Yesterday at 2 PM, Wolverhampton Wanderers fans found themselves in the strange position of cheering for two teams — their beloved Wolves and their fiercest rivals, West Bromwich Albion. Yes, you read that right: for once, we wanted our nearest and not-so-dearest rivals to win.
Why? Because if West Brom had managed to spoil Nottingham Forest’s party, and if there had also been a fourteen-goal swing in Wolves’ favour, we would have been crowned league champions.
However, we later discovered that even if the miraculous had happened, Wolves would not have been promoted to the Women’s Championship — because the club hadn’t submitted the necessary paperwork for promotion approval. Beth Merrick shared the following.
Imagine fighting for promotion all season to find out our championship bid was never submitted.
“As a group, we are absolutely devastated to finish the season this way and believe it speaks volumes about the club’s ambitions for the women’s team. For our staff to have to deliver this news to us moments after is astonishing.
“Some of us have been apart of this club for many years with endless amount of success, which has grown year on year through all of the highs and the lows.
“Our players, staff and fans deserve so much better. The staff have put in hours of dedication for a bid to never be submitted.
“The gravitas that we have collectively worked hard to create, has supported women’s football growth and the movement of ‘if you can see it, you can be it’ throughout Wolverhampton.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the honesty and transparency – ironically not very apparent with the #OnePack campaign.”
To put it into perspective: even if Wolves had won the league, promotion would have gone to Forest instead. It doesn’t matter who you support, hopefully you can empathise with the feelings that all of us associated with Wolves are going through. On behalf of myself and all of us, I direct the following to an open letter to the Wolves CEO and representative of the Wolves owners – Jeff Shi, raising our concerns.
Dear Jeff,
The news has now broken that the hierarchy at our club didn’t support the promotion application for the women’s team. This wasn’t a team with an outside chance of promotion, likely to finish fourth — this was a team that pushed Nottingham Forest all the way to the final day of the season in the title race. They finished just three points and a handful of goals behind Forest, having lost only one game all season.
That Nottingham Forest team is full-time and includes players who should be playing at the top end of the Championship, if not in the Women’s Super League. Yet Wolves, operating on a budget over £1 million less than Forest, pushed them all the way. That grit and determination is exactly what Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is about — in both the men’s and the women’s teams.
The Wolves women’s players represented the club with pride, passion, and determination. They gave us so many highs, but you didn’t believe in them enough to even support the application for promotion. Worse still, you left their manager to deliver the devastating news to the players. That is not leadership.
You’ve said before that you want to inspire young girls to pull on the Gold and Black shirt and dream of playing for Wolves Women. But how is it inspiring if they know that even when they win the league, they won’t be rewarded? How is it inspiring for current players to know they are not being backed?
Our club talks about “One Pack” — that the strength of the wolf is in the pack. So how does that apply here? Right now, it feels more like “One Pack — but only when it’s good PR,” rather than a genuine belief in unity.
I’m sure you will argue that the investment in the women’s team doesn’t generate revenue for the club. But as an investment company, Fosun should be looking at long-term returns through growth. Look at what Michelle Kang has done at London City Lionesses. According to Wolves’ accounts, the Wolves Women budget is around £300k. To go full-time would require circa £1.5–2 million.
Let’s put that into perspective: Wolves spent £12 million on agents last season. If just 10% of that had been invested into Wolves Women, they would be winning leagues and progressing up the pyramid.
If the club invested more time and effort into promoting the games at Telford, the fan base would continue to grow. Our team already boasts some of the biggest attendances in the league — a strong foundation to build upon. Why would you not want to? Look at how Arsenal have grown their women’s fan base and now regularly fill the Emirates. Studies show the demographics of women’s football fans don’t overlap much with men’s football fans — meaning there is a huge new market to reach. New Wolves fans. New customers for the club shop. Genuine new investment, if you truly want to grow.
Given the lack of honesty around this decision and the treatment of the women’s team overall, why should fans believe anything the club says anymore? Trust between fans and the club was just beginning to rebuild — and now you’ve taken an axe to it again. Why? Surely you’re not scared of a group of strong, independent women. Only weak men are afraid of strong women; strong men respect them.
Yours sincerely,
Nick Andrews-Gauvain
Be sure to follow the Wolves Women Pod for more reaction later this week.
