Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers

  • Location: Wolverhampton, England
  • Stadium: Molineux Stadium
  • Coach: Julen Lopetegui
  • Premier League Titles: 3

Current Squad / Roster

General Statistics 2022-2023

Matches Played

38

To Play

0

Wins

11

Drawn

8

31

Goals

58

Goals Against

Championships:

First Division Champions: 1953-54, 1957-58, 1958-59.

Second Division/Championship Winners: 1931-32, 1976-77, 2008-09, 2017-18.

Third Division/League One Champions: 1923-24, 1988-89, 2013-14.

Fourth Division Champions: 1987-88.

FA Cup Winners: 1892-93, 1907-08, 1948-49, 1959-60.

Football League Cup Winners: 1973-74 ,1979-80.

FA Charity Shield: 1949, 1954, 1959, 1960.

Football League Trophy: 1987-88.

Texaco Cup: 1970-71.

Team History

The club was founded in 1877 as St. Luke’s FC. Two years later they merged with a local cricket club called Blakenhall Wanderers and the team name became Wolverhampton Wanderers. They played in their first FA Cup in 1884 and were founding members of the Football League in 1888.

Nicknamed Wolves, their first-ever League game was against rivals Aston Villa on September 8, 1888. Wolves finished the first season in third place and lost in the FA Cup Final. They moved into Molineux Stadium at the end of the 1888-89 season.

Manager Jack Addenbrooke led the team to their first trophy, the 1893 FA Cup and win over Everton. They won another three years later with a 3-1 win over Newcastle United. Wolves couldn’t find success in the top flight though and they were eventually relegated in 1908.

After World War I, Wolves lost in the 1921 FA Cup Final and Addenbrooke left in 1922. Wolves were relegated down to the Third Division in 1923. They won that league in the next season to come back up.

Major Frank Buckley was hired in 1927 and he got the team back to the First Division after 26 years away. Buckley and Wolves finished as runners up in 1937-38 and 1938-39 before the English leagues paused for World War II.

Wolves missed out on the title in the first year after the War as they lost to Liverpool 2-1 on the last day of the season. Stan Cullis retired as a player and took over as manager. In his first season, 1948-49, Wolves won the FA Cup over Leicester City, the first major title in 41 years.

Cullis had Billy Wright as his captain and the duo led Wolves to their first League title in 1953-54 as they overtook rivals West Bromwich Albion. They won two more titles in the decade, going back-to-back as First Division winners in 1957-58 and 1958-59. The team made headlines in the 1950s as well when they added lights in 1953 for £10,000. This enabled them to play night games and friendlies against teams from Europe, televised. This move is credited toward helping start the European Cup and Wolves were one of the first British clubs selected, beating Real Madrid in 1957-58.

Wolves won the FA Cup again in 1959-60 but lost the League title to Burnley on the last day of the season. The team slipped down the standings from there and Cullis was fired in September 1964. Relegation followed, a first since 1923, but two years later Wolves was back in the First Division.

Under manager Bill McGarry the team finished fourth in the League in 1970-71 and qualified for the brand new UEFA Cup. They beat Juventus and Ferencvaros but lost to Tottenham on aggregate. Wolves won the League Cup in 1971-72 but were relegated just four years later.

Manager Sammy Chung brought the team back up to the First Division. Under John Barnwell they finished sixth in 1979-80 and won the League Cup. Molineux was refurbished in 1979 but the team started to lose money and were on the verge of bankruptcy in 1982. The club was saved by a consortium and despite being relegated they came right back up in 1983.

But the new owners didn’t spend wisely and Wolves were relegated again in 1984. To make matters worse they were relegated in each of the next three years and landed in the Fourth Division. Steve Bull led the team in scoring in 1986-87 and Wolves earned promotion in 1987-88. They won the Third Division on the first try and Jack Hayward bought the team in 1990.

Hayward fixed and rebuilt Molineux into a modern stadium but Wolves couldn’t get through the playoffs. They finally earned promotion in 2003 but lasted only one season in the Premier League. Mick McCarthy rebuilt the team in the Championship and Hayward sold the team to Steve Morgan in 2007. They won the Championship in 2008-09 and went back to the Premier League for two seasons.

Wolves struggled again with a new manager every season and they were relegated to the third-tier League One in 2013. One season later they were back in the Second Division and Chinese investment group Fosun International purchased the team in 2016. Nuno Espirito Santo took over a year later and Wolves won the 2017-18 Championship to head back to the Premier League.

Nuno led Wolves to a seventh place finish in their first year back, the highest finish since 1979-80. Wolves played in the Europa League in 2019-20, their first games in Europe since 1981. They made it through the group stage and after the COVID pause, eventually lost to Sevilla in the quarterfinals.

Wolves finished seventh again in the Premier League in 2019-20, qualifying again for Europe. A devastating head injury to striker Raul Jimenez crushed the Wolves season in 2020-21 and they finished in 13th place. Nuno left for Spurs and Bruno Lage was hired in his place. Wolves finished the 2021-22 season in 10th place with only 38 goals in 38 games.

Wolverhampton Wanderers has a rivalry with West Bromwich Albion, the Black County Derby. Recently that rivalry hasn’t had an impact on the Premier League standings. The clubs are separated by 10 miles and have met over 150 times. Wolves also have regional rivalries with Aston Villa and Birmingham City.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Records

Looking at the Wolverhampton Wanderers stats and Premier League stats, the player with the most career appearances is Derek Parkin who played in 609 total games from 1968 to 1982. He also holds the record for most League games in Wolves history with 501. Kenny Hibbitt played 574 games from 1968 to 1984 and Steve Bull played 561 games from 1986 to 1999.

Bull holds the Wolves record for most career goals with 306, 250 of those in League games. John Richards is second best with 194 total goals while Billy Hartill has the second-most League goals at 162.

Bull also holds the single-season goals record with 52 in 1987-88 when Wolves were in the Fourth Division. Dennis Westcott scored a team-record 38 League goals in the 1946-47 First Division season. The single-season Premier League record is 17, scored by Raul Jimenez in 2019-20 as the Golden Boot winner.

Looking at the Wolverhampton Wanderers stats for transfers, the most they have paid is £35 million to Porto for Fabio Silva in September of 2020.

The most money they have received for a transfer is £41 million, paid by Liverpool for Diogo Jota in September of 2020

Heading into the 2022-23 Premier League schedule, Wolverhampton Wanderers made some major additions that helped those who like Wolverhampton Wanderers betting in the Premier League odds. They spent £27 million on Valencia winger Goncalo Gueces and £21 on center back Nathan Collins from Burnley. Wolves brought in forward Hwang Hee-chan from RB Leipzig for £15 million. They also got winger Adama Traore back after a loan to Barcelona last season.

Wolverhampton Wanderers had a few significant transfers out this summer that will impact their Premier League odds or Wolverhampton Wanderers betting prospects. They released center back Roman Saiss and backup goalkeeper John Ruddy. Left-back Ruben Vinagre was sold to Sporting CP for £8.5 million while both Renat Dadashov and Meritan Shabani were sold to Grasshopper. Center back Conor Coady was loaned to Everton for the season while Fabio Silva was loans to Anderlecht. With the actions taken during the transfer window it will affect the Premier League Betting Stats.

The manager with the longest tenure at Wolves is Jack Addenbrooke who was in charge from August 1885 through World War I, leaving in June 1922. He managed a team record 1,125 matches with 455 wins, 105 more than anyone else. Addenbrooke took Wolves to five FA Cup Finals, winning in 1893 and 1908,

Stan Cullis was in charge of Wolves from 1948 to 1964. He led Wolves to 350 wins in 748 matches, both the second-best in team history. Cullis won three First Division titles, two FA Cups and one FA Charity Shield while also finishing second twice in the First Division.

Major Frank Buckley managed the team between the wars from 1927 to 1944. He was in charge for 681 games and won 281 times with 136 draws. Buckley led Wolves to a Second Division title, two First Division runners up and a FA Cup Final.

Graham Turner helped the Wolves get promoted twice in the 1980s with a Fourth Division title in 1988 and a Third Division title a year later. He also won a Football League trophy during his eight seasons in charge.

Bill McGarry and John Barnell both won a League Cup while Mick McCarthy and Nuno Espirito Santo both won promotion to the Premier League. Santo also led Wolves back into Europe during the late 2010s.

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