'We've done it the right way': RAF football's Dan McNamara leads Wolves Women to WSL 2 promotion
It was the moment that RAF Football's Sergeant Dan McNamara and his players had been working towards for the past eight years.
One the evening of 4 May, as the Wolverhampton Wanderers women's first team counted down the final minutes of their promotion play-off fixture against Plymouth Argyle at Burton's Pirelli Stadium, it was an extremely nervous wait.
Charlotte Greengrass' 64th minute strike put the Wolves Women 1-0 up – and it was a goal that once the referee's whistle sounded at full-time, would change the lives of every player on Sgt McNamara's squad.
A historic promotion
The Wolverhampton Wonderers' women's first team have successfully been promoted to the second tier of English Women's Football – the WSL 2 – after securing second place in the Women's National League North.
They will play in the women's professional leagues for the first time in the club's history and, for Sgt McNamara, it's been a long time coming following years of near misses and heartbreak.
"We've strived to try and put the football club in the professional game for a long time now and to finally do it, it leaves you a bit speechless," he told BFBS Sport.
"Monday was tough, it was a tough game, there were difficult moments in the game, but all week I always had a feeling that this group were never going to get beat.
"We always felt that we were going to win the game," he added.
He continued: "We've never had the biggest budgets, we've always fought against the top earners or the top, top players in the leagues.
"We've done it the right way, that's what I like to describe it as.
"This is probably the first part-time outfit to win the promotion for a long time out of tier 3, so, you know, we're really proud of that."
A life-changing moment
Wolves' promotion is a life-changing step for the players who play and train under Sgt McNamara's leadership, many of them having held down full-time jobs whilst juggling their careers in the third tier of women's football.
Stepping up into WSL 2 means that Sgt McNamara's players can now play and train full-time as professional football players.
"There is only 24 professional women's teams in the country, so to be among those now and testing myself personally with my staff alongside, as I said, some of the best in football, is going to be brilliant.
"Personally, I'm just really looking forward to getting the players in, to work with them more, but to also see what I've learned as an individual over the last few years," Sgt McNamara said.
Setting new challenges
Based at RAF Cosford as a weapons engineer, Sgt McNamara has been able to pursue his coaching role with Wolves Women full-time after he was accepted onto the RAF's Elite Athlete Scheme.
"I'll forever be grateful to the RAF, it really has changed my life," he said.
"It's allowed be to go a live my life.
"It's been a dream. I dreamed of being a footballer, working full-time as a kid and I never thought it would be in the women's game as a manager, but to achieve a dream has been incredible."
As Sgt McNamara and his team of players now look forward to their new era in WSL 2, a new era calls for setting new and ambitious goals.
"The dream is to get into the WSL, that is the ultimate dream," he said.
"But I am also a bit realistic, I'm not sure that we'll be straight in there competing next season, but for me now and the next few days is about embracing what we've done and giving the staff time to reflect and really understand what an amazing achievement it's been.
"And then once that’s out of the way then we’ll really get to work on next season.
"I think we have to be really focused on what does success look like next year because this group of staff, myself, we're used to running games of football, and next year that may look a bit different.
"So we've got to quickly understand the challenges that are going to be ahead. But we're excited and we're really looking forward to it."
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