks Inn in 1881. The club then became one of the twelve founders of the English Football League in 1888 and finished the inaugural season in a creditable third place, as well as reaching their first ever FA Cup Final, losing 3–0 to the first "Double" winners, Preston North End.

Early cup triumphs & inter-bellum adventures

File:Wolves1893.jpg

The Wolves team that won the FA Cup in 1893

In the first year of the Football League, Wolves benefited from the first own goal in the league's history, scored by Gershom Cox of Aston Villa.

Wolves remained as members of what became the First Division from 1888 until relegation in 1906, winning the FA Cup for the first time in 1893 when they beat Everton 1–0 at Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester. Two years after relegation the team enjoyed another FA Cup win, as a Second Division club, surprisingly beating Newcastle United 3–1 in the 1908 final. After struggling for many years to regain their place in the top division, Wolves suffered relegation again in 1923, dropping into the Third Division (North). Wolves' first promotion was won just a year later, narrowly claiming the Third Division North title at the first attempt ahead of Rochdale.

Following eight more years back in the Second Division, Wolves finally achieved a return to top division football in 1932, claiming the Second Division title and another promotion. In the years leading up to the Second World War, the team became established as one of the leading club sides in England. In 1938, Wolves needed only to win the last game of the season to be champions for the first time, but were beaten 1–0 at Sunderland and Arsenal claimed the title. They again finished as runners-up in 1939, this time behind Everton, and endured more frustration with defeat in the last pre-War FA Cup Final, losing 4–1 to underdogs Portsmouth.

The Stan Cullis era & the birth of European football

"Many say Manchester United would have won the championship in 1958 if not for the Munich air crash in February 1958. They were a great side, but even if the crash had never happened, they could not have caught us. Even after the disaster we didn't drop enough points for that to happen."

 Malcolm Finlayson,
Wolves goalkeeper and Title winner, 1958 & 1959

When league football resumed in 1946, Wolves suffered yet another heartbreaking failure in the First Division. Just as in 1938, victory in their last match of the season against title rivals Liverpool would have won the title but a 2–1 defeat gave the 1947 championship to the Merseyside club instead.

That game had been the last in a Wolves shirt for Stan Cullis, and a year later he became manager of the club. In Cullis's first season in charge, he led Wolves to a first major honour in 41 years as they beat Leicester City 3–1 in the FA Cup Final, and a year later, only goal average prevented Wolves winning the First Division title. The 1950s were by far the most successful period in the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Captained by Billy Wright, Wolves finally claimed the league championship for the first time in 1954, overhauling fierce rivals West Bromwich Albion late in the season. Two further titles were later won in successive years, as Wolves cemented their position as the premier team in English football and became globally renowned for their on-field success as well as high-profile floodlit friendlies against top European club sides and the pioneering development of the Cullis "kick and rush" style of football.

Building upon Buckley's principles of hard work in training, exceptional physical fitness coupled with early pioneering use of sports science, strict discipline and a doctrine of all-out attack on the field, Cullis's kick and rush method incorporated long passes and speed of execution, hitting the opposition penalty box faster and more frequently to apply the percentage principle to goalscoring. The method was characterised by a defensive resilience, built as it was around the England internationals Bert Williams in goal and Billy Wright at half-back, but also incorporated quick movement of the ball and swift attacking support for the player in possession, particularly around the wing play of Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen.

Their innovation on the pitch was matched elsewhere, as Molineux was one of the first grounds to provide their team with floodlights in the summer of 1953, as the club also blossomed financially thanks to high-profile friendlies with top sides such as Real Madrid who all came and suffered defeat at the hands of Cullis' men. The following series of famous "floodlit friendlies", beginning with a game against a South African XI, had a huge effect in raising the profile of the club, enthusing many such as the young Wolves fan George Best and others who were lucky enough to be able to watch the games on the BBC in some of football's first televised games. Other major club games at the time included victories over Borussia Dortmund, Valencia CF, and a 3–0 victory over Real Madrid achieved 'by indefatigable tackling, by the characteristic longflung pass and by a directness of approach that showed the Spanish the virtues of traditional English football'.

These high-profile games continued against top national sides such as Racing Club of Argentina and Spartak Moscow of the USSR, before meeting Honvéd of Hungary in a landmark game for English football, televised live on the BBC. Faith in the English national team was at an all time low, and Wolves faced a Honvéd team that included Ferenc Puskás and many other members of the "Magical Magyars", 1954 World Cup finalists and one of the historically great sides that had recently humbled England twice. In front of the watching nation, Wolves came from two goals down at half time to beat the Hungarian side 3–2, which coupled with their previous European exploits, lead the national media to proclaim Wolves "Champions of the World". This was the final spur for Gabriel Hanot, the editor of L'Équipe, who had long campaigned for a Europe wide club tournament to be played under floodlights.

Before we declare that Wolverhampton Wanderers are invincible, let them go to Moscow and Budapest. And there are other internationally renowned clubs: A.C. Milan and Real Madrid to name but two. A club world championship, or at least a European one – larger, more meaningful and more prestigious than the Mitropa Cup and more original than a competition for national teams – should be launched.   — Gabriel Hanot, editor of L'Équipe

The UEFA congress of March 1955 saw the proposal raised, with approval given in April of that year, and the kick-off of the first European Cup the following season. The 1959 title win saw Wolves play in the European Cup for the first time, being only the second English club after Manchester United to enter. Later, Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Moscow and Real Madrid all came to Molineux and were beaten, as Wolves saw mixed successes in the European Cup against teams such as Red Star Belgrade, Schalke 04 and Barcelona, during Real Madrid's period of domination. Wolves were also League Champions in 1958 and 1959, and in 1960 became the first team to pass the 100-goal mark for three seasons in succession. Coming agonisingly close to a hat-trick of titles and the first double of the twentieth century, Wolves finished just one point behind Burnley and had to make do with a fourth FA Cup win, beating Blackburn Rovers 3–0 in the final.

Cullis sacked, Wolves American champions

The early 1960s saw Wolves begin to decline, and Cullis was sacked in September 1964 at the start of a dreadful season during which the club was never out of the relegation zone. Relegation meant the club's first spell outside the top division in more than thirty years; however, the exile would last just two seasons, as an eight-game winning run in the spring of 1967 led the way to promotion back to the First Division as runners-up to the 1966–67 Second Division Champions Coventry City.

During the summer of 1967, Wolves played a season in North America as part of a fledgling league called the United Soccer Association. This league imported twelve entire clubs from Europe and South America to play in American and Canadian cities, with each club bearing a local name. Wolverhampton Wanderers, playing as the "Los Angeles Wolves", won the Western Division and then went on to earn the League Title by defeating the Eastern Division champions Washington Whips (Aberdeen of Scotland) in the championship match. (This FIFA-sanctioned league merged the following season with the non-sanctioned National Professional Soccer League, which had also begun in 1967, to form the North American Soccer League).

The Seventies resurgence

The club's return to the English top flight heralded another period of relative success, with a squad that included stars Derek Dougan, Kenny Hibbitt and Frank Munro finishing the 1970–71 season in fourth place, qualifying them for the newly created UEFA Cup. En route to the 1972 UEFA Cup Final, they beat Académica 7–1 on aggregate, ADO Den Haag 7–1 on aggregate, FC Carl Zeiss Jena 4–0 on aggregate, Juventus 3–2 on aggregate in the quarter-final and Ferencváros 4–3 in the semi-final. Wolves lost the home leg of the two-legged final against Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 (goal from Jim McCalliog) and drew at White Hart Lane 1–1 with a goal from David Wagstaffe.

Two years later in 1974 they went on to beat Manchester City in the 1974 League Cup Final, taking the trophy for the first time. Despite relegation again in 1976, Wolves were to bounce back at the first attempt as Second Division champions. By 1979–80, things were again looking promising for Wolves: the club finished sixth in the First Division and reached the 1980 Football League Cup Final, where record-signing Andy Gray scored the decisive goal which defeated the reigning European Champions and League Cup holders Nottingham Forest, thus bringing League Cup glory to Wolves for a second time.

Decline and rescue

Wolves went through a bad spell in the 1980s. The Molineux Street stand, built in 1932, was demolished, along with 71 terraced houses on Molineux Street, in 1979, and a new stand built at a cost of £1½ million ready for the 1979–80 season. However, the cost of this redevelopment, combined with the economic recession of the early-1980s (which hit match attendances hard), triggered serious financial difficulties for the club. These difficulties almost resulted in the club's extinction in 1982. The club was acquired at this dark juncture by the now infamous Bhatti brothers, who did not invest in the club, and three consecutive relegations in 1984, 1985 and 1986 saw a financially moribund Wolves slide into the Fourth Division for the first time in the club's history. By 1986 the club's existence was hanging by a thread and two sides of the by now decaying Molineux stadium were condemned and closed to spectators, meaning the atmosphere at matches was decidedly peculiar; however, the Bhattis finally relinquished ownership of the club at this point and a long and at times painful rehabilitation of the club started.

The 1980s had not begun badly for Wolves. The club won the Football League Cup and finished sixth in the First Division in the 1979–80 season. They also reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1981, as they had also achieved in 1979. When John Barnwell, who had suffered serious injuries in a car crash in 1979, felt obliged to resign as manager in 1982, Wolves made an attempt to recruit Alex Ferguson, manager of the successful Scottish side Aberdeen, as Barnwell's successor. However, the club was in poor financial health and Ferguson had no desire to leave the Scottish club. He declined the offer and Graham Hawkins was appointed instead. Meanwhile, Ferguson enjoyed another four years of success with Aberdeen before he moved to England to take over at Manchester United where he remains to this day.

Wolves suffered relegation to the Second Division at the end of the 1981–82 season, and then almost went out of business just before the start of the 1982–83 season with £2½ million debts. The club was saved from liquidation when former player Derek Dougan helped formalise a takeover deal as a front man for the Bhatti brothers. Promotion back to the First Division was achieved (as runners-up) at the first attempt.

With just a few months of the 1983–84 season gone, the future already didn't looking bright for Wolves as they had failed to win any of their 14 opening First Division games, but even then few could have imagined just how steep the decline would be. There were some bright spots even in that campaign, the first coming on 26 November 1983 when Wolves finally won a league game at the 15th attempt, breaking their win-less run in style with a 3–1 away win over local rivals West Bromwich Albion. Their second win came on 27 December when they beat Everton 3–0 to record their first home league win of the season. Perhaps the best result of the season came on 14 January 1984 when they won 1–0 at Liverpool – the dominant side of that era, who were in the process of winning their third successive league title (and also the European Cup and Football League Cup) that season. On 18 February they held title chasing Manchester United to a 1–1 draw – a result which contributed towards their opponent's ultimate failure to win the title. A 1–0 home win over Nottingham Forest on 3 March followed, but Wolves were still a long way off survival and would win just one more league game after this, going down in bottom place. They had also lost star striker Andy Gray to Everton in November.

The 1984–85 season didn't begin particularly badly, with the first few games producing mixed results, but a 5–1 defeat at Barnsley on 29 September 1984 was the first real sign that Wolves could face a second successive season of struggle. By early November, they had actually managed to put together a three-match winning run which saw them occupy 13th place and suggest that they were more than capable of survival, if not promotion. But a seven-match losing run followed, dragging them into the relegation zone by New Year's Day 1985. Wolves failed to win another league game until 8 April 1985, but they were still in the relegation zone. On 6 May 1985, they were relegated despite a 2–1 home win over Huddersfield Town. As well as declining in their league standing, their attendances were also in a downward spiral by this stage. Nearly 15,000 had watched their opening game against Sheffield United, but during the second half of the season they were struggling to attract half that figure. A mere 4,422 fans watched their final home game of the season – the game where relegation was confirmed.

Wolves began their first season in the national Third Division on 17 August 1985, losing 2–1 to Brentford at Griffin Park. A week later, they took on one of the division's weakest sides – Newport County – at the Molineux, but lost 2–1. The next game ended in a 4–2 defeat at promotion favourites Derby County, and Wolves finally managed to claim points at the first attempt with a 3–2 home win over York City. Four defeats followed before another victory. By the time Wolves were crushed 6–0 by Rotherham United in the FA Cup first round on 16 November 1985, a third of the league season had already gone and Wolves had still yet to put together a run of good results, so a third successive relegation – a humiliation which only Bristol City four seasons earlier had so far suffered – was now looking a real possibility. A 3–1 home win over Gillingham the weekend after the FA Cup exit raised hopes that survival might be achieved, but Wolves never managed to put together a good run in the league and their relegation to the Fourth Division – for the first time in their history – was confirmed on 26 April 1986 despite a 3–1 home win over Cardiff City, who had gone down with them the previous season and would also suffer a second successive relegation.

On 2 July 1986 the Bhatti brothers era came to an end when the official receiver was called in at Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club. However, the club was saved from extinction when Wolverhampton Council purchased Molineux for £1.12 million, along with the surrounding land, while Gallagher Estates Limited, in conjunction with the Asda Superstore chain, agreed to pay off the club's outstanding debts, subject to building and planning permission for an Asda superstore on land adjacent to the stadium being granted by the Council.

Wolves played their first game in the Fourth Division on 23 August 1986, at home to Cambridge United. They lost 2–1, but were victorious in their next game on 30 August when they travelled to Aldershot and won 2–1. Mixed results followed during the autumn as Wolves were some way off the automatic promotion and new promotion/relegation playoff places – though at least they were comfortably clear of the bottom place in the league, which for the first time would mean automatic relegation to the Football Conference.

Following a succession of different managers during the crises of the previous three years, a new era of managerial stability began on 7 October 1986 when Wolves appointed Graham Turner as their new manager. He would remain at the helm for more than seven years. His arrival was orchestrated by a new Board led by Jack Harris (Former Walsall Chairman)and Dick Homden who skillfully directed the club back to winning ways while maintaing a tight control of their limited funds. The Jack Harris Stand is an acknowledgement of this period and it is questionable that Wolves would have survived to the Jack Hayward era had Harris and Homden not brought their considerable experience into the boardroom.

20 November 1986 saw the arrival of 21-year-old striker Steve Bull from West Bromwich Albion for £64,000. Over the next 13 years, Bull would score more than 300 goals for Wolves and despite never playing in the top division, he was capped 13 times for England and scored four goals. His first Wolves goal came on 13 December 1986 in a 1–0 win at Hartlepool United.

By the turn of 1987, Wolves were still mid table in the Fourth Division and promotion was looking doubtful. However, the second half of the season saw Wolves take off as Bull and his strike partner Andy Mutch became regular goalscorers. Wolves were now playing some of their best football in years, their biggest successes being a 5–2 win at Burnley (another former giant who were now struggling in the Fourth Division and would only narrowly cling onto their Football League status at the end of the 1986–87 season), a 4–0 home win over Swansea City (who had also experienced First Division football earlier in the decade) and a thrilling 4–3 away win over Halifax Town. By 20 April 1987, Wolves had won seven matches in a row and looked good bets for promotion. Their season ended with a 4–1 home win over Hartlepool United, in which Steve Bull scored his first Wolves hat-trick, and they finished fourth – one place short of automatic promotion, which placed in them in the promotion/relegation playoffs. They won 2–0 at Colchester United in the semi final first leg, and went through after a goalless draw in the second leg. However, they surprisingly lost the final first leg 1–0 at Aldershot, and another 1–0 defeat in the return leg three days later meant that the promotion dream was put on hold for another season.

1987–88 began with a visit to Football League newcomers Scarborough, who held them to a 2–2 draw. However, they soon found their winning ways and ended the season as Fourth Division champions.

They also won the Sherpa Van Trophy, beating Burnley 2–0 at Wembley Stadium in front of more than 80,000 spectators – well over half of them Wolves fans. Steve Bull was instrumental in this very first stage of the club's revival, scoring 34 league goals and a total of 52 in all competitions.

The 1988–89 season began with Wolves losing 3–1 to Bury at Gigg Lane, but they soon found their winning ways and by the time of their 6–0 home win over Preston North End on 26 November 1988, in which the still prolific Steve Bull scored four goals, a second successive promotion was looking increasingly likely. It was sealed at the end of the season, as Wolves won the Third Division title and became the first team to be champions of all four English Football League divisions. Bull totalled 37 goals in the league and 50 in all competitions, making him the first English league player to reach the 50-goal margin in successive seasons.

In 1989–90, there were frequent signs that Wolves could challenge for a unique third successive promotion. After a five-match win-less start to the season, they won 3–1 at Ipswich Town on 16 September 1989 and two weeks later crushed Portsmouth – who had been in the First Division when Wolves had been in the Fourth – 5–0. On New Year's Day 1990, Wolves began the new decade on the highest possible note, winning 4–1 at promotion chasing Newcastle United with Steve Bull scoring four goals. Bull's first season for Wolves at this level saw him maintain his reputation as a first class goalscorer with 25 goals in the league and 27 in all competitions, but Wolves just missed out on promotion – a disappointment which the fans would become accustomed to over the next two decades – having narrowly missed out on the playoffs.

The Hayward years

In May 1990 Wolverhampton Wanderers was bought by lifelong supporter Jack Hayward, who immediately set about funding a comprehensive rebuild of the club's mostly decrepit ground to meet the new government regulations of the early 1990s, with the Stan Cullis Stand erected on the site of the North Bank in 1992, and the Billy Wright Stand replacing the Waterloo Road Stand in August 1993. The renovated stadium was officially opened on 7 December 1993, marked by a prestigious friendly with Honvéd, the Hungarian team who had been beaten in one of Molineux's most famous original floodlit friendlies.

With the stadium completed, Hayward gave the club its first substantial investment into its playing side since the late 1970s. While stadium work was prioritised in the early 1990s, the club under manager Graham Turner had consolidated in midtable but failed to make any inroads toward promotion to the top flight (now the newly formed Premier League). The summer of 1993 saw the first recruits in a heavily funded bid for promotion that would characterise much of Hayward's reign, although by March 1994 their play-off chances were fading and Turner quit, making way for the tenureship of former England manager Graham Taylor.

Wolves under Taylor completed their best finish in the Football League structure in over a decade, but they were denied promotion after losing 2–3 to Bolton Wanderers on aggregate in the play-off semi finals, and Taylor was soon ousted under fan pressure in November 1995 after only one full season as Wolves – now bearing the burden of being promotion favourites – made a slow start to the 1995–96 season. His successor Mark McGhee inspired a brief turnaround in fortunes and as late as March they were just outside the play-off zone, but poor form returned and by the end of the season they had finished 20th – just two places above the drop zone and their lowest league finish since they slipped into Fourth Division a decade earlier. The 1996–97 season was far stronger, but they were pipped to the second automatic promotion place by Barnsley and lost to Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-finals.

Although reaching the FA Cup semi-finals a year later, McGhee was dismissed in November 1998 as Wolves were slipping out of contention for the play-off places. His assistant Colin Lee took over but the club just missed out on the play-offs. With a far more limited budget than his two predecessors enjoyed, Lee could only guide the club to a second successive seventh place finish in 1999–2000. He was dismissed in December 2000 after a poor run of form left Wolves just a few places above the drop zone.

Former Southampton manager Dave Jones was named as Lee's successor in January 2001, and Wolves improved during the second half of the 2000–01 season, but their dismal early season form counted against them and they were unable to achieve anything more than a mid-table finish. The close season saw heavy investment into the team, which helped them spend much of the 2001–02 season in the top two places. However, an end of season slump saw them pipped to automatic promotion by arch rivals West Bromwich Albion. Defeat at the hands of Norwich City in the play-off semi-finals finally put paid to their promotion hopes.

Wolves experienced sporadic form during the early part of 2002–03, and thus were never in contention for the automatic promotion places. The team turned the corner with a thrilling 3–2 FA Cup win over Newcastle United, going on to lose just two of their 20 league games after this, securing them 5th place and a play-off semi-final clash against newly promoted Reading. Victory in both legs earned Wolves a place in the Play-off Final against Sheffield United, their first play-off final at their fourth attempt. In the Millennium Stadium-staged final, three first half goals from Mark Kennedy, Nathan Blake and Kenny Miller, respectively, were enough to earn Wolves a long awaited place in the Premiership, after 19 years in the lower echelons of English football.

Their debut season in the Premier League was tough, with key players Matt Murray and Joleon Lescott injured for the entire season, and several others absent from the start. Their spending power to strengthen the team was relatively low as Hayward instead opted to put the club up for sale. Despite these setbacks, Wolves overcame their seven game winless start to eventually achieve some commendable results, in particular a 1–0 win over Manchester United. However, failing to win a single away game meant that their relegation battle was ultimately lost, and they finished bottom of the table on goal difference, bracketed together on 33 points with the two other relegated teams.

Despite hopes for an immediate return to the top flight, their 2004–05 campaign began dismally, and at one point the side sunk as low as 19th place. Following a 0–1 defeat at Gillingham, a side Wolves had beaten 6–0 just eighteen months previous, Jones was sacked at the beginning of November.

Another former England coach was hired the following month, as Glenn Hoddle was appointed on a rolling one-year contract. Under Hoddle, Wolves lost only one of their final 25 league games, but drew 15 to finish ninth in the final table – not enough to qualify for the play-offs. Wolves then finished a disappointing seventh in 2005–06 as fan discontent grew, disenchanted with the lack of passion and pride from the team, including from Hoddle himself who had not moved to the area. Though the board expressed no displeasure with Hoddle publicly, with Jez Moxey affirming his faith in the under fire manager, the season had been frowned on by both local media and the fan base. However, few had anticipated Hoddle's sudden resignation mere moments before England's World Cup quarter-final clash with Portugal.

Changes in management and ownership

Following the exit of Hoddle in pre-season in 2006, Wolves staged a complete clearout, stripping the squad and wage bill down and appointing former Republic of Ireland and

manager Mick McCarthy. Wolves therefore commenced the 2006–07 season with only the bare bones of a first team squad and with the lowest expectations around the club in years.

McCarthy acknowledged the challenge, stating to local media "The initials MM on my top stand for Mick McCarthy, not Merlin the Magician", and quickly scraped together a squad, largely from the club's youth ranks, out of contract players and loan signings. After an inconsistent first half to the season, an impressive run of form followed and the club eventually made the play-offs, despite earlier expectations. They were paired with local rivals West Bromwich Albion in the semi-finals, where they lost out over two legs.

There was further change when businessman Steve Morgan took control of the club for a nominal £10 fee in return for a £30million investment into the club, resulting in the departure of Sir Jack Hayward (who remains as Life President and Club Hall of Fame member) after 17 years as chairman. The protracted takeover was finally completed on 9 August 2007, upon which the club set out their future ethos:

It is intended that the new capital, over a period of time, will be used to help re-establish Wolves as a Premiership club. Although this is a significant amount of money there will not be an 'open cheque book' approach to signing players; instead the club will build on the current strategy of steadily and progressively developing a team of young, hungry and talented players. — Club Statement

Despite Morgan's arrival, the 2007–08 season ultimately brought more disappointment as the club failed to match the previous campaign's playoff finish. Poor form around Christmas saw them slump to mid-table and only a late rally, aided by the goal power of new signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, put them back in the promotion hunt. They finished just outside the final play-off spot on goal difference, one goal short of Watford.

Football League Championship trophy presentation at Molineux on 3 May 2009

The 2008–09 season saw the club's strongest start since 1949–50, as an opening day draw preceded a run of seven consecutive wins. Fired by the goals of Ebanks-Blake and new signing Chris Iwelumo, the club hit the top of the table for the first time in years by the end of August and never left the automatic promotion spots after. A second run of seven consecutive wins tightened their grip on the lead by Christmas.

Despite a dismal start to 2009, the equally faltering form of their rivals allowed Wolves to retain the top spot. March saw a return to form with 13 points from a possible 15, strengthening their position at the top of the table that they had led since October. Promotion to the Premier League was finally confirmed on 18 April 2009 with a 1–0 win over Queens Park Rangers. The following week, Wolves clinched their first divisional title since the 1988–89 season.

The club's return to the Premier League saw their highest league position in 30 years, with a 15th place finish granting survival. This marked the first time Wolves had survived a season at the highest level since 1981. This achievement was built on a solid defensive element to the team, countering its lack of goal-power, despite the addition of striker Kevin Doyle for a club record fee.

Their second consecutive Premier League campaign saw a closer brush with relegation, as they finished only one place above the drop zone. Wolves survived on the final day despite suffering a defeat, as relegation rivals Birmingham City and Blackpool both lost. However, despite being more seriously threatened by relegation, the overall points total was an improvement on the previous season.

The 2011–12 season was a poor one for the club, ending with the team in last place and relegated back to the Championship. Manager Mick McCarthy was sacked in February 2012 after a five-and-a-half year reign and replaced for the remainder of the season by, Terry Connor, but Connor failed to bring any upturn in their form, failing to win any of his 13 games in charge. The day before Wolves' final game of the season, the club announced that former Copenhagen manager Ståle Solbakken would take over for the current season.

Solbakken failed to arrest the club's slump that had brought relegation and despite at one time lifting the team to third place, they had slumped as low as 18th by the start of 2013. He was sacked in January 2013 following an FA Cup elimination by non-league Luton Town, which was his fourth consecutive defeat. He was replaced by former Doncaster manager Dean Saunders.

Colours and badge

Original colours.

The club's traditional colours of gold and black allude to the city council's motto "out of darkness cometh light" with the two colours representing light and darkness respectively. Although the team's original colours upon formation were red and white, adopted from the school colours of St Lukes, for much of their history their home colours have been their distinctive gold shirts with black shorts.

In the early decades of the club a variety of shirt designs using these colours were created, including stripes and diagonal halves, until the continual usage of a plain shirt design since the 1930s. Before the 1960s a darker shade of gold was used, known as "old gold", which is still often cited in the media as the club's colour.

City coat of arms.

Like most English teams, their earliest shirts usually only featured a badge on special occasions such as cup finals. The first such badge to be worn on Wolves shirts was the coat of arms of Wolverhampton City Council. In the late 1960s, Wolves introduced their own club badge that appeared on their shirts consisting of a single leaping wolf, which later became three leaping wolves in the mid 1970s. Since 1979 the badge has consisted of a single "wolf head" design; the current badge was last redesigned in 2002.

Wolves' traditional away colours have been all-white, but recent decades have seen a variety of colours used; the current away kit is a teal design that revives the colours last used in their 1996–97 change strip.

Stadium

Former grounds

When first founded the club used a field on Goldthorn Hill in the Blakenhall area as its home, which could accommodate some 2,000 spectators. In 1879 they relocated to John Harper's Field on Lower Villiers Street where they remained for two years before a short move to a venue on Dudley Road, opposite The Fighting Cocks Inn. It was here that they played their first ever FA Cup tie in 1883 and their first ever Football League fixture in September 1888. Although the site could only hold 2,500 spectators at first it was eventually developed to be capable of 10,000.

Molineux

Molineux

Capacity	31,700
Construction
Opened	1889
Renovated	1991–1993; 2011–2012
Architect	Current design - Alan Cotterell Redevelopment - AFL
Main contractors	Current design - Alfred McAlpine Redevelopment - Buckingham Group
Tenants
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. (1889–present)

Main article: Molineux Stadium

See also: Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground

In the summer of 1889 the club moved to its permanent home ever since, Molineux, in the Whitmore Reans area of the city. The stadium name originates from the Molineux House built in the area by Benjamin Molineux, a local merchant, in the 18th century and whose grounds were later developed to include numerous public leisure facilities. When the Northampton Brewery Company purchased these grounds in 1889, they rented their use to the city's football club, who were seeking to find a home more befitting a Football League member. After renovating the site, the first ever official game was staged on 7 September 1889: a 2–0 victory against Notts County before a crowd of 4,000. The ground was capable of hosting 20,000 spectators, although English football crowds rarely reached that number in the 19th century.

Wolves bought the freehold in 1923 for £5,607 and soon began a series of ground improvements, beginning with the construction of a major grandstand on the Waterloo Road side. In 1932, the club also built a new stand on the Molineux Street side and followed this with adding a roof to the South Bank two years later; this South Bank was historically the second largest of all Kop ends in the country and regularly held crowds in excess of 30,000. The stadium finally now had four complete stands that would form its basis for the next half century.

In the days before seating regulations, the ground could hold more than 60,000 spectators, with the record attendance being 61,315 for a First Division match against Liverpool on 11 February 1939. The 1940s and 1950s saw average attendances for seasons regularly exceed 40,000, coinciding with the club's peak on the field. During this time Molineux became one of the first British grounds to install floodlights, which opened the door for it to host a series of midweek friendlies against teams from across the globe. In the days prior to the formation of the European Cup and international club competitions, these games were highly prestigious and gained huge crowds and interest with the BBC often televising such events.

When the Molineux Street Stand failed to meet the standards of the 1975 Safety of Sports Grounds Act, the club began building a new replacement stand behind the existing one, on land where housing had been demolished. This new all-seater stand – named the John Ireland Stand after the then-club president – was completed in 1979, as the planned first stage of a rebuilding of the entire stadium. The £2 million cost of this stand though meant the club's financial situation became critical and they entered receivership in 1982. By the time the club slid into the Fourth Division in 1986, the John Ireland Stand and the South Bank terrace were the only sections of the ground in use after new safety laws implemented following the Bradford City stadium fire forced the closure of both the now-dilapidated North Bank and Waterloo Road Stand, which the club lacked the finance to improve.

Following the takeover of the club by Sir Jack Hayward in 1990, £8.5 million of funding was made available to comprehensively redevelop Molineux. Between August 1991 and December 1993 three sides of the stadium were completely rebuilt to form a 28,525 capacity all-seater stadium that complied with the Taylor Report: the Waterloo Road Stand was replaced by the Billy Wright Stand, the North Bank terrace by the Stan Cullis Stand, and the South Bank terrace by the Jack Harris Stand. Aside from the addition of a temporary seating area in the southwest corner used during Wolves' seasons in the Premier League, this redevelopment formed the stadium for almost twenty years.

In 2010 plans were unveiled of an extensive redevelopment programme to enlarge the capacity and develop the facilities. The first stage of this saw a new two-tier Stan Cullis Stand become fully operational for the 2012–13 season, raising the current capacity up to approximately 31,700. The second stage would see the rebuilding of the oldest stand at the stadium (retitled the Steve Bull Stand in 2003) to increase capacity to around 36,000 but this has been indefinitely postponed.

Players

First team squad

As of 28 March 2013

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	WAL	Wayne Hennessey
3	DF	CMR	George Elokobi
4	MF	WAL	David Edwards
6	DF	ENG	Jody Craddock
7	MF	POL	Sławomir Peszko (on loan from Köln)
8	MF	ENG	Karl Henry (captain)
9	FW	ENG	Sylvan Ebanks-Blake
10	MF	FRA	Bakary Sako
11	DF	IRL	Stephen Ward
12	MF	IRL	Stephen Hunt
13	GK	NGA	Carl Ikeme
14	DF	ENG	Roger Johnson
15	FW	ISL	Björn Sigurðarson
16	DF	SCO	Christophe Berra
17	MF	TOG	Razak Boukari
18	GK	SVK	Marián Kello
19	MF	ENG	Adam Hammill
20	DF	ENG	Jack Robinson (on loan from Liverpool)
21	DF	LVA	Kaspars Gorkšs (on loan from Reading)
22	MF	ISL	Eggert Jónsson
23	MF	FRA	Nouha Dicko (on loan from Wigan Athletic)
24	MF	ENG	Jamie O'Hara
25	DF	ENG	Danny Batth

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
26	MF	ENG	David Davis
28	MF	MLI	Tongo Doumbia
29	FW	EIR	Kevin Doyle
30	DF	EIR	Matt Doherty
31	GK	NED	Dorus de Vries
32	DF	IRL	Kevin Foley
33	DF	ENG	Jamie Reckord
34	DF	AUT	Georg Margreitter
35	FW	WAL	Jake Cassidy
36	GK	IRL	Aaron McCarey
37	FW	ENG	Sam Winnall
39	DF	ENG	Michael Ihiekwe
41	MF	ENG	Jack Price
42	MF	SWE	Tim Jakobsson
43	GK	SVN	Aljaž Cotman
44	DF	SVK	Kristián Koštrna
45	DF	ENG	Jordan Cranston
46	MF	ENG	Sam Whittall
47	MF	ENG	Zeli Ismail
48	FW	ENG	Jake Kempton
49	FW	NIR	Liam McAlinden
50	DF	ENG	Jamie Tank
––	MF	WAL	Lee Evans

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
5	DF	ENG	Richard Stearman (on loan at Ipswich Town until the end of the season)
27	MF	IRL	Anthony Forde (on loan at Scunthorpe United until the end of the season)
––	DF	ENG	Ethan Ebanks-Landell (on loan at Bury until the end of the season)
––	MF	NIR	Johnny Gorman (on loan at Cambridge United until the end of the season)
––	FW	SCO	Leigh Griffiths (on loan at Hibernian until the end of the season)

Academy

Wolverhampton Wanderers Academy is a Category 1 status facility and has produced several high profile graduates including internationals Robbie Keane and Joleon Lescott. Many other players have gone on to play first team football at Molineux, including current players Wayne Hennessey, Danny Batth, Anthony Forde, Johnny Gorman, David Davis and Carl Ikeme. The academy is managed by Kevin Thelwell and is based at the club's Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground.

Other teams

Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves play at the highest level of the Under-21 Premier League, by virtue of their academy holding Category 1 status. Although the league is designed for players aged 21 and below, three overage players may also feature. Home games are primarily staged at AFC Telford United's New Bucks Head home.

Wolves Women became the club's official women's team in 2008. They currently play in the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division, at the third tier of women's football. Their home games are held at the Castlecroft Stadium in Wolverhampton.

Club officials

Coaching staff

• Manager: Dean Saunders
• Assistant manager: Brian Carey
• Development coach: Steve Weaver
• Goalkeeping coach: Pat Mountain
• Head of Football Development and Recruitment: Kevin Thelwell
• Head of Recruitment: Stuart Webber
• Recruitment Analyst: Chris Badlan
• Professional lead coach: Mick Halsall

Medical staff

• Head of medical department: Phil Hayward
• Head of First Team Athletic Performance: Tony Daley
• Fitness and Conditioning coach: Mal Purchase
• Physiotherapist: Carl Howarth
• Club doctor: Matt Perry

Club executives

• Owner / chairman: Steve Morgan
• Chief executive officer: Jez Moxey
• Honorary president: Sir Jack Hayward
• Honorary vice-presidents:
  Steve Bull, Rachael Heyhoe Flint and Robert Plant
• Directors: John Bowater and John Gough
• Club secretary: Richard Skirrow

Former players and managers

Statue of Billy Wright outside Molineux Stadium

Notable players

For details on all former players, see List of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players

The club has been represented by numerous high profile players over the years, most notably Billy Wright, who captained England a record 90 times and was the first player to win a century of international caps, as well as earning the Footballer of the Year Award, an accolade also won by Wolves half-back Bill Slater in 1960. In total, 34 players have won full England caps during their time with Wolves, including the club's record goalscorer Steve Bull, the last of the club's England internationals to appear at a major tournament.

Andy Gray, Emlyn Hughes, Paul Ince and Denis Irwin are all previous League Championship medal winners who have also represented Wolves. Current international players Joleon Lescott and Robbie Keane are also former players.

The Wolverhampton Wanderers Hall of Fame has inducted the following former players:

• Mike Bailey
• Peter Broadbent
• Steve Bull
• Stan Cullis
• Derek Dougan
• Malcolm Finlayson
• Ron Flowers

• Billy Harrison
• Kenny Hibbitt
• Jackery Jones
• Jimmy Mullen
• Andy Mutch
• Derek Parkin
• John Richards

• Bill Slater
• Roy Swinbourne
• Dave Wagstaffe
• Bert Williams
• Billy Wright

Managerial history

Main article: List of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers

Wolves' most successful manager is Stan Cullis, who also served the club as a player. Other notable managers have included Club Hall of Fame members Major Frank Buckley and Graham Turner as well as Bill McGarry, John Barnwell, Graham Taylor, Dave Jones, Mick McCarthy and Glenn Hoddle. Both Taylor and Hoddle managed the England national team before their arrival at Wolves.

Support

As well as having numerous supporters' clubs across the United Kingdom, Wolverhampton Wanderers also have an international support base, with supporters' clubs in Australia, United States, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Malta, Iceland and Norway amongst others. They have a particularly sizable Scandinavian fanbase, due to the area's television coverage of Midlands football in the 1970s when the club were a regular top flight team; indeed, the first-ever English match shown live in Sweden involved Wolves.

Rivalries

Wolves' longest-established and strongest rivalry is with West Bromwich Albion, against whom the club contest the Black Country derby. The two clubs, separated by twelve miles, have faced each other 160 times; their first competitive clash being an FA Cup tie in 1886. A national survey by The Football Pools found the rivalry to be the strongest in English football. Both clubs are founder members of the Football League and the two once contested the league title in 1953–54, with Wolves finishing as champions.

Due to their close proximity, Wolves also share rivalries with the two Birmingham clubs, Aston Villa and Birmingham City, both of whom they have faced numerous times dating back to the 19th century. Their closest geographic rival is Walsall but, as they rarely competed at the same level, this is of less significance. As Wolverhampton historically sat in the county of Staffordshire, a Staffordshire derby between them and Stoke City was once recognised.

Fan culture

During the club's peak during the 1950s, the Molineux crowd's signature song was "The Happy Wanderer". In more recent times, "Hi Ho Silver Lining" – a 1967 rock song by Jeff Beck with its chorus modified to "Hi Ho Wolverhampton!" – has become a staple feature of home games. "The Liquidator" instrumental by the Harry J. Allstars was also popularly used in the stadium until a request from the West Midlands Police to cease due to concerns that the obscene lyrics used by some fans during the chorus could incite trouble.

As with all large city football teams the club attracted a number of hooligans in the 1960s. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, a hooligan firm named "The Subway Army" would often ambush fans in the subway adjacent to the ground. The group was eventually dissolved due to a large number of arrests – many as part of the police's nationwide "Operation GROWTH" (or "Get Rid of Wolverhampton's Troublesome Hooligans").

The club invites interaction with its supporters, and holds a Fans' Parliament which invites independently selected candidates to attend meetings at Molineux every two months. Meetings are usually attended by CEO Jez Moxey, alongside a variety of other club personnel, to discuss club matters. An independent fanzine named A Load of Bull (ALOB), in part reference to leading goalscorer Steve Bull, published supporters' views between 1989 and 2012.

Ownership and finances

The club is owned by businessman Steve Morgan as part of his Bridgemere Investments Group. He purchased the club in August 2007 for a nominal sum of £10 with the proviso that £30 million was injected into the club, ending an almost four-year search for a new buyer. Wolves' group parent company, which wholly owns both the "football club company" and the company holding its properties (including its stadium and training facilities), has net assets valued at almost £75 million.

Having suffered relegation from the Premier League, the club have already forecast a financial loss for the current season owing largely to the dramatic fall in revenue from losing the top flight's distributed payments and its revenue from the sale of broadcasting rights. To help offset this, as a relegated club, Wolves will receive annual "parachute payments" from the Premier League until the 2016–17 season. The last published accounts (covering the 2011–12 Premier League season) reported a £2.2m annual profit, with a turnover of £60.6 million but wage costs of £38.3 million. Like most football clubs, significant commercial income is generated from shirt sponsorship deals: their current affiliation, with the internet gambling company Sportingbet, will expire at the end of the current season.

Morgan bought the club from Sir Jack Hayward, a lifelong fan of the club, who had purchased it in 1990 for £2.1 million. During his tenure he invested an estimated £50 million of his personal wealth to rebuild their stadium and fund new players, though the team only achieved one season in the top flight during his seventeen years at the helm despite their increased spending power.

Hayward's takeover greatly improved the club's financial health, having endured a turbulent 1980s when the club twice was declared bankrupt. In 1982 the club was "saved" from liquidation when it was purchased by two Saudi brothers, Mahmud and Mohammad Bhatti, as part of their company Allied Properties. However, their failure to sufficiently invest in the club saw it face several winding-up orders as well as successive relegations through the football divisions. In 1986 the official receiver was again called in and a deal eventually brokered for Wolverhampton City Council to purchase the club's stadium for £1.12 million, along with the surrounding land, while a local developer, Gallagher Estates, in conjunction with the Asda supermarket chain, agreed to pay off the club's outstanding debts in return for the building of an Asda superstore on land adjacent to the stadium.

Honours

Main article: List of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. records and statistics

In the all-time table since the league's inception in 1888, Wolves sit in the all-time top four, behind only Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal in terms of all-time league position. Cumulatively, they are the ninth most successful club in English football history, behind Manchester City, with thirteen major trophy wins (see here).

League

First Division

• Champions: 1953–54, 1957–58, 1958–59

• Runners-up: 1937–38, 1938–39, 1949–50, 1954–55, 1959–60

Championship / Second Division

• Champions: 1931–32, 1976–77, 2008–09

• Runners-up: 1966–67, 1982–83

• Play-off winners: 2003

Third Division (North) / Third Division

• Champions: 1923–24, 1988–89

Fourth Division

• Champions: 1987–88

Cup

UEFA Cup

• Runners-up: 1972

FA Cup

• Winners: 1893, 1908, 1949, 1960
• Runners-up: 1889, 1896, 1921, 1939

Football League Cup

• Winners: 1974, 1980

FA Charity Shield

• Winners: 1949*, 1954*, 1959, 1960* (* joint holders)
• Runners-up: 1958

Football League Trophy

• Winners: 1988

Texaco Cup

• Winners: 1971

External links

• Official Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. site
• Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures
• Wolves at Soccerbase
• Wolves Stats
• Wolves Community Trust