Jenny Wilkes: the driving force behind-the-scenes developing Wolves into a Club for the Future

Wolverhampton Wanderers are a club striving to achieve big in the FA Women’s National League. Jenny Wilkes has been Chair of Wolves Girls and Women’s Football Club since 1999, when women’s football was still in its infancy, and the women’s section of the club was struggling to survive.

She led the charge during a period of development that saw the Old Gold become fully integrated into the club, and now sits on their advisory board, developing new pathways for young women from youth up to academy level.

Wilkes is also the president of the Official Supporters’ Club. She gave an insight to the growth of the club, Wolves’ long-term ambitions and the premise of promotion in future seasons. Having seen the women’s team start out at a time when “girls didn’t really play football” to now, she speaks with pride about the development and elevation of Wolves Women in recent years.

How would you describe the women’s team's growth over the last 27 years?

“I think, in a nutshell, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. That would be a good way to describe it. I got involved in 1999, but my connection with the women and family side of the club actually goes back to 1975.

Last year, with it being the 60th anniversary of the women’s team, I did a lot of work with some of the original players. We had a few meetings and talked about what it was like when they first started. They were playing on park pitches, and it all began with just three of them answering an advert in a local paper. It was a completely different time; girls didn’t really play football then. They had to work incredibly hard to start the team and build the club.”

When the Women’s Football Association set up a new league after the FA lifted the ban [in January 1970], they joined the first proper league in the second tier. Over time, they worked their way up into the top tier, and in our club’s history, we’ve played in the topflight for two seasons. But it was completely different back then, not fully grown, nothing like the game is now.

By the time I took over, they had got the club on board, but they were struggling to find further funding. The FA was putting more money into the women’s game, and we needed to keep up. So I got involved, set up a limited company with the club, brought in sponsors, and helped form a board. The players were part of that as well, and we brought in a manager and even a European Cup-winning captain, which really raised the profile of the club.

Even in those early days, the conditions were very different. I remember when we were playing on an old pitch; one of the players worked in roadworks and would bring machinery to help fix the surface before matches. That was the level we were dealing with at the time.

When you look at how much it’s changed, it’s incredible. Over the years, we’ve gradually improved, getting closer step by step, building trust, laying the foundations, and developing different youth levels and more recently, bringing the academy into the setup has made a huge difference.

Now, with our semi-professional status, things have really moved forward. You’ve got players like Anna signing semi-professional contracts and competing at a higher level, including in the Challenge Cup.  It really shows how far the club has come.”

What are your long-term objectives on and off the pitch, and how do you plan to use this season as a catalyst for change as Wolves seek to win promotion to the WSL for the first time?

“I think with our objectives, we’re always looking to improve. We want to play at the highest level we possibly can, and we’ve been working really hard to achieve promotion. We’ve been quite unlucky in recent years, especially during the Covid seasons, where we were in a strong position to go up before everything was disrupted. Then there was the playoff against Southampton [where the team missed out on promotion in 2021/22]  where we came really close again. Last summer brought its own challenges, so it has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but we’ve consistently been there or thereabouts. I think that consistency shows how close we are.

So for us, it’s about continuing to push forward, doing the best we possibly can, and aiming to play at the highest level we can, both now and in the long term. I think it has helped us and the club see everything in a different light. The answers we were getting from the club perhaps weren’t being fully listened to before, so a lot of it came down to communication.

We feel like we’re in a much better place now, with improved communication and the advisory board. When I was chair, I was responsible for bringing in money, sponsors, and everything else. Now I’m more at arm’s length with the chair and advisory board, so my role is more about challenging and asking: ‘What are you going to do about this and that?’ It’s a slightly different perspective.

We’re getting a good response now, and we’ve managed to bring in quite a lot of change. As a group, we’ve been pushing things forward, getting funding for more work, and trying to take on board what’s being said from both sides.

We’ve also got the club looking at different options around facilities, for example, playing more at Telford [the SEAH Stadium, the team’s main stadium, which they share with Telford United] which is a fantastic, inclusive stadium, and trying to make it more of a home ground for us. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make sure the club understands what’s important to us, and to make sure we continue moving forward in the right direction.”

As chair, how do you bridge the gap and move the women’s side closer to the main club  as they push for promotion?

“We definitely are. This is the most I’ve worked with people at the top end of the club. Over the years, when we were part of the foundation, I was probably dealing more with people around that side of things, rather than those actually in charge of the club.

Now I’m working much more closely with them, so it’s a different environment. We’re more integrated in terms of what it means for the whole club. The men’s and women’s sides are both being taken into account when it comes to decision-making, which is a really positive step forward.”

What would promotion mean for the club, the city and the women’s game in general?

“It might seem like a massive difference, because we’re not quite fully professional at the moment. We’ve been working in a really professional way, but we’re not fully pro yet. That means a lot of players still have other jobs, so there’s a balance to manage.

Going up would probably mean bringing in more professional players, and that could also mean losing some of the players we’ve got now, some of whom we don’t want to lose because they don’t want to give up their day jobs. At the same time, it’s a huge opportunity. Players like Anna show what it can be like when players can commit more fully, and it opens up more opportunities for new players to come in and develop.

In terms of the club, we’re a massive club, and we really want to raise the profile of Wolves. Even last season, we saw more people coming to Telford, the fans growing, and a real feel-good factor building. So I think if we can get that stability and keep building on it, then when big FA Cup games are on TV, we can really bring more attention to the club, grow the fanbase, and raise the profile in the public eye. That’s ultimately what we want to achieve.”

More women’s teams in the league are playing at their main stadiums. Could this be a regular occurrence in later seasons? Or could we see a full season where all matches are played at their main stadiums like the WSL?

“I think it’s an interesting one. I’ve spoken about it before, because at the moment when we play at Molineux it’s brilliant, it’s a great stadium, but when you’ve got smaller crowds, you do get less atmosphere. At Telford, it feels the right size for us at the moment. When we played Manchester United in the FA Cup, we got a massive crowd and it had a really good feeling about it- a brilliant atmosphere. Telford can feel like that when it’s full, and that really helps us.

I’ve also looked at what Arsenal have done at Borehamwood and how they’ve built their following over many years. I think we’re probably miles behind that in terms of long-term development, but that’s what we need to aim towards, building and galvanising the fanbase before moving into bigger stadiums regularly. A lot of our fans ask, ‘Why don’t you play at Molineux?’ and I understand that. But at the moment, I actually think I prefer the smaller stadium setup because it suits where we are right now. In time, as the support grows, maybe that changes, but we need to build towards it properly.”

You recently won an award for services to football. What does this say about the importance and recognition of volunteers in the women’s game?

“I feel really proud that people can see what I’ve done, and I love getting that recognition for something I care so much about. I also love seeing the achievements we’ve made as a club. Last year was brilliant with the anniversary, we managed to have a brand-new exhibition in the museum. We invited lots of former players from across the decades, and we had a big get-together before the women’s team played at Molineux.

We all came to the game as well, and it was just brilliant. It really showed the family feeling we have at the club. Seeing old players coming back and then seeing themselves on display in the exhibition, that kind of thing makes me really proud of what we’ve done for the club. And obviously, if we can achieve promotion as well, that would make it an even more special moment.”

You previously spoke about the clubs’ journey to becoming semi-professional. Did you have any early setbacks or frustrations?

“Back in the early days, we had to pay for everything ourselves: kit, coaching and transport. We were able to buy kits from the club at cost price, but because we weren’t fully part of the club, players still had to pay subs. When I first got involved, we managed to get a sponsor on board who put in £10,000, and then another £10,000 from a sports match fund, so about £20,000 in total to get things started. That money had to cover everything: transport, pitches, equipment, and players were still paying subs as well.

It was even the captain’s job to collect the money in cash. It was hard to get support from the club at that time, and I think the way women’s football was treated has changed a lot since then. Then the Foundation [the club’s foundation, Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation] became more involved, and we eventually became part of the academy structure. It’s completely different now, we’re fully part of the club. Things have changed a lot over time.”

With the club moving to a hybrid/part-time model in recent years and the manager moving into a full-time role, is there a desire to become fully professional as a club?

“When we do get promoted, we can go fully professional in the WSL2, [second tier of the women’s pyramid, formerly the Championship], that’s very much what we want to do. I hope we can go fully pro next season; that’s the plan, and that’s the aim.

Macca [Dan McNamara, the manager] has been full-time for a few years now and does a brilliant job. I think the players put in so many hours as well, even though we’re not fully professional yet; they’re already operating in a very professional way. Hopefully, we can take that next step and go fully pro next season.”

There is no doubt that Wilkes is fuelled by ambition and success, with constant aims to improve the behind-the-scenes running and infrastructures surrounding Wolverhampton Wanderers Women. As the club continue to reach new heights with elevated long-term ambitions, the Chair remains at the helm with the women’s team at the core of her principles.