Imagine you have battled all season, only losing one game in a 22-fixture league campaign and have narrowly lost out on promotion into the Championship.
You then find out that even if you had topped the table, you would not be going up as your club owners did not apply for promotion.
That is the current reality for Wolves women: and it is so disrespectful to the players and staff who worked tirelessly this season to try and climb the pyramid.
Wolves women's players deserve so much more
The club only lost out on promotion from the FA Womens National League Northern Premier Division because Nottingham Forest did not lose a game all season. If they had, Wolves would have celebrated thinking they were going to be in the second tier next season. They would have then been told that would not have been possible.
Players have come out and said they are "devastated" to find out the news. They were told after their final game of the season, a 6-0 win against Liverpool Feds.
Beth Merrick took to social media to vent her frustrations: "As a group we are absolutely devastated to finish the season this way and believe it speaks volumes about the clubs ambitions for the womens team. For our staff to have to deliver this news to us moments after is astonishing.
Our players, staff and fans deserve so much better. The staff have put in hours of dedication, for a bid to never be submitted. Its not about money, its about honesty and transparency.
Yes if Wolves had been promoted and the club had applied for it then the owners would have had to put more money into the team.
More staff would have had to be hired and travelling costs for games potentially would have increased. But it is yet another example of a lack of want to invest in women's football.
Wolves' men's side play in the Premier League and this season had been fighting relegation. Had they gone down, which is now not mathematically possible, the owners would most definitely been aiming for promotion with the financial burden a lot higher.
And yes the men's team bring in more money because of the broadcasting rights and everything else that comes with men's top-flight football.
But the women's game is never going to grow to their potential or reach the heights of the men's financial situation if owners are not prepared to invest now.
London City Lionesses are the perfect example of investing in a team. Michelle Kang bought the club before the current season and has poured money into the team with Women's Super League promotion the goal.
They are now top of the Championship table and if they beat Birmingham this weekend they will be in the top-flight.
That is the respect women's football and its players deserve. Not a lack of communication with its players and a lack of ambition as Wolves have demonstrated.
The Wolves players are wearing the same badge, giving the same energy and dedication to the club. They deserve the same in return from its owners.
TOPICS
