This article lists all managers, caretaker managers and/or head coaches of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club since its foundation is 1877 until the present. Served by 32 different permanent managers throughout its history, three-quarters of them were born in the United Kingdom with the remaining quarter consisting of Norwegian Ståle Solbakken (2012–13), Italian Walter Zenga (2016), Portuguese duo Nuno Espírito Santo (2017–2021) and Bruno Lage (2021–2022) and Julen Lopetegui (2022–2023), who is Spanish, coming from overseas.
From 1877 to 1922, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager/head coach 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 league championships, two FA Cups and one FA Charity/Community Shield and was the first to bring continental football to the club during his 16-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 league-and-cup double in English football history, when Burnley pipped his FA Cup winning team, to the league 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 debut UEFA Cup final in 1972, its best performance in a continental campaign.
Graham Turner achieved three trophies in two seasons in the late 1980s, with back-to-back divisional titles (the Third and Fourth Divisions) and the Football League Trophy (now the EFL 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 (now EFL League One) as champions with a record points total of 103 in 2013–14.
Note: Win percentage is rounded to one decimal place.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which competes in the Premier League. The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's traditional kit consists of old gold shirts and socks with black shorts. Since 1979, the kit has also featured the club's "wolf's head" logo. Long-standing rivalries exist with other clubs from the West Midlands, including Aston Villa but the main one being the Black Country derby contested with West Bromwich Albion. Since 2016, the club has been owned by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun International.
Stanley Cullis was an English professional footballer and manager, primarily for Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo, known as Nuno Espírito Santo or simply Nuno, is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the head coach of Premier League club Nottingham Forest.
The Black Country derby is the name given to any local derby between English football teams West Bromwich Albion, Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Though most commonly it refers specifically to games between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers due to Walsall spending most of their existence in lower divisions than the other two teams. All three clubs reside in Staffordshire’s historic boundaries, but they are separated 11 miles apart in the Black Country of the present-day West Midlands county.
Samuel Smyth was a Northern Irish footballer who played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Stoke City and Liverpool.
Daniel Tanveer Batth is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL Championship club Norwich City.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Women's Football Club, commonly known as Wolves Women, is an English women's football club affiliated with Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. The club play in the FA Women's National League North.
Willy-Arnaud Zobo Boly is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Nottingham Forest. Born in France, he represents the Ivory Coast national team.
Conor David Coady is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for EFL Championship club Leicester City and the England national team.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, commonly referred to as Wolves, is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. This article covers the history of the club from its formation in 1877 as St. Luke's F.C. to the present day.
Rúben Diogo da Silva Neves is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal and the Portugal national team.
Sylvain Boris Nabil Deslandes is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Sabail. Born in Cameroon, he has represented France at under-16 through under-20 level.
The 2017–18 season was the 140th in the history of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the first under former FC Porto manager Nuno Espírito Santo who was appointed on 31 May 2017. The club competed in the English Football League Championship for the fourth consecutive and final year as well as the EFL Cup and the FA Cup.
The 2018–19 season was the 141st in the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers and the 2nd under then-head coach Nuno Espírito Santo. In that season, they returned to the Premier League for the first time since being relegated in 2012 via winning the previous season's EFL Championship. They also reached their first knockout competition semi-final in 21 years through their participation in the FA Cup semi-finals.
Bruno Miguel Silva do Nascimento, known as Bruno Lage, is a Portuguese football manager who was most recently the head coach of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Botafogo.
The 2019–20 season was the 142nd in the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers and the 3rd under then-head coach Nuno Espírito Santo. In that season, they competed in the Premier League for the 2nd consecutive time, the EFL Cup, the FA Cup and in a UEFA/continental competition for the first time since 1980–81 through/via the UEFA Europa League.
Maximilian William Kilman is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 2021–22 season was the 144th in the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers and the 4th consecutive in the Premier League. The club also competed in the FA Cup and the EFL Cup.