Dan McNamara: Wolves manager to miss Women's National League play-off final for RAF duty

It would be impossible for a manager to miss the biggest match in club history.

But for Dan McNamara.

He guided Wolves Women to the National League Northern premier title and now his side are preparing to face Saints in the second tier.

The match coincides with a Royal Air Force mission.

The aircraft technician will be able to follow his side from afar, just as he did last week when his side won the county cup.

Being able to follow the girls is one thing you will never take away from me. McNamara says it is not something he would allow to happen and it will be the same this Saturday.

The club has been great and helped me deal with an emotional time. I had a private stream for the cup final and was in contact with the bench. That will happen again this weekend.

The chance for his side to be promoted to the Championship and the chance for the players to become paid professionals are offered by the play-off final.

The time difference has proven to be the greatest hurdle as the Wolves boss attempts to keep in touch with his staff and players around training to ensure final preparations run smoothly.

Seeing the success the girls have had in the last two weeks is hard to watch, because I want to be there and share those moments with them. Saturday will be one of the most difficult days of my life because of that.

I received a nice message after the cup final. The players have turned it into something positive. They know how much it means to me, but they don't need me this weekend to have success.

The Wolves coach, who has 14 years of military service behind him, was informed in January that he would miss this key period of the season but initially chose to keep the news from his players to allow them to focus on their football.

At first, you park it. It was easy to deal with in January, when no one thought we would be in this position.

As the wins kept coming, it became more emotional for me. I had to sit the girls down before I left. I was not the same around training as I had become.

We all decided hiding it was probably not the best thing to do because I probably deserved to enjoy our last few weeks together.

It worked. The title was secured by Wolves with three games remaining.

In his final home game in April, they played a competitive match for the first time in 20 years, lifting the league trophy in front of 2,477 fans.

The club was denied league titles in the last two seasons because of the Covid epidemic, though Wolves were promoted via the Football Association'sward movement last summer.

Wolves suffered a single league defeat all season, and now the Southern premier champions are standing in their way.

McNamara, who was appointed in 2018, said that it was amazing what the girls had achieved. We wanted to do that.

It doesn't shock me, but it is far beyond what we ever dreamed of.

We got hurt a lot. We had league titles and finals taken away from us, but the team has displayed a never-say-die attitude.

McNamara, who is set to return home in early August, says he is already looking forward to beginning another campaign.

His task could look very different depending on the outcome at Edgeley Park, with a possible Championship opposition.

It will be difficult. McNamara said thatSouthampton are massive favorites.

Being asked what it would mean makes me emotional because I won't be able to show people how much it means.

Is I confident? Absolutely. I wouldn't doubt the group's ability to find a way to win.

We will carry the phrase "dreaming is for free" with us into Saturday.