Beth Merrick’s journey at Wolves Women will continue, with the midfielder returning to the club little over a month after her departure.
Merrick made the difficult decision to leave the Old Gold following the conclusion of the 2023/24 campaign, but has since had time to reflect and now comes back into Dan McNamara’s squad.
In her first spell, which spanned three seasons, Merrick accumulated 102 appearances, scored 36 goals and lifted three trophies.
Following her decision to swiftly return to her beloved Wolves, Merrick has explained her thought process and said: “I said in my leaving interview that I was looking to have more balance to my life in terms of my job and trying to make it work because sometimes you’ve got to try and prioritise things as you get a bit older.
“Within the first week of me leaving, it wasn’t an instant regret, but it was a case of me making it work better than how I did last season and that football’s the biggest part of my life. It was something that I reflected hard on because it was a massive decision to change my decision to come back and I didn’t want to feel like I was messing anyone around.
“Everyone knows what the club means to me, so it was a no brainer once I’d settled on it. I just needed to sit on it like I did and I just want to make it work in the best way I can.
“It was working with Macca and working with the girls. There are some that I’m really close to so it was a really easy decision, but just something I needed to miss, prioritise and then reassess like I have done.”
And Merrick has been impressed with the work McNamara and his staff behind the scenes have undertaken during the summer, with young talent and experienced heads coming through the door to make for a well-balanced squad, and the 28-year-old has explained her own ambitions and an eagerness not to put too much pressure on herself moving forwards.
“It’s really exciting,” Merrick continued. “The signings that Macca has made, both young and older, are brilliant and it’s really added to what was a fantastic core group.
“Luckily, that core group hasn’t changed and everyone can trust Macca. He brings in the right people and that’s what makes this so good. They’re fantastic people who gel off the pitch and add to the quality that they’ve got on it. It’s really exciting and it’s great to see youth coming through as well.
“For me, everyone wants to make sure they’re up there in terms of competing at the top of the league, and that’s where Wolves should always consider themselves to be.
“In terms of personal ambitions, it’s just to try and reintegrate back in, get my sharpness back and see where it leads me.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself because I think I’m renowned for putting a lot of pressure on myself. It’s just getting back in, feeling my way back into the squad and then going from there.”
Merrick re-signs just in time for Sunday’s eagerly-awaited clash with Nottingham Forest at the SEAH Stadium and after years of battles and dramatic previous encounters, she believes there is a slightly different approach to the game this time in terms of expectations.
“I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game against Forest where it hasn’t been full of drama and passion from both sides.
“It’s a game that both teams eagerly anticipate and particularly with what they’ve done in the summer, it’s nice to say that they’re the favourites for this game.
“We’ll give them the respect, but it’s always a really toughly-contested game and one that’s really emotional for a lot of reasons.
“We’ll be going to give a good account of ourselves and watching the girls in terms of what they’ve done, they will do this game proud because everyone knows how much it means.
“If we want to be competing at the top, it’s a top clash, but Macca’s already mentioned that it doesn’t define the season. It’s come really early and it’s maybe a measure of where we’re at and what that looks like.”
