History of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

The club then 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.

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.

Building upon Buckley's principles of hard work in training, exceptional physical fitness coupled with early pioneering use of sports science, strict discipline and a doctrine of all-out attack on the field, Cullis's kick and rush method incorporated long passes and speed of execution, hitting the opposition penalty box faster and more frequently to apply the percentage principle to goalscoring.

The method was characterised by a defensive resilience, built as it was around the England internationals Bert Williams in goal and Billy Wright at half-back, but also incorporated quick movement of the ball and swift attacking support for the player in possession, particularly around the wing play of Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen.

Their innovation on the pitch was matched elsewhere, as Molineux was one of the first grounds to provide their team with floodlights in the summer of 1953, as the club also blossomed financially thanks to high-profile friendlies with top sides such as Real Madrid who all came and suffered defeat at the hands of Cullis' men.

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[9]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.

Coming agonisingly close to a hat-trick of titles and the first double of the twentieth century,[10] 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.

The club's return to the English top flight heralded another period of relative success, with a squad that included stars Derek Dougan, Kenny Hibbitt and Frank Munro finishing the 1970–71 season in fourth place, qualifying them for the newly created UEFA Cup.

The club was saved from liquidation when former player Derek Dougan helped formalise a takeover deal as a front man for the Bhatti brothers.

There were some bright spots even in that campaign, the first coming on 26 November 1983 when Wolves finally won a league game at the 15th attempt, breaking their win-less run in style with a 3–1 away win over local rivals West Bromwich Albion.

The next game ended in a 4–2 defeat at promotion favourites Derby County, and Wolves finally managed to claim points at the first attempt with a 3–2 home win over York City.

However, the club was saved from extinction when Wolverhampton Council purchased Molineux for £1.12 million, along with the surrounding land, while Gallagher Estates Limited, in conjunction with the Asda Superstore chain, agreed to pay off the club's outstanding debts, subject to building and planning permission for an Asda superstore on land adjacent to the stadium being granted by the council.

[19] His arrival was orchestrated by a new Board led by Jack Harris (Former Walsall Chairman)and Dick Homden who skillfully directed the club back to winning ways while maintaining a tight control of their limited funds.

On New Year's Day 1990, Wolves began the new decade on the highest possible note, winning 4–1 at promotion chasing Newcastle United with Steve Bull scoring four goals.

While stadium work was prioritised in the early 1990s, the club under manager Graham Turner had consolidated in midtable but failed to make any inroads toward promotion to the top flight (now the newly formed Premier League).

The summer of 1993 saw the first recruits in a heavily funded bid for promotion that would characterise much of Hayward's reign, although by March 1994 their play-off chances were fading and Turner quit, making way for the tenureship of former England manager Graham Taylor.

The team turned the corner with a thrilling 3–2 FA Cup win over Newcastle United, going on to lose just two of their 20 league games after this, securing them 5th place and a play-off semi-final clash against newly promoted Reading.

In the Millennium Stadium-staged final, three first half goals 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 English football.

Wolves then finished a disappointing seventh in 2005–06 as fan discontent grew, disenchanted with the lack of passion and pride from the team, including from Hoddle himself who had not moved to the area.

Though the board expressed no displeasure with Hoddle publicly, with Jez Moxey affirming his faith in the under fire manager, the season had been frowned on by both local media and the fan base.

Following the exit of Hoddle in pre-season in 2006, Wolves staged a complete clearout, stripping the squad and wage bill down and appointing former Republic of Ireland and Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy.

Poor form around Christmas saw them slump to mid-table and only a late rally, aided by the goal power of new signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, put them back in the promotion hunt.

Fired by the goals of Ebanks-Blake and new signing Chris Iwelumo, the club hit the top of the table for the first time in years by the end of August and never left the automatic promotion spots after.

This achievement was built on a solid defensive element to the team, countering its lack of goal-power, despite the addition of striker Kevin Doyle for a club record fee.

[35][36] Their first match back in the Championship tier was against recently relegated Norwich City on 10 August which Wolves won 1–0, continuing their impressive home form from the previous campaign.

[53][54] In the quarter-finals, Wolves lost to that season's eventual winners Sevilla 0–1 on 11 August 2020 in a modified single-leg tie played in a neutral venue in Germany due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

The club lost their talismanic striker Raúl Jiménez to a season-ending injury (a fractured skull) in an away game at Arsenal on 29 November 2020,[56] and subsequently struggled for goals for the remainder of the campaign.

Wolves parted company with[60] or sacked[61] Bruno Lage on 2 October 2022 after 8 games of the 2022–23 season with only one win and just 3 goals scored, ending his tenure after 16 months.

[71] On January 28, 2024, Wolves faced fierce rivals West Brom in the FA cup, and the fixture marked the first derby to be played in front of fans since 2012.