Dan McNamara urges Wolves Women to grasp 'life-changing' chance in play-off final

Boss Dan McNamara has urged Wolves Women to grasp the “life-changing” moment offered by Monday’s promotion play-off against Plymouth.

Wolves head to Burton’s Pirelli Stadium for arguably the biggest game in their history, aiming for the win to secure a place in next season’s Women’s Super League 2 and with it professional status.

It comes just a year after McNamara almost quit the club when it emerged former Wolves chairman Jeff Shi had failed to apply for tier two licence, despite them fighting for promotion during the 2024-25 campaign.

A huge overhaul of the squad followed, with McNamara comparing the job to rebuilding a burned-down house.

This season Wolves dropped just five points in the National League Northern Premier Division but while they still missed out on the title to Burnley, next season’s expansion of the WSL has provided a second chance through the play-offs.

McNamara said: “I've said to the players, look, this is life-changing. It is something that we've worked for so long and individually, it's life changing for them.

“I'm pretty sure some of them throughout the season, when I'm dragging them in here at seven o'clock on a Thursday night in November, probably can think of better things to be doing after a full day's work.

“You think about what it could look like.

“We've got them in this afternoon, and they'll be training in the sun, and that could be the normality for them, rather than teaching, working in hospitals and all the other great careers that they've got as individuals, so it really is life changing for the players and the staff.

“We just have to prepare the best we can and hopefully that driver of that life-changing moment for them can get us over the line.”

Wolves have previous experience of play-off heartbreak, having lost out to Southampton at the same stage five years ago.

With that in mind, McNamara has tried to keep the build-up to Monday’s clash normal as possible.

He explained: “We reflected on that Southampton match and probably felt as a group we built it up a bit too much.

“At the end of the day it is another football game and we don’t want to get lost in the occasion.

“We have to prepare exactly the same as we would do, probably put a bit more into it as regards the planning for Plymouth, as we don’t get to play them.

“Everything else has stayed the same. We will prepare the same, eat the same, in the same places and do everything as normally as we can.”

He continued: “I think the pressure is a little bit off this time round because of how well they've done, with the adversity we came through last summer, no one expected us to be hit where we are now.

“I'm excited. The excitement is building. I'm trying to control my emotions and try and treat it as another football game. If I'm losing my mind, then I'm pretty sure the players will, so we're all calm, and I'm really looking forward to it.”