Anna Morphet, Katie Johnson and Tammi George have become the first Wolves Women players to sign contracts with the club.
In a historic move that demonstrates the club’s ambition to retain talent and take further steps to progressing its hybrid model, all three players have put pen-to-paper with the Old Gold on part-time contracts, becoming Wolves’ first ever salaried female players in the process.
The news follows significant changes over the summer, which also saw manager Dan McNamara take on a full-time position at the club and other staff roles become permanent, as the structure of the women’s section professionalised with growth in areas on and off the pitch.
After amassing more than 350 appearances between them in recent years, the trio have established themselves as key players in McNamara’s side and have been integral in the development of the women’s section during their time so far, winning multiple trophies and leading the progression both on and off the pitch.
Since arriving from Aston Villa in the summer of 2018, Morphet, then just a teenager, was an immediate favourite amongst supporters and teammates, winning the Players’ Player of the Season award following her first campaign in 2018/19.
Fast forward to 2024, and the defender was named the permanent captain of Wolves Women during the summer following Anna Price’s retirement, and is closing in on 150 appearances as well as the 50-goal mark.
Fellow defender Johnson is a product of the club’s Regional Talent Centre and has risen through the ranks at Compton Park and into the first-team.
In January 2019, Johnson was rewarded with her senior debut when she was still only 16 years of age and is now closing in on 80 appearances in Old Gold. Last season, she was recognised by her teammates as she collected the prestigious Players’ Player of the Season award on a special afternoon at Molineux.
Despite brief spells away from Wolves at Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City, midfielder George is another Wolves Women centurion with 43 goals to her name having first joined the club at the age of 13.
A vital part of Wolves’ 2021/22 league winning campaign, George earned the Player of the Season award for her performances, and also scored in the final as the team lifted the Birmingham County Cup in the same season.
Head of women and girls football, Jenna Burke-Martin, said: “This is a really important step in supporting our younger players. These are three players who have progressed through our development programme at Wolves and that’s not always linear. Some of them went out on loan and had different opportunities, but building players to play for the first-team is the directive from the chairman and something we’re really keen on.
“Dan (McNamara) holds his role as player development lead to see the progression and development of players from juniors into seniors, and that transition for us is a really important piece.
“These are players who are desirable for other clubs and being able to offer them a contract to be paid to play football is an exciting step forward for us at Wolves, while also giving them that security of being contracted and employed by the football club to be a footballer - this also protects the club and makes us more competitive.
“In Anna’s case, the contract has enabled her to reduce the hours in her full-time role as a physio outside of Wolves and increase the time she spends within our football programme. We have spoken for quite a long time around the pressures of having a full-time job alongside an increasing football load for female players, so it’s important we get the balance right.”
Burke-Martin has explained how this is another important step for the Old Gold and why the first three players to be contracted are so vital to the future of Wolves Women.
“We’ve had players like Anna Price who played at the club for more than 20 years and this wasn’t an option during her career, so it’s exciting to see the progression of the women’s game and the women’s game at Wolves in terms of moving towards contracting more players that we have here.
“We want to secure the talent that we’re producing and creating at Wolves through our junior pathway to ensure sustainability for the future, and this is the first step of doing that and a progression into it.
“These three players are key ambassadors of Wolves and the type of player on and off the pitch that we want to have here at the club. The women’s game has progressed so much with the way clubs support their players and we have a range of ways we do that – this is start of us taking that next step to contract and secure our players.
“The support from Matt Wild (director of football operations and administration) and the legal team at the club on these contracts and recent loans has ensured that this has been a smooth process.”
