Wolves have appointed Russ Fraser to the role of head of women & girls' football, ahead of the club’s first ever season in the WSL 2 and first as a fully professional outfit.
Fraser holds ten years of football experience in the women’s game and will now be managing all aspects of the women’s operation at Wolves, including player and staff recruitment, and academy planning.
During his time in the game, Fraser has worked at the top of the women’s system with Reading, West Ham United, Leicester City and Liverpool, and has history of transitioning clubs into the professional game.
Having joined Reading in 2016, Fraser helped the newly-promoted Royals become established in the WSL 1 and retain their top flight status, before moving to West Ham two years later and enjoying a run to the FA Cup final in the club’s first professional season.
Leicester won promotion to the WSL 1 in Fraser’s debut season there, leading to another transition into a professional operation, while his latest WSL 2 campaign came with Liverpool in 2022, as he, as managing director, played a role in promotion to the top level.
Most recently, Fraser spent time with Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia as women's sporting director but has now returned to the UK and joins Wolves ahead of an exciting first season as a professional outfit in 2026/27.
Wolves beat Plymouth Argyle in the play-off final in May and are now preparing for life in the WSL 2, and Fraser is tasked with turning the operation fully professional, building a squad for the second tier and planning a women’s academy.
Technical director Matt Jackson said: “Russ has been really successful at this level and above with high profile clubs. He’s got a top understanding of the women’s game and demonstrated that in his interview process. He has brilliant contacts and knows the level of quality which is required to be successful when recruiting.
“Everybody will benefit from working with Russ at all levels. He’s been running full organisations where he’s had to draw together different departments, so staff will improve their own expertise by drawing on his experience.
“I’d like to think we’ve come an awful long way in the past 18 months. Now we’ve reached the WSL 2, the women and staff deserve to have someone of the experience of Russ guiding them through the next stage of the journey.”
Fraser said: “It's a really exciting opportunity. There are a lot of similarities with Liverpool in that the club's really important to what goes on in the city, and there's good people here, so I think we can develop a really good football programme here over the next three to five seasons.
“Macca and I seem very aligned in the way we see things, and the players we're looking at, and I was really pleased with Compton Park as a facility, because there's real interaction between the men’s and women’s groups – it's a pack mentality, and that is massive when you're trying to build an environment.
“This first season the biggest challenge is getting the right people in, staff and players, but it's also an opportunity. If you look at my career at different clubs, I love a project, that's what lights my fire, and there's a great opportunity here, so I can’t wait to get going.”
