List of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers

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The following is a list of Wolverhampton Wanderers managers from the founding of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club in 1877 until the present. The club has been served by 29 different permanently appointed managers, all of them born in the United Kingdom, aside from Norwegian Ståle Solbakken (2012–13), Italian Walter Zenga (2016) and Portuguese Nuno Espírito Santo (2017–2021).

From 1877 to 1922, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today. There were two secretaries during this period, George Worrall and Jack Addenbrooke, the latter being the longest serving manager in the club's history. In 1922, the club broke from this tradition and appointed George Jobey as the first full-time manager.

The club's most successful manager is Stan Cullis, who won three First Division championships, two FA Cups and one FA Charity Shield and was the first to bring European football to the club during his sixteen-year reign from 1948 to 1964. Previously also a notable player for the club, he narrowly missed out on becoming the first manager to win "the Double" in English football history, when Burnley pipped Wolves, already FA Cup winners, to the title by a single point in 1960.

Bill McGarry and John Barnwell are the only managers since Cullis to have won major silverware, both winning the League Cup (in 1974 and 1980, respectively). The former also took the club to the UEFA Cup final, its best performance in a European campaign.

Graham Turner achieved three trophies in two seasons in the late 1980s, with back-to-back divisional titles (the Third and Fourth Division) and the Football League Trophy. Turner's success bucked a downward trend for the club in the mid-1980s that saw three different managers preside over three successive relegations.

Dave Jones, Mick McCarthy and Nuno Espírito Santo have all since had promotion successes that took Wolves into the Premier League. Jones won the 2003 First Division play-offs and McCarthy and Espírito Santo both won the EFL Championship (the former in 2008–09 and the latter in 2017–18). Kenny Jackett also recorded a promotion success, winning Football League One as champions with a record points total of 103 in 2013–14.

Managers[]

Information correct as of the end of the 2020–21 season. Only competitive first team matches in official competitions are counted.
Name Nationality From To P W D L Win %1 Honours
George Worrall  England August 1877 May 1885 4 1 1 2 25.0
Jack Addenbrooke  England August 1885 June 1922 1,125 455 220 450 40.4 1889 FA Cup runners-up
1893 FA Cup winners
1896 FA Cup runners-up
1908 FA Cup winners
1921 FA Cup runners-up
George Jobey  England June 1922 May 1924 91 36 26 29 39.6 1923–24 Third Division (N) champions
Albert Hoskins  England June 1924 March 1926 78 34 13 31 43.6
Fred Scotchbrook  England March 1926 June 1927 57 24 9 24 42.1
Major Frank Buckley  England July 1927 March 1944 681 281 136 264 41.3 1931–32 Second Division champions
1937–38 First Division runners-up
1938–39 First Division runners-up
1939 FA Cup runners-up
1942 War Cup winners
Ted Vizard  Wales April 1944 May 1948 178 87 40 51 48.9
Stan Cullis  England June 1948 September 1964 748 350 171 227 46.8 1949 FA Cup winners
1949–50 First Division runners-up
1953–54 First Division champions
1954–55 First Division runners-up
1957–58 First Division champions
1958–59 First Division champions
1959–60 First Division runners-up
1959 FA Charity Shield winners
1960 FA Cup winners
Andy Beattie  Scotland November 1964 September 1965 44 19 7 18 43.2
Ronnie Allen  England September 1965 November 1968 150 66 35 49 44.0 1966–67 Second Division runners-up
Bill McGarry  England November 1968 May 1976 398 153 110 135 38.4 1971 Texaco Cup winners
1972 UEFA Cup runners-up
1974 League Cup winners
Sammy Chung  England June 1976 November 1978 108 41 27 40 38.0 1976–77 Second Division champions
John Barnwell  England November 1978 January 1982 166 64 40 62 38.6 1980 League Cup winners
Ian Greaves  England February 1982 August 1982 20 5 6 9 25.0
Graham Hawkins  England August 1982 April 1984 90 26 28 36 28.9 1982–83 Second Division runners-up
Tommy Docherty  Scotland June 1984 July 1985 48 9 12 27 18.8
Bill McGarry  England September 1985 November 1985 12 2 3 7 16.7
Sammy Chapman  Northern Ireland November 1985 August 1986 33 8 9 16 24.2
Graham Turner  England October 1986 March 1994 412 179 109 124 43.4 1987–88 Fourth Division champions
1988 Football League Trophy winners
1988–89 Third Division champions
Graham Taylor  England March 1994 November 1995 91 36 29 26 39.6
Mark McGhee  Scotland December 1995 November 1998 159 65 39 55 40.9
Colin Lee  England November 1998 December 2000 111 44 33 34 39.6
Dave Jones  England January 2001 November 2004 187 75 52 60 40.1 2003 First Division play-off winners
Glenn Hoddle  England December 2004 July 2006 76 27 34 15 35.5
Mick McCarthy  Ireland July 2006 February 2012 270 104 66 100 38.5 2008–09 Championship champions
Terry Connor  England February 2012 June 2012 13 0 4 9 0.0
Ståle Solbakken  Norway July 2012 January 2013 30 10 5 15 33.3
Dean Saunders  Wales January 2013 May 2013 20 5 5 10 25.0
Kenny Jackett  Wales May 2013 July 2016 150 69 43 38 46.0 2013–14 League One champions
Walter Zenga  Italy July 2016 October 2016 17 6 4 7 35.3
Paul Lambert  Scotland November 2016 May 2017 33 14 5 14 42.4
Nuno Espírito Santo  Portugal May 2017 May 2021 199 95 49 55 47.7 2017–18 Championship champions
Bruno Lage  Portugal June 2021


Note: Win percentage is rounded to one decimal place.

References[]

  • Manager History for Wolverhampton Wanderers at Soccerbase.com
  • Matthews, Tony (2008). Wolverhampton Wanderers: The Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-632-3.
  • Matthews, Tony (2001). The Wolves Who's Who. West Midlands: Britespot. ISBN 1-904103-01-4.
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