Ranking every Wolves captain from the last 20 years from worst to best | OneFootball

FLW ranks every Wolves captain from worst to best over the past 20 years.

Wolves are preparing for life in the Championship, with new boss Cesar Peixoto expected to make major changes to the squad ahead of the 2026/27 season.

Pleasingly, Wanderers have already made some positive moves in the transfer market, with Kieran Trippier and Raul Jimenez joining the club.

The duo, who are both 35, are expected to be key players on the pitch this season, as they have had excellent careers, and the pair made big contributions in the Premier League for Newcastle and Fulham respectively in the previous campaign.

However, many believe Jimenez, and particularly Trippier, are shrewd additions for what they will bring off the pitch, as much as on it.

As well as their experience in the game, they are strong characters, who will be expected to be vocal figures in the dressing room, guiding and influencing the youngsters in the group.

It remains to be seen what Peixoto decides, but it wouldn’t be a major surprise if Trippier was wearing the armband - just as he did at Newcastle.

The captaincy has been a divisive topic at Wolves in recent times, and with that in mind, we have ranked the captains from worst to best at Molineux in the past 20 years…

12 ? ? Roger Johnson

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Mick McCarthy did a lot right during his time at Wolves, and he remains a popular figure at the club. However, one mistake was handing Roger Johnson the armband as soon as he joined.

That didn’t appear to go down well within the existing squad, as Karl Henry, who was skipper, was a respected figure, and he remained an important player.

It also didn’t do Johnson any favours, as he struggled with the additional pressure of captaining a club he had just joined. With the defender accused of turning up to training drunk, and Wolves going down, Johnson became a symbol of the decline at the club in that period.

11 ? ? Mario Lemina

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Lemina was a very good player for Wolves initially, and he quickly became a leader on the pitch, and he did a lot of positive work with the foundation.

So, it was natural for Gary O'Neil to hand him the armband, but, like Johnson, that additional responsibility seemed to have a negative impact on his game. The midfielder has to come very low on this list as well because of his reaction after a loss to West Ham, where he was pushing staff after losing his head, which saw him stripped of the captaincy.

10 ? ? Max Kilman

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Kilman was a huge success at Wolves. Having been brought from non-league Maidenhead, he became a key player in the Premier League before being sold for a massive profit to West Ham.

However, whilst he was a respected figure, Kilman wasn’t your typical captain. He wasn’t vocal on the pitch, he didn’t really organise, and he often seemed to benefit from playing alongside a more dominant player. There's nothing wrong with that personality, but it made him a strange choice as skipper.

9 ? ? Toti Gomes

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It’s a similar story with Toti Gomes, who was named as club captain for the 2025/26 season, which ended in an embarrassing relegation.

Again, Toti seems to be a popular figure within the group, and his long-serving status at the club, in comparison to his teammates, meant he was an obvious choice for the captaincy. But, he isn’t a hugely vocal figure on the pitch, and the fact he was club captain during a dismal season means he has to rank low on this list.

8 ? ? Nelson Semedo

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Semedo took the captaincy after Lemina, and it was a very good call by Wolves at the time, as he turned out to be good in that role.

The right-back didn’t let his levels drop on the pitch, and at a time when the captaincy and leadership were major talking points, he did the role with minimal fuss and was clearly appreciated by all of his teammates. He was someone who led by example, and has been sorely missed since his departure.

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The experienced defender was a natural choice for captaincy in 2007 when he was given the armband by McCarthy.

There were a lot of young players in the Wolves squad at the time, and the majority had worked their way up the leagues, so having a figure like Breen, who had played at the highest level and was coming towards the end of his career, was invaluable.

6 ? ? Jody Craddock

It’s a similar story with Craddock, who was club captain during McCarthy’s first year, and he would go on to be a very popular captain at Wolves.

The centre-back would lead by example, and would always be organising the team from defence, so, again, it would have been a straightforward call to give him the armband.

5 ? ? Karl Henry

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A local lad, Henry was a real leader for Wolves after joining from Stoke, and he was hugely influential in the team that won promotion to the Premier League under McCarthy.

Almost every player from that team speaks about how Henry was a brilliant captain who would put the players and the team first, which is why the decision to give Johnson the armband was such a bold, surprising call.

Henry could be a forthright figure, and some fans weren’t happy at how he and other players didn’t embrace the ideas of Stale Solbakken, and a double relegation was a massive blow. But, Henry was a great signing overall for Wolves, and a good captain.

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Another local player, Batth came into the Wolves team on a regular basis after back-to-back relegations, so it was a difficult period for the club, but the centre-back, who had replaced Johnson in defence, was a popular figure as Wolves bounced back to the Championship.

Even in the early days, he was a loud figure on the pitch, so it was no surprise when he eventually took the captaincy, as he was a natural for the role. Batth was even club captain when Nuno’s side won promotion to the Premier League, and he was another who did a lot for the community and understood what was required as skipper.

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Wolves were in a terrible position after two relegations, so when Kenny Jackett was appointed as manager in the summer of 2013, he had a massive job on his hands. The fans had invaded the pitch and confronted players weeks earlier, and the dressing room was split, with many high earners from their Premier League days still on the books.

So, the club needed a real leader for what was going to be a new-look team, and they got it with Ricketts. He was an experienced, reliable player at the time, and the perfect voice to help some of the younger lads, like Batth.

Wolves bounced back at the first attempt in what was a memorable campaign, and Ricketts’ influence on and off the pitch will always be appreciated.