These pages include some of Wolverhampton Wanderers history.  Additional information and videos of some of the Cup Finals are in the Members’ Pages.  If you’d like to join London Wolves, details are here. 

Watch this video on the decline and rise of the Wolves in the 1980s/90s link


Our archive site has more information and pictures including

Hall of Fame Cup Finals Honved & more WW Heroes - Bullly King John & The Doog  (click on a link)




Wolves History  Click for Honours

1877 - Club formed as St Luke's FC.

1879 - Amalgamated with The Wanderers Football and Cricket Club to form Wolverhampton Wanderers FC.

1883 - Entered the FA Cup for the first time.

1888 - Became a founder member of the Football League

           FA Cup runners up to Preston North End by 3-0 (The Oval).

1889 - Moved from Dudley Road ground to Molineux.

1893 - Won the FA Cup defeating Everton 1-0 (Fallowfield, Manchester).

1896 - FA Cup final.  Lost 2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday (Crystal Palace).

1906 - Relegated from the First Division.

1908 - Beat hot favourites Newcastle United 3-1 in the FA Cup Final at (Crystal Palace). (see Cup Finals)

1921 - FA Cup Final lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur (Stamford Bridge).

1923 - Relegated from the Second Division.

1924 - Champions - Third Division (north).

1932 - Champions - Second Division.  Return to the First Division after 26 years

1938 - First Division runners-up

1939 - First Division runners-up

1939 - FA Cup Final Lost 4-1 defeat to Portsmouth (Wembley)

1942 - Winners Wartime League Cup (North). Beat Sunderland 6-3 on aggregate over two legs.

1949 - Winners FA Cup Final v Leicester City (3-1) (Wembley).

1954 - League Champions

1954 - Beat Honved 3-2 (see Honved pages)

1958 - League Champions

           The second, third and fourth teams also won their leagues.

           Winners FA Youth Cup versus Chelsea (aggregate 7-6! - 6-1 in the second leg of the Final after trailing 5-1 from first leg!)

1959 - League Champions.

1960 - Winners FA Cup v Blackburn Rovers (3-0) (Wembley)

           League runners-up to Burnley by 1 point.

1965 - Relegated to the Second Division.

1967 - Runners up Division 2 and promoted back to the First Division

1971 - Winners Texaco Cup v Hearts 3-2 on aggregate

1972 - Runners Up EUFA Cup v Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 on aggregate

1973 - Semi-finalists FA Cup and League Cup.

1974 - Winners League Cup v Manchester City (2-1) (Wembley)

1976 - Relegated to the Second Division.

1977 - Champions Second Division

1979 - British transfer records: Sold Steve Daley to Man City for £1.437m, bought Andy Gray (Sky pundit) from Villa for £1.469m.

1980 - Winners League Cup v Nottingham Forest  (1-0, Gray) (Wembley).

1982 - Relegated to the Second Division and declared bankrupt.

1983 - Runners-up Second Division (to QPR).

1984 - Relegated to the Second Division.

1985 - Relegated to the Third Division.

1986 - Relegated to the Fourth Division.  Declared bankrupt again.

1987 - Club saved. Missed promotion losing to Aldershot in the play-offs.

1988 - Champions Fourth Division

           Winners - Sherpa Van Trophy.

           Steve Bull hits 50 goals.

1989 - Champions Third Division.

           Steve Bull hits 50 goals.

1990 - Sir Jack Hayward buys the club.

1993 - The rebuilding of the 'new' Molineux is completed.

1994 - Molineux Stadium opened by HM The Queen.

1995 - Lost to Bolton Wanderers in the play-off semi-final (the year playoffs were introduced when we finished third).

1997 - Lost to Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-final.

1998 - Manager Mark McGhee replaced by his assistant Colin Lee.

1999 - Transfer record- Robbie Keane became the most expensive teenager in Britain when sold to Coventry for £6m

2000 - Colin Lee sacked.

2001 - Dave Jones appointed.

2002 - Lost to Norwich in play-off semi-final after being in top two throughout season. Baggies and Blues promoted.

2003 - First Division play off winners v Sheffield Utd (3-0) (Millennium Stadium, Cardiff).

           Sir Jack relinquishes chairmanship of the Wolves to his son Rick

2004 - Bottom of Premiership thanks to last match defeat by Spurs with Robbie Keane scoring. Relegated

           Dave Jones dismissed

           Glenn Hoddle appointed manager

2005 - Club record 20 draws in a season “achieved” with 1-1 draw at Leicester City (Tuesday 5th April)

         - Club record unbeaten sequence broken by Millwall (with whom it started)

2005 - December Wolves become the first ever Club to score 7,000 goals.  However there is some confusion over whether Seol scored it against Palace or Vio scored it against Leeds.  Eventually the honour was given to Ki-Hyeon Seol. .See explanation below.

2006 - 7th Championship;  Glen Hoddle resigns during close season apparently over funding disputes

2006 - Mick McCarthy appointed the week of London Wolves 40th Anniversary dinner.  Most palyers out of contract and Mick starts a long rebuild, calling in “failed” players to get us over the rebuilding period.

2007 - Championship playoffs after finishing 5th - one behind the Baggies who beat us in the two legged semi - we should have one the first leg and capitulated in the second.  The Police took no action over pitch invasions or WBA supporter thuggery.  Baggie were thrashed by Derby in the final

2008 - Playoffs missed by two goals - in part thanks to wierd substitution decisions through the season (especially against 9 man Budgies).  Goal of the century by Sylvan Ebanks-Blake at Charlton - with a Karl Henry 93rd minutes winner.

2009 - Championship Champions 90 points gd of +28.

2010 - Back in the big time - finishing 15th in the Premier League.

2011 - Second season syndrome - 17th beating Birmingham by 1 point!  Ground redevelopment started by knocking down the North Bank (Stan Cullis) stand

2012 - Third season syndrome.  First in the Premier League for two hours in August.  Relegated.with only Mick McCarthy’s Sunderland having a worse record, while Goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey stops 163 shots on target  - 30 more than John Ruddy at Norwich and Vorm at Swansea.  So it’s down to the npower Championship.

2013 - slippin & slidin - a disjointed changing room managed to slide straight through the Championship to land in the First Division  (third tier).  Managers sacked between 2012 & 2013 include Mick McCarthy, Terry Connor, Stale Solbakken, and the hapless Dean Saunders with Wolves finally making a sensible appointment in Kenny Jackett

2014 Promoted from League One as champions with league record points and mutliple club records.  25 clean sheets, one of six club records to be broken along with most points, consecutive wins, most overall wins, most away wins, and least away goals conceded... as well as setting an all time points and clean sheets record for League One at 103 and 25.


2015 Back in the Championshp but missed the playoffs by 5 goals goal difference

2016 Mediocre season ending up 14th and in the bottom half for most of the season dropping as low as 21st in March

2017  Another mediocre season ending up 15th and in the bottom half for much of the season dropping as low as 21st in March

2018 Nuno had a dream.   A signifcant managerial change with Nuno Espirito Santos  to rebuild the team and the arrival of the stunning Ruben Neves, with Conor Cody becoming Captain P46 W30 D9 L7 Points 99 GD +43 Champions

2019 Back in the Prem with Nuno and an even more significant Portuguese intake leading to a 7th place finish, at last a return to Wembley for the FA Cup semi final cruelly finished by a Dendoncker yielding a penalty in the last minutes , and even more at last are retunr to Europe next season in the Europa League

2020 “Wolves will struggle” but prove the pundits wrong with another 7th place finish (but denied a place in Europe) and a Europa League quarter final against eventual winners Sevilla.  However, the last 9 PL matches were played in empty grounds and no crowds as the worldwide Covid 19 pandemic bit,

2021 A full season behind locked doors - which only opened for matchday 38, a 1-0 home defeat by Man Utd. And a 13th place finish which led to Wolves’ most successful manager for decades leaving Molineux “by mutual consent”.  The deferred Euro2020 International competition however featured 4 players in the Portuguese squad, Conor Coady in the English having become the first Wolves player to be capped by England since Matt Jarvis and Bully.  Leander Dendoncker was part of the world #1 team, Belgium

2022 Another Portuguese manager Bruno Lage replaced Nuno;  Lage was replaced swiftly by Julen Lopetegui who saved Wolves from relegation but walked out when promised funds were not forthcominh in Summer 2023.  He was replaced by a young English manager Gary O’Neil who had a reasonable first season but presided over Wolves worst ever start in 2024-25 losing 7 of the first 10 matches and drawing 3 .


2024 Jorgen Strand Larsen scores Wolves’ 8,000th League Goal. Again against Palace but at Molineux.



7000:The Club explanation follows below

       

7000 points of information:  It would now appear that Wolves have already become the first team in England to score 7,000 League goals although it is not yet entirely certain who hit the landmark strike!  The honour looks like going to Seol for his effort at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace on 10th December. But, dependent on a result in the first season of League football in the 1888/9 season being verified, then it could be that it is Vio Ganea that takes the acclaim following his match winning goal against Leeds last weekend.

It had been reported on WOW and in the local media that, before the Leeds fixture, Wolves needed two goals to be the first club in England to reach the 7,000 mark. League tables were checked and cross referenced before the article was published but it now turns out that there are two discrepancies in many of the records.

When Wolves met Everton at Dudley Road in January, 1889, the score was apparently recorded in Football League records as being 4-0 when, in fact, Wolves scored five.  Then in November, 1893, a 5-2 home victory over Stoke City was recorded as a 4-2 win. Record books published in recent years of both Everton and Stoke record the scores as 4-0 and 4-2 respectively but our records show five  home goals in each case.


Over the years, it appears, League tables have been copied and the errors reproduced.  A look into the Express and Star's archives has confirmed the Stoke game as being 5-2 but, unfortunately, the newspaper didn't report on football in that inaugural season of 1888/89. 

But further investigations into the Everton match are taking place and as soon as there is a definitive answer, we will let you know the outcome on this website.


However, one thing looks to be clear, Wolves are the first to hit the 7,000 mark.


      

THE DECLINE AND RISE OF THE WOLVES - A SHORT SKY DOCUMENTARY


 Honours:

League 1 / Premier League (3) 1953/4, 1957/8, 1958/9

Runners-up 1937/8, 1938/9, 1949/50, 1954/5, 1959/60

2nd Division /Championship 2008/9, 1931 /2, 1976/7

                   Runners up 1966/7, 1982/3

                   Play off winners 2002-3

3rd Division/League 1 Champions 2013/14 ,1923 /4 (N), 1988/9

4th Division /League 2 Champions 1987/8

(The leagues were renamed in 1992, and again in 1995)


F.A. Cup Winners 1893, 1908, 1949, 1960

Runners-up 1889, 1896, 1921, 1939

Third place 1972-3

Semi finalist 2019

Football League Cup Winners 1974, 1980


Charity Shield Winners 1959, 1949 (shared) , 1954, 1960

Sherpa Van Trophy Winners 1988

Texaco Cup Winners 1971


European participation

UEFA Cup runners-up 1971/2; participated 1973/4, 1974/5, 1980/1

European Cup 1958/9, 1959/60

European Cup Winners Cup 1960/61

Europa League 2020 Quarter finalist

       

       

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