Wolves appoint new women’s football chief after historic promotion

Wolves have appointed a new head of women’s and girls’ football following the club’s move into the professional game.

Russ Fraser has taken up the role after Wolves Women secured a historic promotion to Women’s Super League 2.

Fraser brings a decade of experience in women’s football and will oversee all aspects of Wolves’ women’s operation, including player and staff recruitment, academy development and long-term strategic planning.

He has extensive experience helping clubs transition into the professional game, having held senior roles at Reading, West Ham United, Leicester City and Liverpool.

Wolves’ technical director Matt Jackson said: “Russ has been really successful at this level and above with high profile clubs. He’s got a top understanding of the women’s game and demonstrated that in his interview process.

“He has brilliant contacts and knows the level of quality which is required to be successful when recruiting.

“Everybody will benefit from working with Russ at all levels. He’s been running full organisations where he’s had to draw together different departments, so staff will improve their own expertise by drawing on his experience.

“I’d like to think we’ve come an awful long way in the past 18 months. Now we’ve reached the WSL 2, the women and staff deserve to have someone of the experience of Russ guiding them through the next stage of the journey.”

After joining Reading in 2016, Fraser helped establish the newly promoted Royals in the Women’s Super League, securing their top-flight status before moving to West Ham two years later.

During his time with the Hammers, the club reached the FA Cup final in its first professional season.

Fraser also played a key role at Leicester City, helping the Foxes win promotion to the Women’s Super League in his first season at the club while overseeing another transition to a professional structure.

His most recent spell in England came with Liverpool, where he served as managing director and helped the club secure promotion back to the top flight in 2022.

Most recently, Fraser worked as women’s sporting director at Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia. He has now returned to the UK to join Wolves ahead of a significant new chapter in the club’s history as it prepares for its first season as a fully professional outfit.

After a remarkable campaign, Wolves - who play their home games in Telford - secured promotion by beating Plymouth Argyle in last month’s play-off final, ending years of near misses.

Fraser will now be tasked with overseeing the club’s transition to full professionalism, helping build a squad capable of competing in the second tier alongside head coach Dan McNamara, while also leading plans for the development of a women’s academy.

Fraser said: “It's a really exciting opportunity. There are a lot of similarities with Liverpool in that the club's really important to what goes on in the city, and there's good people here, so I think we can develop a really good football programme here over the next three to five seasons.

“Macca and I seem very aligned in the way we see things, and the players we're looking at, and I was really pleased with Compton Park as a facility, because there's real interaction between the men’s and women’s groups - it's a pack mentality, and that is massive when you're trying to build an environment.

“This first season the biggest challenge is getting the right people in, staff and players, but it's also an opportunity. If you look at my career at different clubs, I love a project, that's what lights my fire, and there's a great opportunity here, so I can’t wait to get going.”