Wolves Women Update 2024
On behalf of the Since 71 Network I recently wrote an article about “What’s the Future for Wolves Women?”, which can be found here. At the time the glass was very much glass half full; on the pitch the team had competed well, and we had some amazing highlights for the season, such as the FA Cup run and beating W*A for the 10th time on the bounce at Molineux.
However, it feels like within days of writing that, the rumours of what was going on at the Club started to circulate; not from Club sources but from those at rival clubs who were looking at our players. This is not unusual in the women’s game as there is a far more transient nature for players.
Then the Club disbanded the very successful Reserves team. This was even though they finished 2nd in the FA Womens National Reserve League Midlands and semi-finalists in the Reserves League Cup last season and without so much as a statement of thanks to the players & coaches, or even wishing the Manager all the best when she got the Shrewsbury Town Womens job. This is like getting rid of the men’s U21’s, which would never happen, so why have Wolves done it? If the argument is the cost saving; well, that is approximately “£30K” or 1% of the increased revenue from Season Ticket sales. Not a huge amount in the running of a football club and certainly not a justifiable amount for scrapping the bridge between girls’ football and women’s first-team football.
We are now hearing that we are losing senior Women’s first team players, leaders on and off the pitch, to our biggest title rivals as we are not willing to stump up the cash. Remember none of these players are paid to play football, many of them have second demanding jobs such as teaching. They receive limited expenses and when rivals are willing to increase that by a reasonable amount, let alone offer full-time contracts, then the women are fully entitled to pursue that. It is our Club’s short-sightedness that is driving them away.
This takes me back to those highlights of the season – where were our Club’s senior leaders? They should have been on the pitch congratulating the players and showing the supporters what a valued part of the “One Pack” Wolves Women are...
They should be being used to help grow the brand of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club across the world. The women’s game is huge in North America, one of the fastest-growing sports in England, and attracts an additional customer base that is different from the men’s team. So why is an investment company like Fosun not stepping up their support for Wolves Women when they have seen how Newcastle dominated the league after going full-time?
Only Jeff Shi will truly know but it feels like another retrograde step by the leadership of our great club.