Wolves Women Chairperson Jenny Wilkes has stressed need for change to footballing pyramid as the club seeks promotion to the Barclays Women’s Championship at second time of asking.
Dan McNamara’s side have earned their place in another hotly-contested promotion race in the National League North, nine points behind league leaders Nottingham Forest with three games in hand while Burnley closely follow suit.
This comes after Wolves were handed a late blow to their title-winning campaign last season. The Black Country outfit lost just once as they finished eight points clear at the top of the table, only to lose 1-0 to southern champions Southampton in the promotion playoff.
The competitive setup means only one team across both third-tier divisions can achieve promotion to the Barclays Women’s Championship, with just 12 teams in each of the nation’s top two leagues. Jenny Wilkes believes the current pyramid structure needs to be expanded to provide equal opportunity for clubs to compete at the highest level.
“The rest of the pyramid hasn't kept up with what’s happening at the top,” she said.
“This season, us, Nottingham Forest and Burnley who are all vying for that top space could all compete at the Championship level and I think there’s at least three teams in the southern section who are the same but out of all those six teams and there might be more, only one’s going to go up.
“They need to expand the leagues above and I think they need to do more with the third tier, they need to change the rules to make it possible for clubs to go up.”
Promotion would see Wolves play in the top tiers of women’s football for the first time since 1996, the club dropping as low as the fourth tier as recently as 2020 as they look to build their way back to the top of the pyramid.
Wolves, meanwhile, have added to their trophy cabinet amid their push for promotion. The old gold and black persuasion claimed bragging rights last season as they beat rivals West Bromwich Albion in the Birmingham FA Women’s County Cup final last season. The holders will look to defend their title later this month as they take on Stourbridge Women after beating the Baggies in the previous round.
The Wolves Chairperson has praised the side’s previous efforts but is focused on securing promotion from an increasingly competitive division.
Wilkes added: “We were only expecting really to consolidate in that division, to finish mid table and to go and win it was above all expectations so yes it sort of proves we’re doing really well but actually it puts more pressure on for this season.
“A lot more clubs are competing with us because Burnley and Nottingham Forest are now paying players and they’re sort of semi-pro which we aren’t so it’s more difficult.
“If we’re still in that division next season then it’s going to be even more difficult… there are lots of clubs who are doing really well so I think in lots of ways the structure hasn’t kept up with what's happened in the clubs.”
Wolves Women continue their promotion push as they welcome Liverpool Feds to New Bucks Head on Sunday April 9, kick-off 2pm.
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