Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Early period (1878-1888)

Like many English football clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers have their birthplace in English school sport. With the help of sports-mad headmaster Harry Bancroft, a number of pupils from St Luke's School, Blakenhall, led by future internationals Jack Baynton and Jack Brodie, decided to launch a football club on 10 November 1876. After several training sessions at the end of the year, the team played for the first time on 13 January 1877 against a Stafford Road reserve side, and paid dearly in an 8-0 defeat. After two years of development and steady progress, due in no small part to the club's first secretary George Worrall, a merger with the cricket and football club "The Wanderers" to form "Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club" in August 1879 ensured a pooling of forces. The home venues also became more professional, and after the Windmill Field had been used until May 1879 and John Harper's Field from August 1879 to April 1881, both on Lower Villiers Street, the site on Dudley Road already had room for up to 10,000 spectators after continuous extensions.

The club attracted more and more promising talents from the region, among them Charlie Mason, later the first English international player of the "Wolves". The Wanderers won ten of the 18 games played in the 1881/82 season, but there was still a lack of popular support. The average crowd at Dudley Road was only 1,500. In the 1883/84 season Wolves took part in the national FA Cup for the first time, but after a 4-1 first round win over Long Eaton Rangers they were knocked out of the competition early on with a 4-2 defeat to Wednesbury Old Athletic. The replacement was the "Wrekin Cup", which was the first trophy in Wolverhampton Wanderers' history in 1884 - including a 5-1 win over highly rated Stafford Road. In the meantime, William Shipton, the first coach, had also been hired, who ensured a regular practice schedule with three sessions per week.

When the FA legalised professional football in June 1885, the Wolverhampton club was among those paying players a weekly wage. Under club secretary and new coach Jack Addenbrooke, numerous newcomers found their way into the team, displacing many players from the founding era. With renewed vigour, the team entered the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in the 1885/86 season, losing 3-1 in their first meeting with local rivals West Bromwich Albion. Nevertheless, the national breakthrough had not yet been achieved in the first ten years; this was compounded by the relatively low attendance of no more than 3,000 spectators in Wolverhampton, then a city of around 75,000. Participation in the National Football League, which began in 1888, and the move to a new stadium north of the city centre a year later provided a remedy. In the process, the Wanderers had already played in a domestic cup competition for the first time on 20 March 1886 at the Molineux Grounds - a public park in the city since 1860 - and had earmarked it as a possible new home outside Blakenhall.

Founding member of the Football League, two FA Cup trophies (1888-1915)

As one of twelve founder members, the Wanderers took part in the Football League for the 1888/89 season and finished third in the inaugural season behind champions Preston North End and Aston Villa. They also reached the FA Cup Final for the first time in the club's history, but were defeated by Preston, who were considered "unbeatable" at the time. For the new season 1889/90 the club moved into the new Molineux Stadium. With the active support of the City of Wolverhampton, which had been promoted to County Borough status under the Local Government Act of 1888, a stadium suitable for top-flight football was built in a very short space of time on a prominent site near the Molineux estate, which had been built in the 18th century. Fourth place finishes in both the 1890 and 1891 championships and a place in the FA Cup semi-finals in 1889/90 maintained the standard of play before the team slipped to mid-table in the league.

In 1892/93, however, Wolves reached the FA Cup final after a 2-1 semi-final win over Blackburn Rovers in Nottingham. Their opponents were Everton FC, who had lost 4-2 in the league just a week earlier and were slight favourites going into the final. At the Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester, England international Harry Allen scored on the hour mark with a long-range strike to put the Wanderers 1-0 up, and they held on to that lead until the end to bring the FA Cup to Wolverhampton for the first time. Having focused on cup competition early in the season, the team only finished eleventh in the Championship, even conceding a 10-1 defeat to bottom of the table Newton Heath, which remains the highest competitive defeat in the club's history. Subsequent successes were also more in the financially lucrative cup games and amidst mediocre Championship seasons, Wolves reached the FA Cup final for the third time in 1896. Having narrowly avoided relegation earlier, the team faced league rivals Sheffield Wednesday at Crystal Palace and lost 2-1.

Although in the 1897/98 season the club finished third in the league, its best league position in the 1890s, from then on a negative development behind the scenes took its course. Many important players left the club under despite a good fourth place in the season 1899/1900 the tendency showed more and more clearly towards the lower half of the table. Also in the FA Cup the team did not get past the third round and as a consequence of this development Wolves were relegated to the second division after only eight wins in 38 league games at the end of the 1905/06 season.

The club entered its first second division season with new players such as Alf Bishop and goalscorer George Hedley, who went on to make almost 600 competitive appearances for the club between them. Hopes of a quick return to the English elite had to be buried, however, as they only managed upper mid-table finishes until the outbreak of the First World War. This was countered by another surprisingly good run in the 1907/08 FA Cup round, when Wolves reached another FA Cup final after wins over Bradford City, Bury FC, Swindon Town, Stoke FC and Southampton FC. Goals from Kenneth Hunt, George Hedley and Billy Harrison saw Wolves beat First Division fourth-placed Newcastle United 3-1 to win the FA Cup for the second time. It was to be the last success in the club's history for the time being, and in the years up to the First World War the team made little sporting noise, with the exception of a 10-0 FA Cup victory over Watford FC.

Four coaches and a rebuilding (1919-1927)

Wolves played only a few games during the fighting before resuming regular fixtures in the Midland Victory League in March/April 1919. When the Football League resumed in August 1919, the team had a much changed face, with only eight pre-war players still in the squad. Although the first game against Leicester Fosse was won 2-1, the remainder of the season was less than auspicious. The negative highlight was a game against Bury FC in October 1919, when Molineux's own crowd stormed the pitch and knocked down the referee, resulting in a two-match ground ban. As before the "Great War", sporting success was concentrated in the FA Cup and Wolves again reached the final of the English Cup competition in 1921, despite only just managing to stay in the Second Division. There, the team held Tottenham Hotspur to a goalless draw in the first half thanks to some good defensive work from goalkeeper Noel George, and even had field superiority shortly after the restart. However, a goal from Spurs striker Jimmy Dimmock after a mistake from Maurice Woodward gave the Wanderers the game-clinching goal.

In June 1922 the club announced that long-time coach Jack Addenbrooke had been suspended for six months for health reasons. The loss of the integrating figure, who eventually died on 7 September of the same year, was a major blow. The coaching line-up changed no fewer than four times during the remainder of the 1920s, with George Holley, a former AFC Sunderland player, initially trying his hand. Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had become a Limited Liability Company in April 1922, continued their downward spiral and were relegated to the Northern Division of the two-tier Third Division at the end of the 1922/23 season. This relegation left room for extensive rebuilding, which was rewarded after just one year by winning the "Third Division North" championship and being promoted straight back to the top flight. Only one player from the 1921 cup final team remained in the 1924 promotion team, goalkeeper George.

Holley left after the successful promotion and Albert Hoskins, who had been Addenbrooke's club secretary after his death, became Wolves' new coach. Despite grave misgivings about this personnel move, widely regarded as a "stopgap" measure, Hoskins led the team, largely made up of players assembled by Holley, to a comfortable sixth place finish in the 1924/25 season and remained in the top half of the table in the following season until his departure for Gillingham FC. The new manager in March 1926 was Fred Scotchbrook, a former Stockport County coach. Scotchbrook, however, had little backing from the club's management and after a mixed season in 1926/27, finishing 15th, he was sacked as a result of events at the AGM on 27 June 1927. There Scotchbook had vehemently demanded the purchase of a central defensive player at half-back ("centre-half") to stabilise the defence in the long term.

The "Regiment" of Major Frank Buckley (1927-1944)

The subsequent signing of 43-year-old Frank Buckley was a watershed moment. Known as the 'Iron Major', the war veteran's coaching philosophy was one of obedience and a strict code of conduct, with each player handed a rulebook to follow unconditionally. Good results were still lacking between 1927 and 1929, however, and the period was instead marked by extensive experimentation and rebuilding - Buckley tried no fewer than six different goalkeepers between November 1927 and April 1929, for example. Further weaknesses were to be found in defence, manifested specifically in the 100 goals conceded in the 1927/28 season, which continued to be well above average at 82 the following year. The Major used a sensational defeat to amateur club Mansfield Town in the FA Cup in particular to rebuild the defence from the ground up.

The first recognizable fruits of the groundwork bore in the season 1929/30, when the team showed a good form until the turn of the year, until then poor results in the winter led to the fact that the Wolves were still down to the ninth place. However, the positive overall trend continued into the following season with a 4th place finish until the 1931/32 season saw a long-awaited return to England's elite division. After a fast start, which included a 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, a three-way battle for the promotion places emerged against Leeds United and Stoke City. A 2-0 home win over Port Vale in front of 29,000 provided the vital points and Billy Hartill added to the club's total of 115 goals, the first time in its history that attendance had topped 20,000, with 30 goals, the third successive season that the club had scored the most in a single season. The club was also in a more relaxed financial position following promotion, with the prospect of first-team football improving their income situation.

Buckley relied on his promotion-winning side for the majority of the 1932/33 season, and after a thrilling battle and a 4-2 home win over FA Cup winners Everton FC, they finished two points clear of the relegation places. Still the problems lay in the high number of goals conceded (96) and although this weakness tended to remain in the following season of 1933/34 with 86, the attack showed consistency with new arrivals such as Scottish right-sided centre-forward Jack Beattie and centre-forward George Goddard and finished with 40 points, less than the gap between them and fourth-placed Derby County than the relegation places. Towards the mid 1930s Buckley successively replaced the entire squad and after another two seasons from 1934 to 1936, finishing 17th and 15th respectively, the team set off on a "high" in the 1936/37 season. With tall goalkeeper Alex Scott, brothers Jack and Frank Taylor at full-back and, from February 1937, centre-forward and crowd favourite Dennis Westcott in particular, the team worked its way up to fifth place, its best finish since the start of the 20th century. The team developed a particular power especially in the home games and in the 1937/38 season the former relegation candidate became a championship aspirant. After some clear victories, such as a 10-1 win over Leicester City, Wolves needed a win at AFC Sunderland on the last matchday to win the championship. However, as the decisive game was lost 1-0, Arsenal FC became the new title holders instead, ahead of Wolves as runners-up. In the following season 1938/39, the last complete Football League season before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Wanderers again just missed their first championship and had to give way to Everton FC, who had been "dismantled" 7-0 at Molineux in February 1939. For a long time the "double" of championship and cup victory had been possible, but also the FA Cup final was lost despite the favorite position against FC Portsmouth surprisingly clear 1:4.

As early as the second half of the 1938/39 season, which was still in progress, Buckley gave his players the option of signing up for the voluntary reserve team and joining it at the end of the season. When the game was cancelled after only three rounds of the 1939/40 season due to the Second World War, many players followed this recommendation. The football sport was still maintained in regional war game rounds, which had the advantage that the travel distances were small and therefore players were available faster for the war service. Between September 1939 and April 1946 Wolves played more than 230 games and won two titles during this period. Apart from the 1940 championship in the Midland Regional League, the victory in the Wartime League North Cup two years later with a 2-2 first leg and a 4-1 second leg win over final opponents AFC Sunderland was a notable achievement. No matches had been played at Molineux in the intervening 1940/41 season as the stadium had been occupied as an air raid shelter. Buckley resigned in March 1944 and was succeeded by Ted Vizard, a former Welsh international and FA Cup winner with Bolton Wanderers.

The "Stan Cullis Era" (1948-1964)

Before the club entered another long coaching era in 1948 with former captain Stan Cullis, the team continued the performances of the late 1930s in the first Football League season after the Second World War. Finishing 3rd in the 1946/47 season, Wolves again narrowly missed out on the championship due to a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool FC on the final matchday. Jesse Pye, signed in May 1946, was particularly eye-catching and developed into one of Wanderers' top scorers in the following years, contributing three goals to a 6-1 win over Arsenal FC in their first post-war Championship match. After a fifth-place finish in the 1947/48 season, Vizard was replaced in June 1948 by Cullis, who had already held the position of club coach alongside Vizard for a year.

Cullis, like his coaching mentor Buckley, relied on good physicality, but also introduced a new style of play. In addition to the two wingers, who were mostly served with long passes, there were usually three centre forwards, each of whom would burst forward from a withdrawn position, depending on the situation. Added to this was an exceptionally attack-minded outfield player at half-back. Led by captain Billy Wright and attacking players such as Jimmy Mullen, Johnny Hancocks and, in addition to the aforementioned Jesse Pye, Scotland's Jimmy Dunn and Northern Ireland's Sammy Smyth, the side progressed to the FA Cup final against LeicesterCity in Cullis' first year in charge after wins over Chesterfield FC, Sheffield United, Liverpool FC and arch-rivals West Bromwich Albion, as well as a working victory after a replay against Manchester United. Two first-half goals from Pye's header and turning strike ensured a quick decision there, and after Sammy Smyth's third goal to make it 3-1, Wolves won the English Cup for the third time - but first time at Wembley Stadium. They failed to defend their title the following season when they were eliminated in the fifth round, but they finished runners-up in the league for the third time after finishing 6th in the previous season, beaten only by new champions Portsmouth on goal difference. In the aftermath of the World Cup in Brazil, which ended in a disappointing first-round exit for England captain Wright, the Wanderers' performances in the following two seasons in the league plummeted. A negative run of 13 defeats in 17 games saw them finish 14th, a position they fell short of the following year when they finished 16th. Pye then left the club and, as well as signing amateur international Bill Slater and Jack Taylor, Cullis went for extensive restructuring. The promotion of up-and-coming "homegrowns" Eddie Clamp and Colin Booth to the professional squad also put pressure on the "established" players. The measures led to a turnaround in the 1952/53 season, which was rewarded with third place and within touching distance of new champions Arsenal FC.

With attractive attacking football, the Cullis eleven played for the championship again in the 1953/54 season, despite a cup defeat to second division Birmingham City, and were now ahead for the first time. The team lost only two games from December 1953 onwards and the 1-0 win at rivals West Bromwich Albion was key as the 'Baggies' never recovered from that defeat thereafter. The side that brought the English Championship to Wolverhampton for the first time in the 55th season of the Football League consisted of goalkeeper Bert Williams, defenders and half-backs Jack Short, Roy Pritchard, Bill Slater, Bill Shorthouse and Billy Wright, and in attack wingers Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen, and in the centre Roy Swinbourne, Peter Broadbent and Dennis Wilshaw. In the 1954/55 season, the title defence was possible for a long time until a 1-0 defeat at new champions Chelsea FC at Stamford Bridge through a controversial Peter Sillett penalty and three defeats in the last five ensured a drop to second place. The team then finished third again at the end of the 1955/56 season, but were now without a chance in the championship race against the up-and-coming "Busby Babes" of Manchester United - as they had been the following year when they finished 6th.

In the second half of the 1950s, however, the club embarked on a second dominant period in English football. They won their second English championship in 1957/58, just missing Arsenal's record of 66 points. Despite an early defeat in their first appearance in the European Champion Clubs' Cup against German champions FC Schalke 04, their domination of the domestic league continued thereafter and in their final season with Billy Wright and Jimmy Mullen, the old and new champions kept their rivals well at bay with 28 wins. Their next triumph came in 1960 when they won the FA Cup, beating Blackburn Rovers 3-0 in a one-sided final. The "championship hat-trick" and with it the possible "double" was prevented by Burnley FC, who only gained the top of the table on the last matchday of the 1959/60 season with a 2-1 victory at Manchester City. The following year Wolves reached the semi-finals of the inaugural European Cup Winners' Cup, losing to Glasgow Rangers. They went on to finish third in the English Championship, but Wolves' great days were clearly over.

This was followed by a fall into the bottom of the table, with 18th place in the 1961/62 season only avoiding relegation thanks to good results in the period around Easter. Despite a short-term recovery in the 1962/63 season, when the Wolves once again won fifth place and even led the table for a while, the sporting trend pointed clearly downwards in the medium term. After the 16th place in the 1963/64 season, the Cullis team finished last at the beginning of the following season and the club management, which had only found its new chairman in John Ireland in July 1964, dismissed the long-time coach in September of the same year. Looking back, the Cullis era was by far the most successful period in the club's history, with Wanderers winning the English Championship three times and the FA Cup in 1949 and 1960. Two games in 1954 against Kispest-Honvéd Budapest and Spartak Moscow, both of which the team won (3-2 against Budapest after trailing 2-0, 4-0 against Moscow), even earned the team the title of "world champions" in the English press, which in turn caused resentment in countries outside England and was partly responsible for the creation of a European Champion Clubs' Cup.

Cup finals and relegation battles (1964-1984)

Andy Beattie took over as sporting director on an interim basis six weeks after Cullis was sacked. The former Scottish international coach made a key personnel move in the Christmas period of 1964 with the purchase of Dave Wagstaffe, but was little success overall despite an FA Cup quarter-final appearance. At the end of the 1964/65 season he and his new side were relegated from League One, leaving only Birmingham City behind in the table, who "ironically" were now managed by Stan Cullis. Just a year after his appointment, Beattie was sacked again - following a 9-3 defeat at Southampton FC - and was succeeded in September 1965 by his co-coach Ronnie Allen.

With new players such as Ernie Hunt and, from March 1966, Mike Bailey, as well as the future "world champion" Ron Flowers, who had remained from the winning team of the 1950s, Allen achieved a turnaround. While the 1965/66 season ended with a sixth-place finish to miss out on promotion, the return to the top flight of English football came just a year later - with eight consecutive victories in the spring of 1967, Wolves won the runners-up title behind Coventry City. The club celebrated a first in the same season with their first ever appearance in the League Cup, which ended with an emphatic 5-0 defeat to Fulham FC in the third round. The performances of Northern Irish centre-forward Derek Dougan, who had only been signed in March 1967, were particularly striking in the end, and he became a crowd favourite as the "Doog".

During the English league summer break Wolves took part in a tournament of the US United Soccer Association and competed under the name "Los Angeles Wolves". They won the round of the "West clubs" and then won against the East champion "Washington Whips" (aka FC Aberdeen). The overall sporting significance of the event was secondary; however, the performances of Aberdeen player Frank Munro were so impressive that he joined Wolves in December 1967 and became a permanent fixture. In the non-playing period of the summer of 1969, the Wolves made another return to US professional football when they won the first half of the second NASL season, the so-called International Cup against other professional teams from the British Isles - including Aston Villa, West Ham United and Dundee United - for Kansas City Spurs. In the domestic league, the club found themselves in the First Division relegation battle, finishing 17th in May 1968.

In the following two years the club, which had been joined by record signing Derek Parkin at full-back in February 1968 and midfielder Kenny Hibbitt a short time later, remained in the bottom half of the table and were equally unsuccessful in the domestic cup competitions. However, the team, coached by Bill McGarry since November 1968, managed a fourth-place finish in the 1970/71 season, their best for ten years, and also won the Texaco Cup after a final victory over Scotland's Heart of Midlothian. The good league position entitled Wolves to participate in the inaugural UEFA Cup, where they were defeated by Tottenham Hotspur in the domestic English final after wins over Académica Coimbra, FC Den Haag, FC Carl Zeiss Jena, Juventus Turin and Ferencváros Budapest - a disappointing 2-1 home defeat in the first leg was not made up for in a 1-1 draw in the second leg. They finished an average ninth in the league, but were still involved in the championship decider when they beat FA Cup winners Leeds United 2-1 on the final matchday, having been crowned winners just two days earlier, to miss out on the 'double'. The upward trend continued in the 1972/73 season when, as well as finishing fifth in the Championship, they reached the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions. In the League Cup, the club returned to winning the title in 1974 after 14 years, with goals from Kenny Hibbitt and John Richards giving them a 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the final. However, this success could not prevent the impression that the trend was back downwards. After two twelfth-place finishes in 1974 and 1975, Wolves were relegated to League Two at the end of the 1975/76 season. The main reason for this was a poor start to the season with only two wins in 15 games and a home defeat against Liverpool FC on the last matchday, which also secured the championship.

Both in the club's management with the new chairman Harry Marshall and in the coaching question with the signing of Sammy Chung the club reorganized, but remained in the team parts largely from the first division players and returned after a 1-1 in the penultimate game of the season against fellow promoted Chelsea FC immediately as second division champions back to the First Division. There, despite two wins in the opening games of the 1977/78 season, the team again found themselves struggling to stay in the division, which they ultimately achieved by four points from the relegation places. In the following 1978/79 season, the team, who had a new manager in John Barnwell in November 1978, once again entered the FA Cup semi-finals, losing 2-0 to Arsenal FC. The Championship campaign was mixed, finishing 18th, but after the subsequent signing of Emlyn Hughes, who promptly became the new captain, Wolves fought their way up to a surprisingly good sixth place finish in the 1979/80 season. This was accompanied by a second League Cup success in the same year, when the resurgent side downed heavy favourites and two-time European champions Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the final after a goal from Andy Gray.

The heightened expectations were disappointed again from then on. A return to the FA Cup semi-finals in 1981 put another stamp on the club's fortunes, but a drop to 18th in the 1980/81 season saw them relegated to second-bottom in the 1981/82 campaign. The Wolves made a name for themselves off the pitch and after the resignation of John Barnwell in November 1981, Ian Ross (until February 1982) and Ian Greaves (until August 1982) were only short-term appointments. Yet the club's management had previously traded "big names" in Alex Ferguson for the coaching job and Michel Platini for the playing squad. Instead, the club revealed a £2.5 million financial hole in the summer of 1982, which almost led to the club's dissolution until a consortium - led by former player Derek Dougan - rescued the club. Former chairman John Ireland returned as president and Graham Hawkins, a former Wolves player, became the club's third coach of the year for the 1982/83 season. The team coped well with the turmoil of the summer of 1982 and showed nerves of steel, especially towards the end of the season, with only one defeat in 14 league games, thus achieving a direct return to the English elite division behind second division champions Queens Park Rangers. As a "lift team" at the beginning of the 1980s, however, even the renewed stay in the First Division was not permanent and with the worst start to a season in the club's history, they went straight back to the Second Division as bottom of the table in the 1983/84 season. Graham Hawkins was sacked in April 1984 and the team finished the season under interim coach and ex-goalkeeper Jim Barron.

The farewell from the first class (1984-2000)

Coach Tommy Docherty, who had been appointed in June 1984, failed to bring the team back into the circle of promotion contenders and instead had to watch as his men, after a halfway good start with seven defeats in a row, slid full steam towards the bottom of the table. In the end, he was relegated directly to the third division at the bottom of the table and took his hat at the end of the season - as Dougan had done in January 1985. Once again, liquidity was only secured at short notice, and it was with mixed feelings that the team entered their first third division season since 1924 with interim coach Sammy Chapman. From September 1985, ex-coach Bill McGarry again took charge, before under Chapman's guidance the season, which was to bring another low point, was played out. In an environment of dwindling attendances, consistently poor team performances and uncertainty as to whether there were enough funds to keep the club in the game, the club slumped to the fourth tier Fourth Division in 1986, second last in the Third Division. By the summer of that year there was also an acute danger that the club would have to be wound up. It wasn't until 5 August 1986 that Wolverhampton City Council agreed a package with supermarket chain Asda and property firm Gallagher Estates Limited that saw the council take over the Molineux Stadium and other land and buildings owned by the club, while the two companies paid off outstanding debts - nine days later the Football League approved the plan, ensuring the club's survival. The new owners were a consortium led by Richard Homden and Jack Harris, with multi-millionaire Jack Hayward serving as the future patron of the club, first becoming chairman, then buying the club outright in 1990 and investing more than £40 million in it by 2006.

The new management quickly found a successor for Chapman in Brian Little, but filled the position with Graham Turner in October. He discovered the difficulty of his task in the 3-0 FA Cup defeat by amateur club FC Chorley, but made a purchase with the signing of Steve Bull, who proved to be a stroke of luck in the years to come (also in view of the low transfer fee: in a "package" with full-back Andy Thompson for only £65,000). Wolves reached the play-offs in fourth place, but missed out on promotion there due to defeat to Aldershot FC. In the two seasons between 1987 and 1989, however, the team set out to rectify the humiliation suffered by falling to the fourth tier. Leading the way was Steve Bull who, with 52 competitive goals, almost single-handedly led Wolves to the Fourth Division Championship and, 'incidentally', the Sherpa Van Trophy. With almost the same squad, the 1988/89 season saw them go straight through to the Second Division as Third Division champions and Bull, who became the first Third Division player to become an England international, almost equalled that previous record with 50 goals. Although the goalscorer's 27 goals in the 1989-90 season eventually took him to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the era of 'easy wins' was over in the Second Division, but the team finished tenth, a comfortable place beyond relegation worries.

After another mid-table finish in the subsequent 1990/91 season, Hayward felt the time had come to help the club take another step forward by investing heavily. He launched the long-planned stadium refurbishment project and also provided coach Turner with a lavish budget for the players. This seemed to pay off with a good start to the 1991/92 season, but after ten defeats from the following twelve games, the team suddenly found themselves perilously close to the relegation zone. However, the club overcame this crisis, in which Turner's position was massively questioned, and still finished the season in eleventh place. The promotion of Jack Hayward's son Jonathan to new chairman and the appointment of other board members refocused the club's management, but even the structural changes could not prevent Wolves from finishing the 1992/93 season - the Second Division was now called the First Division following the introduction of the Premier League - in eleventh place again, a full 15 points adrift of the promotion play-offs. For the 1993/94 season, Bulls long-time strike partner Andy Mutch left the club and was promptly replaced by Irish international David Kelly. Further signings brought renewed optimism, fuelled by the completion of Molineux's conversion to a seater-only stadium - thus meeting the Taylor Report's requirements for first division football - in December that year. Performances did not keep pace, however, and early defeats in cup competitions and a steady place in the "dismal league mid-table" prompted Turner's dismissal in March 1994, with a 3-0 defeat at Portsmouth FC providing the cause.

Former England coach Graham Taylor, like Turner before him, was a former Aston Villa sporting director who joined Wanderers. They were three points adrift of elimination at the end of the season, but with attendances on the rise, the club entered the 1994/95 campaign in confident mood. Taylor signed no fewer than 17 players and made two million-dollar purchases in the shape of wingers Tony Daley and Steve Froggatt. Although the team had to contend with ten injured players at one stage - the injury to Daley, who only played eleven minutes in one game during the season, was particularly bitter - the team qualified for the play-offs, but lost there to Bolton Wanderers. However, the initial scepticism of the supporters towards Taylor seemed to have been overcome and with further expensive purchases, such as defenders Eric Young and Dean Richards (the latter for a club record transfer fee of £1.85 million), the club continued to upgrade. However, the first ten weeks of the 1995/96 season brought great disillusionment and after a 0-0 draw with Charlton Athletic, the club's management sacked Turner in November 1995 and appointed Scotsman Mark McGhee as his successor, who in turn resigned from his ongoing job at Leicester City in return. McGhee, who immediately after his arrival complained about the team's lack of physicality and tactics, quickly found himself in a relegation battle and narrowly salvaged a 20th-place finish. With new personnel recruited by McGhee, mainly from his old club Leicester City in Steve Gorica and Iwan Roberts alongside Keith Curle from Manchester City, Wolves played for a long time for a direct promotion place in 1997. However, second place eventually went to Barnsley FC and Crystal Palace prevented them from reaching the Premier League for the first time in the play-off semi-finals. The following season, 1997/98, also looked like being a successful one. The team was only eliminated in the semi-finals against Arsenal FC in the FA Cup, but the promotion dreams were shattered due to a weak finish to the season with only one win in the last eight games, leaving only ninth place "beyond good and evil".

Despite a good start to the 1998/99 season with four wins in a row, the team manoeuvred itself back into a sporting crisis with only two wins in twelve games, resulting in McGhee's dismissal in November 1998. His co-coach Colin Lee took over and, despite a slight consolidation, they failed to gain promotion finishing seventh in the final table. Several key players subsequently left the club, such as new young star Robbie Keane for a record fee of six million pounds to Coventry City, or ended their careers as in the case of Steve Bull. As a result, the team, which finished seventh again in the 1999/2000 season, suddenly had a problem in attacking play, scoring 64 goals, too few for a promotion contender.

The wolves in the 21st century (since 2000)

In the first half of the 2000/01 season Wolves won only two league games and already before Christmas the club reacted by sacking Colin Lee. With Dave Jones, the former coach of Southampton FC, the team went into the second half of the season and showed continuously better performances, which were however only rewarded with a midfield position due to the burden of the poor results at the beginning of the season. Jones then reshaped the team to his own liking and also during the 2001/02 season the team took on a completely new look after the signing of striker Kenny Miller and especially in midfield with Colin Cameron, Mark Kennedy, Shaun Newton and Alex Rae. They were battling local rivals West Bromwich Albion for second place behind runaway second division champions Manchester City and direct promotion to the Premier League. It was only in the final month that WBA overtook Wolves, forcing them into the play-offs in third place, where they also lost their second chance with a defeat to Norwich City in the semi-finals. In the 2002/03 season, achieving a direct promotion place was out of reach at an early stage, but the team qualified for the play-off games once again by finishing fifth. There, the team eliminated Reading FC in the semi-finals before a much-celebrated 3-0 final win over Sheffield United at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium secured a return to the top flight and a first appearance in the Premier League.

The joy of a return to the English top flight quickly faded. Only the eighth game of the season was won and apart from a widely respected 1-0 win against Manchester United, the problems were particularly evident in the away games, where Wolves remained winless throughout the season. Together with Leicester City and Leeds United, who were level on points, Wolves went back to the second division after only one year. However, the negative run continued and already in November 2004 it looked as if a direct fall into the third division might be possible. David Jones was subsequently sacked and declared himself disappointed that Jack Hayward had denied him a verbally promised £20 million transfer budget and was now putting the club up for sale. Jones' successor was former England international and coach Glenn Hoddle, who managed to lose only once in the remaining 25 league games. However, with 15 draws also yielding only 15 points, the promotion places remained a long way off in the 2004/05 season with a ninth-place finish. In the 2005/06 season too, no fewer than 19 draws ensured that Wolves were not easy to beat, but ultimately also prevented them from finishing in the top six, which had seemed possible for a long time. Although the club's management was pleased with Glenn Hoddle's steady work, both supporters and the domestic media voiced their displeasure, creating mounting pressure that led to Hoddle's resignation on 1 July 2006.

As well as the coaching change to Mick McCarthy, sweeping personnel changes took place, most notably on the board, which included the resignation of Rick Hayward, another son of Jack Hayward. McCarthy, a former Irish international coach, brought in Gary Breen, his former captain from AFC Sunderland, and despite media predictions to the contrary that Wolves would only finish in lower mid-table, the team finished fifth at the end of the season and then faced rivals West Bromwich Albion again in the play-off semi-finals. There the Wanderers lost 3-2 and 1-0, with the sudden injury to regular goalkeeper Matt Murray a significant weakening. On 21 May 2007, Jack Hayward sold the club to Steve Morgan, who agreed to invest £30 million for the purchase price of ten pounds. In the following season, 2007/08, the club again narrowly missed out on the play-offs, finishing seventh. The decisive factor was a goal difference over Watford FC that was only two goals worse. In the 2008/09 season, Wolverhampton Wanderers became the first side to be promoted to the Premier League for the 2009/10 season, finishing top of the table with seven wins from their opening eight games, with creative midfielder Michael Kightly and top scorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake leading the way.

Back in the top flight, the team was much better prepared for its second Premier League adventure than it had been six years earlier, finishing 15th and eight points clear of the relegation zone. The Wolves' methods, with Kevin Doyle particularly impressive, were not without controversy at times, as coach Mick McCarthy spared his team against top clubs, especially in December 2009, in order to be able to rely on rested players against direct rivals. Things got much tighter in the second year when, despite an overall better points haul, Wolves were forced to rely on both rivals Birmingham City and FC Blackpool losing their simultaneous duels on the final matchday with a home defeat in the relegation battle. The downward trend in the table eventually continued and in February 2012, the club's management prematurely released McCarthy from his contract, which was still running, after his side had previously collected just 21 points in 25 Premier League games. Under assistant coach Terry Connor, Wolverhampton entered the closing stages of the 2011/12 season, but ended up facing relegation to the second tier after just matchday 31.

On 11 May 2012, Jez Moxey confirmed the signing of Ståle Solbakken as the new coach from 1 July 2012, making Solbakken the first non-British or -Irish coach of Wolves. Due to the disappointing season, the club announced the early departure of Solbakken on 5 January 2013, with Kevin Thelwell taking over his role on an interim basis. On the evening of the next day, Dean Saunders was signed from third division side Doncaster Rovers as the new coach. Saunders failed to halt the downward trend in the remaining games of the season and, after relegation to the third division, was succeeded by Kenny Jackett, who had shortly before led Millwall FC to the FA Cup semi-finals.

Under Jackett, a return to the second division was achieved at the first attempt, with 103 points on the way to the 2014 Third Division Championship setting a new club record.

On 14 April 2018, the club was promoted back to the Premier League. This means that after an absence of six years, the club will once again be playing in the top English division in the 2018/19 season.

In the FA Cup semi-final, they were beaten 3-2 by Watford FC despite leading 2-0. Before the Wolverhampton Wanderers had already eliminated Liverpool FC, Shrewsbury Town, Bristol City and Manchester United. Manchester City's victory over Watford in the final meant that Wolves qualified for the Europa League in the coming 2019/20 season by finishing 7th in the Premier League.

After initially using the Windmill Field until May 1879 and John Harper's Field from August 1879 to April 1881, each on Lower Villiers Street, Wolverhampton Wanderers played at Dudley Road where, after continuous extensions, there was already room for up to 10,000 spectators. Although nothing remains today of those days at their original home in Blakenhall, the nearby "Wanderers Avenue" is a reminder of the club's early years.

Since 1889 the Wolves played their home games in the Molineux Stadium, which is located in the downtown district Whitmore Reans. The name "Molineux" comes from the merchant Benjamin Molineux, who had built his house on the site. The Northampton Brewery later bought up the site and from 1889 leased it to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had been looking for a permanent home ground. After assiduous work, within a few months the parkland became a football stadium, ready for league football from 7 September 1889, with a capacity for 4,000 spectators on its debut (2-0 against Notts County). When Wolves became the first club to install floodlights in 1953, the 1950s saw a series of friendly matches against prestigious opponents from around the world, not infrequently televised by the BBC. The South Stand alone accommodated around 30,000 spectators at the time and when the club was at its peak more than 50,000 people regularly attended matches. During the 1980s, two large stands were banned from use for safety reasons following the Valley Parade fire disaster in Bradford, and as performances also declined until the club dropped into the fourth division, capacity and attendance fell significantly.

Between 1991 and 1993, the club converted the Molineux into a seating-only stadium in line with the Taylor Report, which subsequently became one of the largest converted stadiums in England at its time for the 1993/94 season, with a capacity for 28,525 spectators. Ten years later, following promotion to the Premier League, it was the fifth smallest venue in England's top division, although capacity was increased by 2006 with the addition of a temporary stand in the south-west corner for 900 more spectators. Following the takeover of the club by millionaire Steve Morgan, he announced his intention to upgrade the stadium in the event of promotion to the Premier League. To do this, the main consideration is to expand the Steve Bull and Billy Wright stands to a total capacity of around 40,000.

In 2005, a £4.6 million training ground opened in Compton - a suburb south-west of Wolverhampton - named the Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground in honour of its long-time patron. Located around 1.5 kilometres from Molineux, the site has five high-quality training pitches, eleven changing rooms, medical and physiotherapy facilities, a gymnasium and a hydrotherapy pool.