List of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers

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.