Wolverhampton Wanderers were the focus of this week’s Club Spotlight, where the media spoke with the club about their promotion hunt and their historic Adobe Women’s FA Cup run.
Wolves, who sit second in the Northern Premier Division, have had a brilliant season. The club is taking the title to the final day of the FA WNL season, which concludes on Sunday, 26th April.
With a place in WSL 2 up for grabs, fans will be watching with an eager eye to see if Wolves can surpass Burnley to win the league, or if they will need to enter the playoffs for a chance to reach the second tier.
The club also made history this season as they appeared on mainstream television for the first time against Stoke City in the second round of the FA Cup, before Channel 4 selected their third-round tie against Nottingham Forest for its first-ever broadcast of the competition.
There is a renewed sense of optimism around the club at the moment. Not just because of their success on the pitch this season, but due to a clear shift in support behind the scenes.
Wolves Women’s Chair Jenny Wilkes, who has been involved with the club since 1999, believes the club has reached a turning point in both structure and perception.
“The last 27 years have been a rollercoaster,” she said. “When they first started, it was three of them on park pitches until adverts in the local newspaper got them playing football.
“It was a completely different time then, when women and girls didn’t play football. It’s nothing like it is now.”
In mid-April, club Chair Jenny Wilkes received the club’s Volunteer of the Year award for 2026. (Photo by Cameron Smith – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)
Jenny believes that the growth of the women’s game is most evident in the relationship between the women’s team and the wider club. When the women’s team formed in 1975, it adopted the name ‘Heathfield Rovers’ after the local school.
Shortly after, they became Wolverhampton Wanderers and played in the top tier after the FA started a new league. However, it wasn’t until the late nineties that the club started to acknowledge its women’s side.
The team has moved from a time of scarce resources and limited opportunities to full integration within the club’s broader vision.
“Over the years, we’ve gradually got closer and closer to Wolves,” said Jenny. “First of all, our youth teams have been taken on by the foundation alongside our seniors.
“But it’s only more recently that we’ve been taken on board by the academy, and that’s made all the difference. With our semi-pro status and with players like Anna [Morphet] having semi-pro contracts, we’re in a much different place.”
With just one game to play in the FA WNL, Wolves are hoping to defeat struggling Halifax to keep their promotion dreams alive. Burnley face Stoke City on the final day, who sit in fourth place.
After an ‘unlucky’ few seasons, Jenny is hoping this is the year that the side advances to the WSL2.
“In the COVID season, we would have got promoted. And then in the playoff when we lost to Southampton — we got really close then as well,” she said.
However, this season feels different. For Jenny and many involved with the club, this season feels like the ‘closest’ they have been.
With promotion within touching distance, the stakes are higher than ever. A place in WSL2 would not only professionalise the squad, but accelerate the club’s investment and visibility — areas which have already seen vast improvement over the last 12 months, especially.
Dan McNamara, manager of the side, joined in January 2018, before transitioning full-time in the summer of 2024.