How The Heroic Lionesses Have Been Feted By The Wolves

Basle has never seen anything like it……but what about the reaction around Molineux to England’s dramatic success over Spain yesterday? Our thanks go to Wolves Women chair Jenny Wilkes for providing us with this guest-writer’s view of how the Lionesses latest glory has had the loveliest of repercusssions in the Black Country.

What a brilliant Sunday! England Women have won back-to-back European Championships titles and become the first team from here to win a senior international tournament on foreign soil.

I have to say I had a tear on my eye as Chloe Kelly slotted home the winning penalty – and all that after Wolves Women won 2-1 in a pre-season friendly at Plymouth. So it was a great day all round.

We have heard and seen over and over again just what spirit there is in the Lionesses’ squad. Well, this memorable weekend was a chance for Wolves Women to have some team-bonding time of their own at the seaside with an overnight stay on the Saturday.

But the game did mean their four-hour journey home coincided with the Euros final in Basle. Whereas we at home worked hard to find a stream of the Plymouth v Wolves game but then tuned in to the big match against Spain in comfort, the girls watched Sarina Wiegman’s heroes on their phones and laptops on the team bus – dodgy signal permitting.

Thankfully, they managed to see most of it. Captain Anna Morphet told me there were nerves and huge excitement throughout and some particularly stressful moments during the penalties, when, would you believe, the screen froze! But they really enjoyed watching it together. Now we hope for a further boom in the women’s game on the back of this success.

One Wolves Women player was actually at the game, watching nervously as part of England keeper Hannah Hampton’s friends-and-family group. Lily Simkin, daughter of former Wolves player Darren Simkin, played alongside Hannah at Birmingham and for England at youth level and is currently recovering from an ACL injury sustained last season.

So she took the opportunity to travel to Switzerland to support Hannah and was messaging and sending photos in the team’s group chat during the game.

Some of the Wolves squad remember playing against Lionesses Ella Toone and Grace Clinton when Wolves met Manchester United at Telford in the fifth round of the FA Cup last season. What an inspiration those two are for any young players seeking to go further and higher in the game, or thinking of taking it up now!

Wolves currently play in the third tier of English football but the players are ambitious to play at a higher level and we’re going all out to improve on last season’s second-place finish with the aim of promotion to the Women’s Super League 2.

I’ve seen plenty of changes in the women’s game since John Richards (then Wolves’ managing director) asked if I’d be interested in becoming chair of the club in 1999. But the biggest and most important improvement is the visibility of the game, which is at an all-time high as a result of the Lionesses’ on-going success.

They say that if you can see it, you can be it… and now plenty of youngsters want to emulate the heroes they have in the Three Lions of England. But when I was growing up in Dudley, girls didn’t play football.

I was lucky my dad took me to Molineux to watch Wolves but there was never any concept of women playing the game apart from in casual kickabouts. My views were based on those of parents, teachers, media…people who saw women’s football as a novelty, not to be taken seriously.

Thankfully, in Wolverhampton in 1974, three women answered an advert in the Express & Star asking if anyone was interested in helping set up a female team. And so the foundations of Wolves Women were laid.

After joining a local league in 1975, the club have gone through various incarnations and name changes, and now form a key part of the Wolves family. We’ve just celebrated our 50th season and opened a new Wolves Women section in the club’s museum.

And we’ve developed strong links with England over the years, with Jody Handley, Emily Westwood and Rachel Unitt all going on to represent their country. Unitt’s 100th England cap and shirt have pride of place in the museum.

Simkin and new signing Louanne Worsey have both played for England at youth level and Sareet Binning has captained England under-16s and is looking forward to joining Wolves’ senior squad when she turns 16 later this year.

Manager Dan McNamara is busy preparing for what will hopefully be our best season yet. If you’ve never been to a women’s game, do go along to Telford and find out what the fuss is all about.

It’s a real family-friendly atmosphere – no swearing in the stands! – and the players love to sign programmes for their young fans after the game. No wonder top brands like Amazon, Lidl and Weetabix are sponsoring women’s football.

It’s also a cheap family day out. We’ve recently launched our season ticket offer at only £30, with Wolves season ticket holders paying a bargain £15.

Our season kicks off on Sunday, August 17 at Liverpool Feds, before our first home game puts us up against Burnley on Sunday, August 24 at Telford United’s SEAH Stadium (2pm kick-off). We’d love to see you there. Well done England. Up the Wolves!