Club Overview

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands of England. Usually referred to by a shortened version of its name, Wolves, the club is known for its distinctive team colours and long history. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has been based at Molineux Stadium.

Historically, Wolves have been highly successful, being founder members of the Football League, and winning the FA Cup twice before the outbreak of World War I. Wolves really established themselves as a top side under the management of Stan Cullis after the Second World War, going on to win the League three times and the FA Cup twice between 1949 and 1960. It was at this time that the European Cup competition was initiated in the mid-1950s after English newspapers declared Wolves "Champions of the World" following victories against top European sides. Wolves have yet to match the successes of the Stan Cullis era, although they did contest the first UEFA Cup final in 1972 against Tottenham Hotspur, and won the League Cup in 1974 under Bill McGarry and in 1980 under John Barnwell. Since 1984 they have, however, spent just one season in the top division.

Club History

The team was founded as St. Luke's in 1877 by John Baynton and John Brodie after a group of pupils at St Luke's 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 was given the use of two fields - John Harper's Field and Windmill Field - both off Lower Villiers Street in Blakenhall in its early years. From there, they moved to a site on the Dudley Road opposite the Fighting Cocks Inn in 1881. The club 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.

The Stan Cullis era

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 Liverpool would have won the title but a 2-1 win 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' 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 the goal average prevented the First Division title being won.

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. In this period, football played under floodlights was still a novelty. The summer of 1953 saw the first set of lights installed at Molineux, which were first tested in a friendly game against a South African XI. Over the next months, Wolves played a series of "floodlit friendlies" against foreign opposition. Beginning with Racing Club of Argentina, they also played Spartak Moscow of the USSR, before meeting Honvéd of Hungary in a game televised live on the BBC. The Honved team included many of the "Magical Magyars" team who had humbled England twice. Wolves won the game 3-2, beating the Hungarian side despite having been 2-0 down at half time, which led many, including Cullis, to proclaim Wolves "Champions of the World", in spite of Honved's defeat to Red Star Belgrade (then lying seventh in their domestic league) days earlier. 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 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. Later, Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Moscow and Real Madrid all came to Molineux and were beaten. 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 goes

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. The club's first spell outside the top division in more than thirty years would last just two seasons, as an eight game winning run in the spring of 1967 led the way to promotion.

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, playing as the "Los Angeles Wolves", won the Western Division and then went on to earn the league title by defeating the Eastern Division champion 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.).

Cup finals and relegation struggles

The club's return to the English top flight heralded another period of relative success, finishing the 1970–1971 season in 4th place, qualifying them for the newly created UEFA Cup. Stars of this era included Derek Dougan, Kenny Hibbitt and Frank Munro. En route to the final, they beat Académica 7-1 on aggregate, ADO Den Haag (again 7-1 on aggregate), FC Carl Zeiss Jena 4-0 on aggregate, Juventus 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-final and Ferencvaros 4-3 in the semi-final. Reaching the UEFA Cup final, Wolves lost the home leg 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 they beat Manchester City to win the League Cup for the first time. Despite relegation again in 1976, Wolves were to bounce back as Second Division champions, and three years later, an Andy Gray goal defeated reigning European champions Nottingham Forest to again bring League Cup glory to Molineux in 1980.

Playoff agony

In 1990 Wolves were bought by lifelong supporter Sir Jack Hayward, and his money has led to much better times for the club. Wolves narrowly missed out on the Second Division play-offs - and the chance of a unique third successive promotion - at the end of the 1989-90 season. They did not make the playoffs until 1995, by which time the Premiership had been formed and its feeder division was now called Division One.

The club's ageing ground was comprehensively rebuilt to meet new government inspired regulations in 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. Both of these stands were reportedly funded by the club owner. In December of that year the ground was completed when the Jack Harris Stand replaced the South Bank and the John Ireland Stand (renamed as the Steve Bull Stand in the summer of 2003) was completely refurbished by the owner.

Graham Turner had quit in March 1994 to make way for former England manager Graham Taylor. Wolves looked set for a return to the big time after beating Bolton 2-1 in the first leg of the play-off semi finals, but a 2-0 defeat in the second leg ended their promotion hopes.

Taylor was ousted in October 1995 after Wolves 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 their dismal 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 in the Fourth Division a decade earlier.

Wolves were much more confident in 1996-97, but were pipped to the second automatic promotion place by Barnsley and lost to Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-finals. They reached the F.A. Cup semi-finals a year later but McGhee was dismissed in November 1998 with Wolves 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. A similar disappointment followed in 1999–2000 and Lee was dismissed in December 2000 with Wolves just a few places above the drop zone.

Former Southampton manager Dave Jones was named as Lee's successor 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. Wolves returned to their winning ways in 2001-02 and spent much of the season in the top two places. However, end of season slump saw them being pipped to automatic promotion by deadly 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 First Time in the Premiership

Wolves experienced sporadic form during the early part of 2002-03, and thus were never in contention for the automatic promotion places. Following a patchy first half of the season, Dave Jones' side turned the corner with a 3-2 FA Cup win over Newcastle United. The team lost just 2 of their 20 league games after this, securing them 5th place, and a play-off semi-final clash against newly-promoted Reading. Wolves had trailed 1-0 in the home leg but hit back with 2 goals in ten minutes to secure a 2-1 victory. Alex Rae scored the goal in a 1-0 win at the Madejski Stadium, and earned Wolves a place in the Play-off Final against Sheffield United. In the Cardiff final, three goals in the first half 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 British football.

With key players Matt Murray & Joleon Lescott out for entire season and several others like Kenny Miller injured from the start of the season, life in the Premiership was hard for Wolves, they did not win until their eighth match. They did manage some decent results, in particular a 1-0 win over Manchester United in January, but failing to win a single away game meant that their relegation battle was ultimately lost. Wolves finished bottom of the table on goal difference, bracketed together on 33 points with the two other relegated teams - Leicester City and Leeds United.

A new approach

In pre-season 2006, Wolves cut their wage bill in half following the departure of 12 senior players, receiving a transfer fee for only two (the sales of Joleon Lescott and Seol Ki-Hyeon).

Former Republic of Ireland and Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy was confirmed as Glenn Hoddle's replacement as manager on 21 July 2006. 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. Mick McCarthy acknowledged the challenge, stating to local media "The initials MM on my top stand for Mick McCarthy, not Merlin the Magician".

The manager quickly scraped together a squad, largely from the club's youth ranks, out of contract players and loanees. 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, losing 3-2 at Molineux and 1-0 at The Hawthorns. Goalkeeper Matt Murray, voted player of the season by Wolves supporters, broke his shoulder in the final training session, which led to Wayne Hennessey making his Wolves debut in his place.

On 9 August 2007, businessman Steve Morgan finally completed a protracted takeover of the club for £10 in return for a £30million investment into the club, resulting in the departure of Sir Jack Hayward after 17 years as chairman.

After the previous year's surprising play-off finish, hopes were high for the club to go one step further this time. However, an injury suffered by key player Michael Kightly seemed to severely weaken the team's creativity and preceded a dismal Christmas period that saw them pick up just 4 points from a possible 21, leaving them mid-table, and without hopes of an automatic finish. A late rally that saw them lose just twice in their final 15 games, aided by the goalpower of new signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, kept them in contention, but the side finished outside the final play-off spot on goal difference, two goals short of Watford.

2008-09 season

The club have continued their recent policy of signing young players with potential from lesser clubs rather than pursuing their heavy investment strategy of early times. The close season saw the likes of Richard Stearman, David Jones and Sam Vokes arrive, along with the experience of Chris Iwelumo, while making a transfer profit by selling off players such as Seyi Olofinjana, Jay Bothroyd and Freddy Eastwood. The squad was also boosted by retaining their most valuable assets in Wayne Hennessey, Michael Kightly and the division's top goalscorer of last season, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

The season saw the club's strongest start since 1949-50, as a draw away to Plymouth was followed by 7 consecutive wins - scoring 23 goals and conceding only 7 goals in the first 8 games. That streak was ended by a 3-0 home defeat to Reading but they remained at the top of the league at the end of September. A run of three defeats in four games, including a 5-2 defeat away to Norwich, saw Wolves surrender top spot to Birmingham City. However, after 16 games, Wolves sat at the top of the table, six points clear of Birmingham City thanks to a great run of seven successive victories.

Transfer deadline day witnessed three new defenders joining the Wolves ranks - George Friend, Matt Hill and Jason Shackell. An injury crisis did leave the club without the attacking talent of Michael Kightly, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Matt Jarvis, meaning Wolves were without seven first team regulars in the 3-1 away defeat to Swansea City. They had already suffered long term injuries to defenders Jody Craddock and George Elokobi. However, both Kightly and Ebanks-Blake returned to the squad in the 2-1 home victory over Coventry City.

At the end of the season Wolves clinched the Championship, at their home game against Doncaster Rovers and plans for their second attempt at the Premier League began.

Local Club Rivalries

• Birmingham City
• West Brom
• Aston Villa

Stars of the Current Squad

• Michael Kightly
• Sylvan-Ebanks Blake
• Chris Iwelumo
• Kevin Foley

Club Legends

• Billy Wright
• Stan Cullis
• Steve Bull
• Derek Doogan
• John Richards

Most Appearances

Appearances

• Most appearances (total) : Derek Parkin - 609 (1968-82)
• Most appearances (league) : Derek Parkin - 501 (1968-82)
• Most consecutive appearances : Phil Parkes - 171 (127 league) - Sept 1970 to Sept 1973
• Youngest player : Jimmy Mullen, 16 years 43 days (against Leeds United, Division 1; 18 February 1939)
• Oldest player : Archie Goodall, 41 years 116 days (against Everton, Division 1; 2 December 1906)

Most Goals

• Most goals scored (career) : Steve Bull - 306 (1986-99)
• Most league goals scored (career) : Steve Bull - 250 (1986-99)
• Most top flight goals scored : Johnny Hancocks - 158 (1946-57)
• Most goals scored (season) : Steve Bull - 52 (1987-88, Division 4)
• Most league goals scored (season) : Dennis Westcott - 38 (1946-47, Division 1)
• Most goals scored (FA Cup) : John Richards - 24 (1969-83)
• Most goals scored (League Cup) :
• John Richards - 18 (1969-83)
• Steve Bull - 18 (1986-99)
• Most goals in European competition : Derek Dougan - 12 (1967-75)
• Most hat-tricks scored : Steve Bull - 18 (1986-99)
• Most goals scored (individual, game) :

5 - Joe Butcher against Accrington - 19 November 1892 (Division 1) 5 - Tom Phillipson against Bradford City - 25 December 1926 (Division 2) 5 - Billy Hartill against Notts County - 12 October 1929 (Division 2) 5 - Billy Hartill against Aston Villa - 3 September 1934 (Division 1)

• Fastest recorded goal : 12 seconds, John Richards against Burnley - 15 November 1975 (Division 1)

Team Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers are the tenth most successful club in English football history, having won the FA Cup on four occasions and been League Champions three times, Charity Shield winners four times and winning the League Cup twice[4]. Cumulatively, they are the eighth most successful club, behind Chelsea, with 13 wins (see English Football Records). They are the only club to have won titles in five different Football League divisions[5], and the only club to have won all top national cups (FA Cup, Football League Cup and Football League Trophy)[citation needed].

In 1988, their Fourth Division title glory made them the first team to have been champions of all four professional leagues in English football, although this feat has since been matched by Burnley in 1992 and Preston in 1996.

They are also the first team to score 7,000 league goals[6].

• Premier League (Old Division One) Champions: 1953/54, 1957/58, 1958/59
• FA Cup Winners: 1893, 1908, 1949, 1960; runners-up: 1889, 1896, 1921, 1939
• Championship (Old Division Two) Champions: 1931/32, 1976/77, 2008/09
• Championship (Old Division Two) Play-off Winners: 2003/04
• League 1 (Old Division Three) Champions: 1988/89
• League 1 (Old Division Three North) Champions: 1923/24
• League 2 (Old Division Four) Champions: 1987/88
• League Cup Winners: 1974, 1980
• Sherpa Van Trophy Winners: 1988
• Texaco Cup Winners: 1971
• UEFA Cup runners-up: 1972
• FA Community Shield Winners: 1949 (shared Portsmouth), 1954 (shared West Bromwich Albion), 1959 (outright), 1960 (shared Burnley)
• Football League War Cup Winners: 1942
• FA Youth Cup Winners: 1958; runners-up: 1953, 1954, 1962, 1976

Club Management

Current Coaching Staff

• Mick McCarthy Manager
• Terry Connor Assistant Manager
• Tony Daley First Team Fitness & Conditioning Coach
• Steve Weaver Development Coach
• Pat Mountain Goalkeeping Coach
• David Bowman Chief Scout
• Kevin Thelwell Academy Manager

Stadium

Wolverhampton Wanderers have played at Molineux, Whitmore Reans, since 1889. Their previous home was in the Blakenhall area, and although no signs of the ground remain, a nearby road is called Wanderers Avenue. The Molineux name originates from Benjamin Molineux, a local merchant who built his home on the grounds. Northampton Brewery, who later owned the site, rented its use to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1889, who had previously lacked a permanent home. After renovating the site, the first ever league game was staged on 7 September 1889 in a 2-0 victory over Notts County before a crowd of 4,000.

In 1953, the stadium became one of the first to install floodlights, at an estimated cost of £10,000. The first ever floodlit game was held on 30 September 1953, as Wolves won 3-1 against South Africa. The addition of the floodlights opened the door for Molineux 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, the BBC often televising such events. The old South Bank at Molineux is also historically the second largest of all Kop ends closely followed by Aston Villa's Holte End, both of which regularly held crowds in excess of 30,000. When Wolves were at their height of success during the 1950s (three League Championships and two FA Cups) Molineux regularly held over 50,000 mostly standing spectators. By the time of their sharp decline during the 1980s, only the newly built 9,500-seat John Ireland Stand (now the Steve Bull Stand) and the much reduced South Bank (15,500) were in use. This reduction in capacity was due to the fact that the other two stands were wood-built and declared unsafe following the Bradford City disaster, in which a wood-built stand caught fire and killed 56 people in 1985. In the days before the Taylor Report, which required British football stadia to provide seating for all those attending, the ground had a capacity of over 60,000; the record attendance for a match at the ground is 61,315 for a game against Liverpool in the First Division on 11 February 1939. Between 1991 and 1993, Molineux was comprehensively redeveloped. The Waterloo Road stand was replaced by the all-seat Billy Wright Stand, the North Bank terrace was replaced by the Stan Cullis Stand, and the South Bank terrace was replaced by the Jack Harris Stand. By the 1993–94 season the Molineux had a 28,525 all-seated capacity making Molineux the twenty-sixth largest in English football. But by the time of the 2003 promotion, Molineux was the fifteenth largest Premiership stadium. In the previous decade, many of the smaller stadiums had either been expanded or replaced to hold a capacity of between 30,000 and 67,000 seated spectators. For the 2003–04 to 2005–06 seasons, the corner between the Billy Wright and Jack Harris Stands was filled in with temporary seating to create a further 900 seats named the Graham Hughes stand (the Clubs Official Historian), bringing the ground's capacity to 29,400. These temporary seats were removed during the 2006 close season.

Millionaire owner Steve Morgan is keen to "transform the city centre ground into a venue fit for Premiership football", although the scale and speed of the expansion plans will depend on Wolves stabilising themselves in the Premier League. As a result of Wolves's promotion to the Premier League, the temporary seating will return for the 2009-2010 campaign.

Training Ground

The Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground, opened in 2005, is a £4.6m, state-of-the-art development located in Compton, Wolverhampton. The two-storey building stands approximately one mile to the west of the stadium, and contains five high-quality training pitches, eleven changing rooms, medical and physiotherapy facilities, gymnasium, and a hydrotherapy pool, one of only a handful of English clubs to own such equipment.

Strip

The first badge to be worn on Wolves shirts was the city crest of Wolverhampton, usually worn on special occasions such as cup finals. In the late 1960s, Wolves introduced their own club badge consisting of a single leaping wolf, which later became three leaping wolves in the 1970s. In 1979, Wolves changed to the now famous wolf-head badge. Its simple and stylised design made it one of the most recognisable club badges in British football and, despite a brief return to the Wolverhampton city crest in the mid 1990s, it is still in use to the present day.

The club's traditional colours allude to the city's moto "out of darkness cometh light" with the gold being a representation of the light and the black being a representation of the dark. In the club's early days the team sported various versions of these colours including old gold and black stripes and old gold and black diagonal halves. It remains one of the most famous and recognisable strips in British football today. The traditional away colour of Wolves is all white

Shirt Sponsors

On 31 March 2009 the club announced a new two-year sponsorship deal with internet gambling company Sportingbet. In addition to becoming the official gambling partner of Wolverhampton Wanderers, the deal, which runs from June 2009, will see Sportingbet.com branding on the home and away kits, as well as the club website and in prominent positions around Molineux.

Previous shirt sponsors include Tatung (1982–85), Staw Distribution (1985–88), Manders Paint & Ink (1988–90), Goodyear (1990–2002), Doritos (2002–04) and Chaucer Consulting (2004–09).