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Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (commonly referred to as Wolves) is an English professional football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. The club was originally known as St. Luke's FC and was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at Molineux. They currently compete in the Football League Championship, the second highest tier of English football, having been promoted from League One in 2014 after a solitary season at that level. Historically, Wolves have been highly influential, most notably as being founder members of the Football League,〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=The Football League )〕 as well as having played an instrumental role in the establishment of the European Cup, later to become the UEFA Champions League.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hats off to Hanot )〕 Having won the FA Cup twice before the outbreak of the First World War, they developed into one of England's leading clubs under the management of ex-player Stan Cullis after the Second World War, going on to win the league three times and the FA Cup twice more between 1949 and 1960. It was during this time that the European Cup competition was established, after the English press declared Wolves "''Champions of the World''" following their victories against numerous top European and World sides in some of British football's first live televised games.〔 Wolves have yet to match the successes of the Stan Cullis era, although, under Bill McGarry, they contested the first-ever UEFA Cup final in 1972 and won the 1974 League Cup, a trophy they lifted again six years later under John Barnwell. However, financial mismanagement in the 1980s led to the club's very existence being under threat as well as three consecutive relegations, before a revival and back-to-back promotions under manager Graham Turner and record goalscorer Steve Bull saw them finish the decade in the Second Division, winning the Football League Trophy along the way. Despite the financial backing of then-owner Sir Jack Hayward during the next decade, they were unable to regain a place in the top flight until 2003,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hayward's dream come true )〕 when manager Dave Jones ended their nineteen-year exile but only for a solitary Premier League season. The club returned for a three-year stay at the top level after Mick McCarthy led them back as Football League Championship champions in 2009, but his dismissal in 2012 preceded relegation back to the Championship. The following season saw two further managers dismissed as the club then suffered a second relegation before winning the League One title under current head coach Kenny Jackett.〔 ==History== (詳細はJohn Brodie, two pupils of St Luke's Church School in Blakenhall, who had been presented with a football by their headmaster Harry Barcroft. The team played its first-ever game on 13 January 1877 against a reserve side from Stafford Road, later merging with local cricket and football club The Wanderers to form Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 1879.〔 Having initially played on two different strips of land in the town, they relocated to a more substantial venue on Dudley Road in 1881, before lifting their first trophy in 1884 when they won the Wrekin Cup, during a season in which they played their first-ever FA Cup tie.〔Having become professional, the club were nominated to become one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888,〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=The Football League )〕 in which they played the first Football League match ever staged (against Aston Villa).〔 They ended the inaugural season in third place, as well as reaching their first FA Cup Final, losing 0–3 to the first "Double" winners, Preston North End. At the conclusion of the campaign the club relocated for a final time when they moved to Molineux.〔 Wolves lifted the FA Cup for the first time in 1893 when they beat Everton 1–0, and added a second triumph in 1908, two years after having dropped into the Second Division. After struggling for many years to regain their place in the top division, the club suffered a further relegation in 1923, entering the Third Division (North), which they won at the first attempt. Eight years later Wolves regained their top-flight status after winning the Second Division title under Major Frank Buckley. With Buckley at the helm the team became established as one of the leading club sides in England in the years leading up to the Second World War, as they finished runners-up in the league twice in succession, as well as reaching the last pre-war FA Cup Final, in which they suffered a shock defeat to Portsmouth.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Top 10 FA Cup final shocks )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=FA Cup final upsets )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Seven Wembley upsets to give Stoke City hope as they start underdogs against Manchester City )〕 When league football resumed, Wolves suffered yet another final day failure in the First Division: Just as in 1938, victory in their last match would have won the title but a 1–2 loss to title rivals Liverpool gave them the championship instead.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Billy wins his only League title in 1947 )〕 This game had been the last in a Wolves shirt for Stan Cullis, and a year later he became manager of the club. In Cullis's first season in charge, he led Wolves to a first major honour in 41 years as they beat Leicester to lift the FA Cup, and a year later, only goal average prevented Wolves winning the league title. The 1950s were by far the most successful period in the club's history. Captained by Billy Wright, Wolves finally claimed the league championship for the first time in 1953–54, overhauling local rivals West Bromwich Albion late in the season. Two further titles were soon won in successive years (1957–58 and 1958–59), as Wolves cemented their position as the premier team in English football, becoming renowned for both their domestic success as well as their staging of high-profile "floodlit friendlies" against top club sides from around the world. Perhaps the most famed of these saw Wolves defeat a Honvéd side that included many members of the Hungarian national team that had recently humbled England twice, leading the national media to proclaim Wolves "Champions of the World".〔 This became the final spur for Gabriel Hanot, the editor of ''L'Équipe'', to propose the creation of the European Cup (later rebranded as the UEFA Champions League), which Wolves were to become one of the first English clubs to participate in.〔 Although the decade opened with a fourth FA Cup victory and almost the first double of the twentieth century, the 1960s saw Wolves begin to decline. Cullis was sacked in September 1964 in a season that ended with relegation and the club's first spell outside the top division in more than thirty years. This exile would last only two seasons though, as they were promoted in 1967 as runners-up. During the close season in 1967, Wolves played a mini season in North America as part of the fledgling United Soccer Association league which imported clubs from Europe and South America. Playing as the "Los Angeles Wolves", they won the Western Division and ultimately the championship by defeating the Eastern Division champions Washington Whips in a final decider.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=USA, 1967: Life in the Fast Lane )〕 The club's return to the English top flight heralded another period of relative success under Bill McGarry, with a fourth place in 1971 qualifying them for the newly created UEFA Cup. En route to the UEFA Cup final, they defeated the likes of Juventus and Ferencváros before losing to their countrymen Tottenham Hotspur 2–3 on aggregate; a 1–2 home defeat in the first leg proving decisive. They lifted silverware though two years later, when they won the League Cup for the first time by beating Manchester City 2–1 in the final. Despite relegation again in 1976, Wolves bounced back at the first attempt as Second Division champions and, under manager John Barnwell, the turn of the decade saw them finish in the top six and win the 1980 League Cup, when (then) record-signing Andy Gray scored the only goal of the final to defeat European champions Nottingham Forest. The multi-million pound rebuilding of the Molineux Street Stand in 1979 was to be the catalyst for the club's near-financial ruin during the next decade as difficulties in repaying the loans taken out to fund it led to receivership and relegation in 1982. The club was "saved" from liquidation at the last minute when it was purchased by a consortium fronted by former player Derek Dougan. Initially this takeover, financed by two Saudi brothers, Mahmud and Mohammad Bhatti of the company Allied Properties, brought immediate promotion back to the First Division under manager Graham Hawkins, but the Bhattis' failure to sufficiently invest in the club soon saw things unravel as the team suffered three consecutive relegations under different managers through the football divisions, as well as the almost-constant threat of the club being wound-up. In 1986 with the club again in receivership a deal saw Wolverhampton City Council purchase the club's stadium and surrounding land, while a local developer paid off the club's outstanding debts in return for planning permission to develop the land adjacent to the stadium. The new season saw Wolves' first-ever campaign in the Fourth Division, where, guided by new manager Graham Turner and the goals of Steve Bull (who would ultimately score a club record 306 goals), the team reached the final of the inaugural play-offs but were denied promotion by Aldershot. However, the final two seasons of the decade saw the team achieve both the Fourth and Third Division championship, and also win the Football League Trophy at Wembley in 1988. Lifelong fan Sir Jack Hayward purchased the club in 1990 and immediately funded the extensive redevelopment of the by-now dilapidated Molineux into a modern all-seater stadium. With work completed in 1993, Hayward turned his investment into its playing side in an attempt to win promotion to the newly formed Premier League. Yet despite this substantial spending neither Graham Taylor nor Mark McGhee could fulfil this, both leading to the team to play-off defeats at the semi-final stage (in 1995 and 1997, respectively).It was not until 2003 that Wolves were promoted, when they defeated Sheffield United 3–0 in the play-off final under Dave Jones to end a nineteen-year absence from the top level.〔 Their stay proved short-lived though, as they were immediately relegated back to the newly retitled Championship. After former England manager Glenn Hoddle failed to bring a swift return, the rebuilding of the squad by Mick McCarthy rejuvenated the club with an unexpected play-off finish. The club was bought by Steve Morgan in 2007, and two years later it returned to the Premier League as Championship champions. Wolves successfully battled relegation for two seasons before 2011–12 saw McCarthy's dismissal precipitate the drop under his assistant Terry Connor. Following relegation, Norwegian Ståle Solbakken became the club's first overseas manager〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Wolves appoint Norwegian Stale Solbakken as new manager )〕 but his reign lasted only six months before a poor run of results saw him replaced by Dean Saunders in January 2013,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Dean Saunders: Wolves appoint Doncaster Rovers boss )〕 who failed to bring any upturn, culminating in both relegation to League One as well as his own dismissal.〔 Following this, Kenny Jackett was appointed in May 2013 in the retitled position of head coach, and led the team back to the Championship in his first season, setting a new club record points total of 103 in winning League One.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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