Wolverhampton Wanderers - My Team

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club are 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 were 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 1971 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.

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 Wolves team that won the FA Cup in 1893Wolves remained as members of the Football League First Division from 1888 until relegation in 1906, winning the FA Cup for the first time on March 26, 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 April 25, 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.

Inter-war adventures
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 FA Cup Final, losing 4-1 to underdogs Portsmouth.

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. Wolves have yet to win another major trophy.

Sharp decline and revival
Wolves went through a bad spell in the 1980s. After bouncing straight back from relegation in 1982, the club suffered three consecutive relegations in 1984, 1985 and 1986, sliding into the Fourth Division for the first time in their history. The nadir came with the FA Cup 1st Round 2nd replay defeat at non-league Chorley (where Wolves were defeated 3-0) in 1986. Ownership of the club changed, and Graham Turner was appointed manager in October 1986, shortly after the drop into Division Four, and by 1989 Wolves were back in the Second Division following two successive promotions.

The key player behind the club's resurgence was Steve Bull who had been signed, along with Andy Thompson, from neighbours West Bromwich Albion for a combined fee of £64,000. He had scored 50+ goals in all competitions during both promotion-winning seasons, and while still a Third Division player he was capped by England and took part in the Italia 90 World Cup Finals. Bull scored 306 goals for Wolves (250 of them in league matches) before retiring at the end of the 1998-99 season.

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 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.

Setback and fightback
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. Wolves lost only one of their final 25 league games but drew 15 of their games and finished ninth in the final table - not enough to qualify for the play-offs.

A lack of fortitude in the striking department, a lack of passion and pride on the whole from the team, and ultimately dull, cautious and bizarre tactics from Glenn Hoddle, including the placing of 6ft 4" Carl Cort on the wing, and 5ft 9" Tomasz Frankowski in the middle, saw Wolves finish a disappointing 7th in 2005–2006. It was 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 ticket as long as Hoddle was in charge.

Though the board expressed no displeasure with Hoddle, 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.

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.