Wolverhampton Wanderers: Molineux since 1889

A brief history of Molineux, the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club since 1889.

The first stadium built for use by a Football League club. It was one of the first British grounds to have floodlights installed and hosted some of the earliest European club games in the 1950s.

Wolves moved into Molineux Stadium in 1889, having played at various grounds in the first decade of their existence.

Molineux was the site of the first ever league game played in English history. On 7 September 1889 Wolves beat Notts County 2-0.

In 1923, Wolves were able to buy the ground the stadium stood on, and soon after started building a new main stand, the Waterloo Road Stand, which had been designed by Archibald Leitch.

Development continued in the next decade with the opening of the new Molineux Street Stand in 1932 and the renovations of both end terraces in 1935.

In 1939, Molineux recorded its highest attendance when 61,315 fans saw Wolves play Liverpool in an FA Cup match.

Molineux remained practically unchanged in the following decades, and slowly fell into a state of disrepair. In 1975, the Molineux Street Stand failed to meet safety requirements and a new luxury grandstand was built instead.

This new stand however severely impacted Wolves’ finances and brought the club on the brink of bankruptcy. By the 1980s, only two stands were in use and the club lacked the finances to make improvements to the ground.

Only after Sir Jack Hayward bought the club in 1990, funding became available for the redevelopment of Molineux. Between 1991 and December 1993, the three remaining old stands were demolished and replaced with new ones.

In May 2010, Wolves announced a £40 million redevelopment programme of Molineux. Under the plans, three stands would gradually get rebuilt and linked up, which would lead to a capacity of 38,000 seats.

Works started in 2011 on the Stan Cullis Stand, which was completed in 2012. The next two stages, however, were postponed as the club stated to want to use the limited funds available for the development of the Wolves youth academy.


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[goldblackarmy]

Great video, always wanted to see what Molineux looked like when my Grandad used to go in the 50's onwards. He sadly passed away last year.

[jennytaylor]

Great ground proper football stadium with plenty of history

[valiantv]

glad i got the chance to stand on that wonderful south bank in 1988 following Port Vale., unfortunatley we were torn apart by Bull and Mutch that night in a 5-1 defeat

[peterturley]

Molineux- my home and play area. Mum and Dad ran the 'Fox Inn' pub, North Street/Molineux Street for over 40 years, night games, never needed lighting, the floodlights would do the job!!! Great times, when there was a community with the spirit to go with it.

[hhill]

Wonderful pictures and memories.A great ground, great people, great city, First came in 1948, and still going when I can. 😂❤

[Turrican]

What a great, informative video - many thanks indeed. I'm so glad I was 'recommended' this by YouTube as I'd forgotten an awful lot about the construction timeline involved, despite being a long-time Wolves fan and resident. Would be great to see a revised video once WWFC and Fosun get to work building that much-expanded, rebuilt Molineux that many of us are desperate to see.

[garyowens]

I have a coin from the period when it was used for bicycle events. I love in West Wales and my grandad found it in our garden when he was digging the soil over.

[sootyr]

Great vid and amazing pics of the old ground. Great to see the old maps too, always liked to pick out streets I grew up in. My dad lived in Dawson Street when he moved over from India with his family in 1967. They then moved across the other side of the North Bank, when housing got demolished, into Drummond Street, where I was born. Was always destined to be a Wolves fan! Lots of great memories trying to get a peak of 4th Division 3rd Division games through the fencing and walls. First ever match at Molineux was vs Oldham opening day August 1991, lost 3-2 but made my day to see Bully score two at the South Bank end. COYW!

[hansmoser]

you got a wonderful football-stadium there in wolverhampton.

h.m.

[kennethcox]

Born in the sixties and watched wolves all my life 😆 had our ups an downs but what an history wolves have 👍👍 love my wolves 🐺🐺

[laryboop]

really a great video ...now I learned a brief history about wolves Mexico..greatings...Go Wolves..si señor....

[danielfletcher]

Nice to see what the golden palace looked like many decades ago as i was born in 1991 only witnessed the the north bank go through transformation thanks for the video well impressed

[wolvowarrior]

The old north bank in the early 70s was a fantastic atmosphere, old wooden terrace bit of a dump but it was so brilliant, you would start at the back sway all towards the front then back to the middle like Liverpools old kop, all seater are not the same & standing up in all seater is more dangerous than terraces imo & I've spent years in both.

[t-bonethegoat]

im not from wolverhampton but ive been following wolves since i was 4 and i really love the look of industrial housing estates

[ACLocofan]

Great video, quite a bit of work to get all those images! My strong memories are 60s and 70s, went to most of those home games.

[TheJohnuk]

Amazing transformation and great vid
John :)

[angelicskin]

great to see the old north and south bank again .happy memorys

[iracingrookie]

By 2021 it will be a 50, 000 seater (according to Jeff shi the CEO)

[nkskro]

Did the whole ground shift over to the one side a few feet when they built the new stand down the one side of the pitch? As the gap between the stand (with red seats) to the pitch looks huge!

[LordTantrums]

Home of the Wolves (Wolfs Lair) looks a lot better these days.