After seeing his Wolves side drawn at home to Manchester United in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup fifth round, Dan McNamara hopes the match will provide another memorable moment in his seven-year spell at the helm.
Wolves are one of just two sides from tier three who are guaranteed a fifth round tie following their win over Cheltenham Town on Sunday, but with plenty of league football to be played before the visit of the cup holders in early February, McNamara insists all of the focus for his players will be on this weekend and a Black Country derby away at Stourbridge.
On drawing Man United in the fifth round
“I said it in my interview last week, it’s not very often a tier three club makes the fifth round of the FA Cup, so to do it two years running is incredible – and it's credit to the girls and what they're doing against all the odds.
“Then to do it and pull out the FA Cup holders in Manchester United, a global brand, I've had to have a bit of a pinch me moment.
“I've had to look back at when I first came in and we were we were competing – with no disrespect to any of the clubs – but not even household names, and then fast forward seven and a half years and we're hosting one of the biggest football clubs in the world, so it is incredible.
“It's been an unbelievable journey. Everyone knows what Wolves means to me and what we've put into it as a group to get it to where it's at now, but it's remarkable, and I just hope everybody embraces it, everybody enjoys it and it'll be one of them that comes and goes quicker than we expect.”
On pitting themselves against the cup holders
“I came into training yesterday and I've heard the under-12s talking about being able to watch Tammi George playing against Ella Toone, so it's further than what it's doing for the for the women's first-team, it's what it's doing for the women's section at Wolves, and also the wider community.
“I've heard the younger girls saying to their school friends that they are really excited that Manchester United are going to come and play Wolves Women. But it's a marker of where we want to get to. We want this to be a frequent thing.
“I've always said my desire is to work at the top of the game and I want to be hosting Man United, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal week in, week out. But for now, we've got to embrace what it is, and it's arguably the biggest game that the club have ever played, and also the biggest game that some of these girls have ever been involved in.
“Some of them are in different stages of the career, some of them are coming towards the end of the career, so they'll see it as probably the twilight of the rest of their careers. It’s important that everyone embraces it, everyone enjoys it, but ultimately, we want to try and be competitive.
“We're not there just to roll over and let Man United work their way through to the quarter final. We want to cause some problems and make Mark Skinner and his group feel like they've earned a victory if they were to get it.”
On the reaction from his players
“In the WhatsApp group when the draw was made, there were some choice comments that I probably can't repeat.
“We were laughing yesterday because Racheal Quigley wrote, ‘Holy cow’, so I think we were all trying to picture how she would have said that in her Australian accent.
“But they’ve got to enjoy that moment and it's brilliant to be involved and to get drawn out first it was fantastic. There's an excitement, there's a nervousness to it, being in the last 16 in the country is unbelievable, but now it's about us focusing on Stourbridge.”
A lover of the @AdobeWFACup 💛
— Wolves Women FC (@WolvesWomen) January 13, 2025
Beth Merrick reflects on yesterday's fourth round success 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/0uYqEzl9qK
On remaining focused on the matches ahead
“I've had this conversation with the girls that we're still very much in the mix within the league title. We didn't expect to be, but we're halfway through the season and we're one point off top, so Stourbridge has to be our focus, then it's Derby County, and then it's Rugby Borough.
“Once we've finished five o’clock on the second of February after Rugby Borough, then we can allow the excitement to start to come in. But as staff, as the manager, it's about hiding all the planning and all the stuff that's going on behind the scenes to make it an incredible occasion.
“It's about keeping that away from the girls and allowing them to focus on the next task, which is Stourbridge away on Sunday.”
