Fans’ hopes of seeing Wolves celebrating promotion in an open-top bus parade – expected to have attracted up to 100,000 people – were dashed this afternoon by red tape.

The club said the risk of being sued was too high now that the onus of liability was on it rather than the council for any health and safety issues.

And, with players flying to Las Vegas on Thursday as a reward for winning promotion, time has run out.

Club chief executive Jez Moxey said this afternoon: “Following lengthy discussions with the club’s safety advisory group, which includes representatives from Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands Police and the other emergency services, it has been decided that there are too many health and safety issues to overcome in order to have a safe parade through the city within the short time span available.

“Unfortunately, today’s society has an increasingly litigious bias and given all the information that was presented to us, we couldn’t take full responsibility as is required by legislation – ultimately we were not prepared to put fans at risk.”

He said fans had already celebrated at the QPR match when the side clinched promotion, again at Barnsley when title was secured, and finally at Sunday’s trophy presentation, which was enjoyed by more than 28,000 at Molineux and another 5,000 at West Park.

The club also today confirmed there would be no civic reception either, saying Sunday’s presentation of a congratulatory scroll by city mayor Christine Mills took its place.

Mr Moxey added: “While it is unfortunate we are unable to add to the celebrations with the bus tour, we hope everyone understands the reasons behind the decision.”