Molineux could become 'Wembley of the West Midlands' and host more England matches

Councillor Stephen Simkins, deputy leader of Wolverhampton Council, made the bold call ahead of the national football team's clash with Hungary on Tuesday night– with a whole host of fans expected to attend.

It marks the second international game held at the Wolves home stadium in recent days – the first being a nil-nil draw with Italy on Saturday – and marks the return of full crowds after a UEFA ruling.

England had been forced to play the Nations League clash with Italy behind closed doors, with 3,000 children permitted alongside guardians, as a result of crowd disorder at Wembley last year.

And now Councillor Simkins has praised Wolves chiefs for bringing England to the city, both the men's and women's side, and explained how the club can help provide it with a "boost".

He said: "It's a fantastic opportunity for the city and for the football club, really – we want to turn Molineux into the Wembley of the West Midlands. And we think it's great the England team is seeing other parts of the country.

"All credit due to the team at Molineux because they've done a fantastic job. It'll be good if we can get future events on there and if we could develop a strategy behind that – we want people to keep coming to our city and enjoy themselves.

"I think it's important we've got the women's game as well, it's fantastic we've got equal parity as well. Having England come here is a boost for the city, not just the city centre, and it puts us on the map again and that's what we're all about in this authority."

Councillor Simkins, who watched the stalemate on Saturday on TV, said it would be "great" if a few more Wolves players could break into the England team and go from "strength to strength".

England's men's side will clash against Hungary on Tuesday at 7.45pm whilst the women's side will clash against Belgium on Thursday at 8pm.