Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club are a professional football club representing the city of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands region of England, currently playing in the Premier League. Commonly referred to by their nickname Wolves, the club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 have played at Molineux Stadium. Historically, Wolves have been highly influential, most notably as founder members of the Football League, as well as having played an instrumental role in the establishment of the European Cup.
Having won the FA Cup twice before the outbreak of the First World War, Wolves consolidated their reputation as a top side under the legendary management of ex-player 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 established, after the English press declared Wolves "Champions of the World" following their victories against such top European and World sides as South Africa, Racing, Spartak Moscow, and Honvéd in some of football's first live televised games.
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 again in 1980 under John Barnwell. However, a decline set in and they found themselves in the Fourth Division by 1986, before a revival under manager Graham Turner and legendary striker Steve Bull saw them finish the decade in the Second Division, winning the Football League Trophy along the way. Their 19-year exile from the top flight was ended through promotion to the Premier League for the 2003-4 season, lasting only one season, though in 2009 they won promotion to the Premier League once again, this time by winning the Football League Championship.
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 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 — John Harper's Field and Windmill Field — 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.
Wolves remained as members of the Football League First Division from 1888 until relegation in 1906, winning the FA Cup for the first time on 26 March 1893. 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 final on 25 April 1908. 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.
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. Two more titles were later won, as Wolves cemented their position as the premier team in English football.
In this period, football played under floodlights was still a novelty, and 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 famous "floodlit friendlies" against foreign opposition, and the "sheer theatre" of the football enthused many, such as the young Wolves fan George Best. Beginning with Racing Club of Argentina, they also played 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 Honved team that including many of the "Magical Magyars" team who had recently so humbled England twice, and had been 1954 World Cup finalists. 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.
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 domination period. 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.
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 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 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 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 in 1974 they went on to beat Manchester City in the 1974 Football League Cup Final, taking the trophy for the first time. Despite relegation again in 1976, Wolves were to bounce back as Second Division champions, and three years later in 1980, Andy Gray scored to defeat the reigning European Champions and League Cup holders Nottingham Forest to again bring League Cup glory to Molineux.
Wolves went through a bad spell in the 1980s, triggered by serious financial difficulties that almost resulted in the club's extinction. The club's infamous owners, the Bhatti brothers, had sucked Wolves dry, and three consecutive relegations in 1984, 1985 and 1986 saw a bankrupt Wolves slide into the Fourth Division for the first time in the club's history, the club hanging by a thread and with three sides of the decaying stadium condemned. The nadir finally came with the FA Cup 1st Round 2nd replay defeat by 3-0 to non-league Chorley in 1986.
By 1987, having been saved by the local council, Wolves began the climb away from rock bottom, with ownership of the club changed, and Graham Turner appointed manager in October 1986, shortly after the drop into Division Four. By 1989, Wolves were back in the Second Division following two successive promotions. This period included one further visit to Wembley, for the Sherpa Van Trophy final in May 1988. Wolves' 2-0 victory over Burnley drew a record attendance of 80,841, with more than 50,000 supporting Wolves.
The key player behind the club's resurgence was undoubtedly Steve Bull, who had been signed along with Andy Thompson for a combined fee of £64,000 from neighbours West Bromwich Albion. His feat of scoring 50+ goals in all competitions during back-to-back promotion-winning seasons subsequently saw him capped by England and take part in the 1990 World Cup Finals. His record of 306 goals for Wolves (250 of them in league matches) before retiring at the end of the 1998–99 season still stands as the club's record goalscorer. He is the only player to have played for England while contracted to Wolves in the last quarter of a century.
In 1990 Wolves were bought by lifelong supporter Jack Hayward, and 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. In fact, they were not to make the playoffs until 1995, by which time the Premiership had been formed and its feeder division was now called Division One. However, Hayward's money saw the club's ageing ground comprehensively rebuilt to meet new government 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 stands funded by Jack Hayward. 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.
In March 1994, Graham Turner quit, making way for former England manager Graham Taylor, as 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, only to fall to a 2-0 defeat in the second leg, ended their promotion hopes. Taylor was ousted on 13 November 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 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 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. 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. 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 experienced sporadic form during the early part of 2002–03, and thus were never in contention for the automatic promotion places, but following a patchy first half of the season, Dave Jones' side turned the corner with a 3-2 FA Cup win over Newcastle United in a game said to be one of the greatest F.A Cup ties of recent times. The team lost just two 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 two 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, held at the Millennium Stadium, 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.
Wolves' debut season in the Premiership would be tough, with key players Matt Murray and Joleon Lescott out for the entire season, and several others like Kenny Miller injured from the start. Despite these setbacks, and the minimal funds available to manager Dave Jones, Wolves overcame their seven game win-less start, to eventually achieve some decent 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 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.
Wolves made a dismal start to the 2004–05 Championship campaign, and at one point sat as low as 19th in the table. Following a humiliating encounter with Gillingham at Priestfield, which Wolves had lost 1-0, Jones was sacked at the beginning of November with the dreaded double drop looking a real possibility. Coach Stuart Gray was put in temporary charge of the first team for a month after Jones's dismissal, before 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 finished ninth in the final table — not enough to qualify for the play-offs. Wolves then finished a disappointing seventh in 2005–06. Discontent grew as fans became disenchanted with the lack of passion and pride from the team, including from Hoddle himself who had not moved to the area. Additionally, dull, cautious and bizarre tactics from Hoddle, including the placing of 6ft 4" Carl Cort on the wing, and 5ft 9" Tomasz Frankowski in the middle, as well as a general lack of fortitude in the striking department, combined to create a gut wrenching season for the Wolves faithful, many of whom had vowed towards the end of the season that they would not be renewing their season tickets as long as Hoddle was in charge. Though the board expressed no displeasure with Hoddle, and with Jez Moxey affirming his faith in the under fire manager, the season had been frowned on by both local media, and most importantly, the fan base. However, few had anticipated Hoddle's sudden resignation mere moments before England's World Cup quarter-final clash with Portugal.
Following the exit of Hoddle in pre-season in 2006, Wolves staged a complete clearout, stripping the squad down and appointing Former Republic of Ireland and Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy to take things forward with a new ‘young, hungry and talented’ policy. Wolves subsequently cut their wage bill in half following the departure of 12 senior players, receiving transfer fees for only two — Joleon Lescott and Seol Ki-Hyeon. 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 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.
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) after 17 years as chairman. Hayward had announced his plans to resign in 2003, but the search for the right replacement took a while as Sir Jack eventually sounded out Morgan, whom it was said had a "heart transplant" from his home town Liverpool, to Wolverhampton. The protracted takeover was finally completed on 9 August 2007, and Morgan has since stated he aim to carry out a ‘ten year master plan’ to re-establish Wolves as a top flight team, which will involve, amongst other things, a stadium overhaul that will be overseen by the ex-property developer. The takeover culminated with this statement by the club:
"In keeping his promise to supporters to step aside for the right person, Sir Jack (Hayward) has taken the unprecedented step of ’gifting’ the shares of Wolverhampton Wanderers (1990) Ltd, the club’s holding company, to Carden Leisure for £10 in return for a £30million investment into the club. All of the £30m will be used for the benefit of Wolves. Sir Jack is making this gift for the benefit of the club and in order to secure the future of the club on a long term basis. 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. Having been impressed by what he’s seen of the club to date, Steve Morgan is keen to ensure stability and continuity by retaining Mick McCarthy as first team manager and Jez Moxey as chief executive...Sir Jacks feels he has finally found someone who not only has the best interests of the club at heart but also has the resources necessary to take over the responsibility for returning the club to its former greatness. In recognition of his unique commitment to Wolves and to ensure his experience is not lost, Sir Jack will remain life president and be available to the club to provide whatever support they require. — Club Statement"
After the previous year's overachieving play-off finish, hopes were high for the club to go one step further, however injury to key players Michael Kightly and his wide midfield counterpart Matt Jarvis seemed to severely weaken the team's creativity and preceded a dismal Christmas period that saw them pick up just four points from a possible 21, leaving them mid-table and without hopes of an automatic finish. A late rally then saw them lose just twice in their final 15 games, aided by the goal power of new signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, but the side were to eventually finish just outside the final play-off spot on goal difference, one goal short of Watford.
The 2008/2009 season saw the club continue their policy of signing young players with potential from the lower leagues, 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 with the sale of 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 preceded two runs of seven consecutive wins — scoring 23 goals and conceding only seven goals in the first eight games. Transfer deadline day saw the club add further defensive strength as three new defenders joined the ranks — George Friend, Matt Hill and Jason Shackell. Although their winning streak was ended by a 3-0 home defeat to promotion rivals Reading, as well as a 5-2 defeat at Norwich, which saw Wolves surrender top spot to Birmingham City, Wolves rediscovered their winning form for the second run of seven consecutive wins to lead the table at Christmas.
After drawing their final two fixtures of 2008, Wolves endured a dismal start to 2009, winning just once in eleven league fixtures. Trying to arrest this slump, the January transfer window saw the arrival of three new faces: Kyel Reid and Nigel Quashie on loan for the remainder of the season from West Ham United; defender Christophe Berra also joined from Scottish club Hearts for £2.3million. Weathering the bad run of form, Wolves managed to regain an air of consistency, reinventing their game from the free-flowing, free-scoring football of the first third of the season to hold down a string of clean sheets and one goal margin victories against Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday, largely based around the solid centre back partnership of Wolves' newest signing Berra and their longest-serving player, Jody Craddock. With promotion rivals Birmingham City and Reading unable to take advantage of their poor run, March saw an upturn in Wolves' league form as the club took 13 points from a possible 15, strengthening their position at the top of the table that they had lead since October.
The FA Cup had brought some respite from league matters, notably against local rivals Birmingham in the 3rd Round, with Wolves winning the match 2-0 after an impressive performance from a fringe squad at St Andrews. Wolves exited the FA Cup in the 4th round with a 2-1 home defeat to Premier League side Middlesbrough.
With just seven games left on the Championship calendar, Aston Villa striker Marlon Harewood was loaned for the run-in, though the team were also hit by the news that key midfielder Michael Kightly would miss the remainder of the season after suffering a broken metatarsal in his foot.
Wolves lost to local rivals Birmingham in April to end a five-game unbeaten run. However, a 3-0 home win against struggling Southampton, followed by a 3-2 away victory at Derby County on Easter Monday gave Wolves a seven-point lead over third-placed Sheffield United. Promotion to the Premier League was confirmed on 18 April 2009 when a goal from Ebanks-Blake gave Wolves a 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers. Seven days later, Wolves clinched their first league title since the 1988–89 season — and their first championship at Championship/Second Division level since 1976–77 — after Reid's equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw at Barnsley and the point they required for the title.
Wolves completed their season on Sunday 3 May 2009 with a 1-0 home win over Doncaster Rovers, promoted to the Premier League alongside local rivals and league runners-up Birmingham City.
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.
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.
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.
Having won the FA Cup twice before the outbreak of the First World War, Wolves consolidated their reputation as a top side under the legendary management of ex-player 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 established, after the English press declared Wolves "Champions of the World" following their victories against such top European and World sides as South Africa, Racing, Spartak Moscow, and Honvéd in some of football's first live televised games.
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 again in 1980 under John Barnwell. However, a decline set in and they found themselves in the Fourth Division by 1986, before a revival under manager Graham Turner and legendary striker Steve Bull saw them finish the decade in the Second Division, winning the Football League Trophy along the way. Their 19-year exile from the top flight was ended through promotion to the Premier League for the 2003-4 season, lasting only one season, though in 2009 they won promotion to the Premier League once again, this time by winning the Football League Championship.
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 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 — John Harper's Field and Windmill Field — 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.
Wolves remained as members of the Football League First Division from 1888 until relegation in 1906, winning the FA Cup for the first time on 26 March 1893. 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 final on 25 April 1908. 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.
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. Two more titles were later won, as Wolves cemented their position as the premier team in English football.
In this period, football played under floodlights was still a novelty, and 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 famous "floodlit friendlies" against foreign opposition, and the "sheer theatre" of the football enthused many, such as the young Wolves fan George Best. Beginning with Racing Club of Argentina, they also played 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 Honved team that including many of the "Magical Magyars" team who had recently so humbled England twice, and had been 1954 World Cup finalists. 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.
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 domination period. 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.
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 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 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 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 in 1974 they went on to beat Manchester City in the 1974 Football League Cup Final, taking the trophy for the first time. Despite relegation again in 1976, Wolves were to bounce back as Second Division champions, and three years later in 1980, Andy Gray scored to defeat the reigning European Champions and League Cup holders Nottingham Forest to again bring League Cup glory to Molineux.
Wolves went through a bad spell in the 1980s, triggered by serious financial difficulties that almost resulted in the club's extinction. The club's infamous owners, the Bhatti brothers, had sucked Wolves dry, and three consecutive relegations in 1984, 1985 and 1986 saw a bankrupt Wolves slide into the Fourth Division for the first time in the club's history, the club hanging by a thread and with three sides of the decaying stadium condemned. The nadir finally came with the FA Cup 1st Round 2nd replay defeat by 3-0 to non-league Chorley in 1986.
By 1987, having been saved by the local council, Wolves began the climb away from rock bottom, with ownership of the club changed, and Graham Turner appointed manager in October 1986, shortly after the drop into Division Four. By 1989, Wolves were back in the Second Division following two successive promotions. This period included one further visit to Wembley, for the Sherpa Van Trophy final in May 1988. Wolves' 2-0 victory over Burnley drew a record attendance of 80,841, with more than 50,000 supporting Wolves.
The key player behind the club's resurgence was undoubtedly Steve Bull, who had been signed along with Andy Thompson for a combined fee of £64,000 from neighbours West Bromwich Albion. His feat of scoring 50+ goals in all competitions during back-to-back promotion-winning seasons subsequently saw him capped by England and take part in the 1990 World Cup Finals. His record of 306 goals for Wolves (250 of them in league matches) before retiring at the end of the 1998–99 season still stands as the club's record goalscorer. He is the only player to have played for England while contracted to Wolves in the last quarter of a century.
In 1990 Wolves were bought by lifelong supporter Jack Hayward, and 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. In fact, they were not to make the playoffs until 1995, by which time the Premiership had been formed and its feeder division was now called Division One. However, Hayward's money saw the club's ageing ground comprehensively rebuilt to meet new government 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 stands funded by Jack Hayward. 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.
In March 1994, Graham Turner quit, making way for former England manager Graham Taylor, as 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, only to fall to a 2-0 defeat in the second leg, ended their promotion hopes. Taylor was ousted on 13 November 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 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 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. 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. 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 experienced sporadic form during the early part of 2002–03, and thus were never in contention for the automatic promotion places, but following a patchy first half of the season, Dave Jones' side turned the corner with a 3-2 FA Cup win over Newcastle United in a game said to be one of the greatest F.A Cup ties of recent times. The team lost just two 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 two 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, held at the Millennium Stadium, 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.
Wolves' debut season in the Premiership would be tough, with key players Matt Murray and Joleon Lescott out for the entire season, and several others like Kenny Miller injured from the start. Despite these setbacks, and the minimal funds available to manager Dave Jones, Wolves overcame their seven game win-less start, to eventually achieve some decent 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 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.
Wolves made a dismal start to the 2004–05 Championship campaign, and at one point sat as low as 19th in the table. Following a humiliating encounter with Gillingham at Priestfield, which Wolves had lost 1-0, Jones was sacked at the beginning of November with the dreaded double drop looking a real possibility. Coach Stuart Gray was put in temporary charge of the first team for a month after Jones's dismissal, before 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 finished ninth in the final table — not enough to qualify for the play-offs. Wolves then finished a disappointing seventh in 2005–06. Discontent grew as fans became disenchanted with the lack of passion and pride from the team, including from Hoddle himself who had not moved to the area. Additionally, dull, cautious and bizarre tactics from Hoddle, including the placing of 6ft 4" Carl Cort on the wing, and 5ft 9" Tomasz Frankowski in the middle, as well as a general lack of fortitude in the striking department, combined to create a gut wrenching season for the Wolves faithful, many of whom had vowed towards the end of the season that they would not be renewing their season tickets as long as Hoddle was in charge. Though the board expressed no displeasure with Hoddle, and with Jez Moxey affirming his faith in the under fire manager, the season had been frowned on by both local media, and most importantly, the fan base. However, few had anticipated Hoddle's sudden resignation mere moments before England's World Cup quarter-final clash with Portugal.
Following the exit of Hoddle in pre-season in 2006, Wolves staged a complete clearout, stripping the squad down and appointing Former Republic of Ireland and Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy to take things forward with a new ‘young, hungry and talented’ policy. Wolves subsequently cut their wage bill in half following the departure of 12 senior players, receiving transfer fees for only two — Joleon Lescott and Seol Ki-Hyeon. 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 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.
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) after 17 years as chairman. Hayward had announced his plans to resign in 2003, but the search for the right replacement took a while as Sir Jack eventually sounded out Morgan, whom it was said had a "heart transplant" from his home town Liverpool, to Wolverhampton. The protracted takeover was finally completed on 9 August 2007, and Morgan has since stated he aim to carry out a ‘ten year master plan’ to re-establish Wolves as a top flight team, which will involve, amongst other things, a stadium overhaul that will be overseen by the ex-property developer. The takeover culminated with this statement by the club:
"In keeping his promise to supporters to step aside for the right person, Sir Jack (Hayward) has taken the unprecedented step of ’gifting’ the shares of Wolverhampton Wanderers (1990) Ltd, the club’s holding company, to Carden Leisure for £10 in return for a £30million investment into the club. All of the £30m will be used for the benefit of Wolves. Sir Jack is making this gift for the benefit of the club and in order to secure the future of the club on a long term basis. 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. Having been impressed by what he’s seen of the club to date, Steve Morgan is keen to ensure stability and continuity by retaining Mick McCarthy as first team manager and Jez Moxey as chief executive...Sir Jacks feels he has finally found someone who not only has the best interests of the club at heart but also has the resources necessary to take over the responsibility for returning the club to its former greatness. In recognition of his unique commitment to Wolves and to ensure his experience is not lost, Sir Jack will remain life president and be available to the club to provide whatever support they require. — Club Statement"
After the previous year's overachieving play-off finish, hopes were high for the club to go one step further, however injury to key players Michael Kightly and his wide midfield counterpart Matt Jarvis seemed to severely weaken the team's creativity and preceded a dismal Christmas period that saw them pick up just four points from a possible 21, leaving them mid-table and without hopes of an automatic finish. A late rally then saw them lose just twice in their final 15 games, aided by the goal power of new signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, but the side were to eventually finish just outside the final play-off spot on goal difference, one goal short of Watford.
The 2008/2009 season saw the club continue their policy of signing young players with potential from the lower leagues, 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 with the sale of 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 preceded two runs of seven consecutive wins — scoring 23 goals and conceding only seven goals in the first eight games. Transfer deadline day saw the club add further defensive strength as three new defenders joined the ranks — George Friend, Matt Hill and Jason Shackell. Although their winning streak was ended by a 3-0 home defeat to promotion rivals Reading, as well as a 5-2 defeat at Norwich, which saw Wolves surrender top spot to Birmingham City, Wolves rediscovered their winning form for the second run of seven consecutive wins to lead the table at Christmas.
After drawing their final two fixtures of 2008, Wolves endured a dismal start to 2009, winning just once in eleven league fixtures. Trying to arrest this slump, the January transfer window saw the arrival of three new faces: Kyel Reid and Nigel Quashie on loan for the remainder of the season from West Ham United; defender Christophe Berra also joined from Scottish club Hearts for £2.3million. Weathering the bad run of form, Wolves managed to regain an air of consistency, reinventing their game from the free-flowing, free-scoring football of the first third of the season to hold down a string of clean sheets and one goal margin victories against Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday, largely based around the solid centre back partnership of Wolves' newest signing Berra and their longest-serving player, Jody Craddock. With promotion rivals Birmingham City and Reading unable to take advantage of their poor run, March saw an upturn in Wolves' league form as the club took 13 points from a possible 15, strengthening their position at the top of the table that they had lead since October.
The FA Cup had brought some respite from league matters, notably against local rivals Birmingham in the 3rd Round, with Wolves winning the match 2-0 after an impressive performance from a fringe squad at St Andrews. Wolves exited the FA Cup in the 4th round with a 2-1 home defeat to Premier League side Middlesbrough.
With just seven games left on the Championship calendar, Aston Villa striker Marlon Harewood was loaned for the run-in, though the team were also hit by the news that key midfielder Michael Kightly would miss the remainder of the season after suffering a broken metatarsal in his foot.
Wolves lost to local rivals Birmingham in April to end a five-game unbeaten run. However, a 3-0 home win against struggling Southampton, followed by a 3-2 away victory at Derby County on Easter Monday gave Wolves a seven-point lead over third-placed Sheffield United. Promotion to the Premier League was confirmed on 18 April 2009 when a goal from Ebanks-Blake gave Wolves a 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers. Seven days later, Wolves clinched their first league title since the 1988–89 season — and their first championship at Championship/Second Division level since 1976–77 — after Reid's equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw at Barnsley and the point they required for the title.
Wolves completed their season on Sunday 3 May 2009 with a 1-0 home win over Doncaster Rovers, promoted to the Premier League alongside local rivals and league runners-up Birmingham City.
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.
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.
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.
