Jeff Shi - Interview in The Athletic

[Mile End Wanderer]

Crickey…….sell to an Arab or a Russian?…NO THANKS.

Besides, how would they make us a top club if Fosun can’t? How?

Who says there's one that wants to buy us?

I didn’t your putting words into my mouth it would be nice to have a splash the cash mentality owner to replicate our 50s success

 

[VancouverWolf]

I’ve said it before several times.
We don’t know why Fosun bought Wolves or how it came about. Without that critical info, it’s all guesswork.

 

[reanswolf]

How can they possibly hope to be self sustaining when they spunk £35m on a striker who no one has any idea whether he will make the grade?

Definition of craziness.

 

[VancouverWolf]

How can they possibly hope to be self sustaining when they spunk £35m on a striker who no one has any idea whether he will make the grade?

Definition of craziness.

Every club since the beginning of time has taken a punt on young players but they don’t always work out.
Traore cost £20m but in his 3.5 seasons with us, he really only had one half decent season with us.
However, with Silva, who, due to Raul’s head injury, was thrown in the deep end before he was ready and yet many fans judge him on those few starts and cameos .
I bet he’d have scored more if he had been playing for a different club……same with Jose Willians.
But with Silva, time is still on our side. His transfer can’t be judged a failure until he’s had a proper go.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Sometimes Molineux Mix feels like an active study as to why cults exist

 

[Gold Flag Flying High]

There isn't a ceo in the world that doesn't make an error at some point in time. I still think that the squad that we've assembled since being in the championship is fantastic, a couple of midfielders and a striker away from challenging for a top 4 place. That isn't bad at all. The fact that we see the lack of those players as a failure , is a testament to how far we've come.

Fair comment, they have done really well bringing in the loan to buy options as well, have a look at the player for a season and see if they can cut it. That has worked well for them too. I don’t know if it’s just COVID that’s scared them off a bit but it’s because of that steep incline in progress and then sudden halt that has caused the discomfort for some and I think it’s fair for people to feel that way. Then people reflect on some mistakes and some comments made that weren’t fulfilled and it can snowball.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Fair comment, they have done really well bringing in the loan to buy options as well, have a look at the player for a season and see if they can cut it. That has worked well for them too. I don’t know if it’s just COVID that’s scared them off a bit but it’s because of that steep incline in progress and then sudden halt that has caused the discomfort for some and I think it’s fair for people to feel that way. Then people reflect on some mistakes and some comments made that weren’t fulfilled and it can snowball.

I saw an attempt at getting players, some whom were injured, some of them no better than what we had, and some didn't want to come.

 

[Gold Flag Flying High]

I saw an attempt at getting players, some whom were injured, some of them no better than what we had, and some didn't want to come.

It’s not just signings for me but yes I’ve seen an attempt too, you could argue a poor attempt of recent windows.

 

[Deleted member 9202LYK]

Fosun have been here five and half years and there's one single example of us profiting handsomely on a young player, who by all accounts Nuno was happy to move on

Amazing how often this accusation gets trotted out though

Yes but they said that’s what

Fosun have been here five and half years and there's one single example of us profiting handsomely on a young player, who by all accounts Nuno was happy to move on

Amazing how often this accusation gets trotted out though

the reason it gets trotted out often is that it’s indisputably true. (The source articles are available somewhere on football
Leaks, but here’s a nice summary from Reuters (one of the most reputable news agencies in the world):

“One aim was to create a network for identifying players who could later be sold on for profit, Fosun presentations and emails show. A 2016 email from a Fosun executive described investing and trading in players as “the most lucrative part of business in the football industry.”

Special Report: How a soccer agent and Chinese tycoon planned to trade in players

In early 2016, Europe's most powerful soccer agent, Jorge Mendes, stood dressed in his trademark dark suit and white shirt alongside Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang at a luxury hotel in Shanghai. They were there to launch a new partnership in front of an audience of soccer glitterati...

www.reuters.com

So given that you say Fosun have been here five and half years and there's one single example of us profiting handsomely… it’s apparent that they did buy us a player platform AND they have turned out to be rubbish at it?

 

[old wittonian]

It’s not just signings for me but yes I’ve seen an attempt too, you could argue a poor attempt of recent windows.

We attempt to score but don't too.

 

[reanswolf]

Every club since the beginning of time has taken a punt on young players but they don’t always work out.
Traore cost £20m but in his 3.5 seasons with us, he really only had one half decent season with us.
However, with Silva, who, due to Raul’s head injury, was thrown in the deep end before he was ready and yet many fans judge him on those few starts and cameos .
I bet he’d have scored more if he had been playing for a different club……same with Jose Willians.
But with Silva, time is still on our side. His transfer can’t be judged a failure until he’s had a proper go.

In my opinon they can be judged.

Financially, we are clearly in no such position to take such gambles. It doesnt matter whether he eventually does make the grade. He doesn't right now (it's not Fabio's fault). Name the clubs who have spent £35m on an 18-year old who has yet to evolve into an eye-catching player?

Liverpool, Manure, Chelski, Citeh are possibly in a position to take such risky gambles, but not such clubs as Wolves or Southampton who have to otherwise sell or use the loan market to make any other additions.

Its strategic, footballing madness, nothing more I'm afraid. They knew about the constraints of FFP when they bought him.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

I’ve said it before several times.
We don’t know why Fosun bought Wolves or how it came about. Without that critical info, it’s all guesswork.

They brought us to trade players

How a soccer agent and Chinese billionaire aimed to trade in players

The Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes joined forces with investors from Shanghai and planned to cash in on buying and selling athletes, documents show.

www.reuters.com

No denials here , just saying the emails were hacked.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

They brought us to trade players

How a soccer agent and Chinese billionaire aimed to trade in players

The Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes joined forces with investors from Shanghai and planned to cash in on buying and selling athletes, documents show.

www.reuters.com

No denials here , just saying the emails were hacked.

And we haven't done badly out of it.

 

[steve vena]

You’re right, I doubt anyone on here would cope doing Jeffs job.

I also doubt anyone on here would have stated we were going to try and compete with Man City, whacked the prices up massively, not sign a midfielder for 4 years or describe Fabio as “the best player of his age in the world” after spunking 35 million on him, but hey ho what do us idiots know?!

Anyway, hope Iv given you a chuckle

Hey mate do you want Jeff's job? I recon you'd be a shoe in. We're with you all the way lol

 

[Timberwolf]

Jeff hired Nuno…’what? Who? He was **** at Valencia…Jeff’s a moron’
Jeff buys Jota, Neves, Neto, Boly, Moutinho, Rui, etc…’that’s not Jeff, he’s a moron’
Jeff buys Cutrone, and loans Vallejo…’that’s Jeff for you, a moron’
Jeff sells Jota, Cav, Costa, Doherty etc at huge profit…’what’s Jeff playing at, the moron’
Jeff fires Nuno…’what? We love Nuno…Jeff’s a moron’
Jeff hires Lage…’what, another Mendes favour? Jeff’s a Moron’
Lage gets us up to within four points of Champions League…you guessed it, nothing to do with Jeff, coz he’s a moron.

I could go on but it’s just ****ing boring. I swear to god, if we won the Premier League and got the the QF’s of the Champions League, you miserable ****-ends would still moan about Jeff or Fosun or, Jeff and Fosun. You really need to get something else in your lives.

 

[Timberwolf]

…and I’ve just realised I’m reacting to a thread started back in September
Perhaps I should read more and vent less…

 

[1972 i began]

Agree. I know I will probably get slated but does anyone else just feel that there doesnt seem to be the buzz about our club and owners in the last couple of years?

When they first arrived they clearly had a project and showed great ambition. We got promoted signing players like Neves and Boly whilst still in the championship and then our first summer back in the big time we sign the likes of Raul, Moutinho, Patricio, Jonny, Adama etc. To me any ambition like that appears to have gone out of the window and there appears to be no real investment.

It saddens me as you could see that after that European quarter final we could have pushed on with the right investment but it never really happened and hasnt for a few years now.

We are in 8th now which is great but I just cant see us sustaining this position with the apparent lack of investment and it concerns me if we continue this path it wont be long before we end up right down amongst the dead men.

Hope I am wrong but I'm not quite sure what the project is now and whether it is going to make us top 7 club anytime soon again.

To me and it may be controversial but the relationship with China and GB ay exactly how it was a couple of years ago.And definitely not since The United kingdom announced the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing winter Olympics.Which ay gone down well with china.So who knows.

 

[reanswolf]

Jeff hired Nuno…’what? Who? He was **** at Valencia…Jeff’s a moron’
Jeff buys Jota, Neves, Neto, Boly, Moutinho, Rui, etc…’that’s not Jeff, he’s a moron’
Jeff buys Cutrone, and loans Vallejo…’that’s Jeff for you, a moron’
Jeff sells Jota, Cav, Costa, Doherty etc at huge profit…’what’s Jeff playing at, the moron’
Jeff fires Nuno…’what? We love Nuno…Jeff’s a moron’
Jeff hires Lage…’what, another Mendes favour? Jeff’s a Moron’
Lage gets us up to within four points of Champions League…you guessed it, nothing to do with Jeff, coz he’s a moron.

I could go on but it’s just ****ing boring. I swear to god, if we won the Premier League and got the the QF’s of the Champions League, you miserable ****-ends would still moan about Jeff or Fosun or, Jeff and Fosun. You really need to get something else in your lives.

I would swear you are one of those non-attending, non-match-paying Wolves fans, emotionally detached from the current reality and maybe even living in another Country altogether.

But I am probably wrong (as I often am) and you live in Gornal -.

 

[VancouverWolf]

In my opinon they can be judged.

Financially, we are clearly in no such position to take such gambles. It doesnt matter whether he eventually does make the grade. He doesn't right now (it's not Fabio's fault). Name the clubs who have spent £35m on an 18-year old who has yet to evolve into an eye-catching player?

Liverpool, Manure, Chelski, Citeh are possibly in a position to take such risky gambles, but not such clubs as Wolves or Southampton who have to otherwise sell or use the loan market to make any other additions.

Its strategic, footballing madness, nothing more I'm afraid. They knew about the constraints of FFP when they bought him.

Ok, you and others have judged him but I won’t because the way he was rushed in, the covid year, a new country and the speed and pace of the PL.
He wasn’t expected to be ready ……if Raul hadn’t been injured, nobody would have been bothered if he played a couple years in the U-23s.

As for taking the financial gamble…..we’ll, obviously, the Wolves mgt. DID think we were in a position to gamble. Thats their job and without being privy to ALL the pertinent reasons, info, data, discussions, numerous scout reports, spread sheet, accounting forecasts and god knows what else, then it’s nuts for us to think they weren’t very, very diligent.
Now I understand the appearance of the deal but, jesus, this is £35m…….that’s a lot of money and they didn’t just spend it willy nilly.
Anyway, without all the facts, who knows?

 

[VancouverWolf]

They brought us to trade players

How a soccer agent and Chinese billionaire aimed to trade in players

The Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes joined forces with investors from Shanghai and planned to cash in on buying and selling athletes, documents show.

www.reuters.com

No denials here , just saying the emails were hacked.

Yes I seen this article but I suspect it’s only a part of the reason for buying Wolves. I can think of several other plausible reasons why they might have considered buying a football club.

 

[Wolf316]

Ok, you and others have judged him but I won’t because the way he was rushed in, the covid year, a new country and the speed and pace of the PL.
He wasn’t expected to be ready ……if Raul hadn’t been injured, nobody would have been bothered if he played a couple years in the U-23s.

As for taking the financial gamble…..we’ll, obviously, the Wolves mgt. DID think we were in a position to gamble. Thats their job and without being privy to ALL the pertinent reasons, info, data, discussions, numerous scout reports, spread sheet, accounting forecasts and god knows what else, then it’s nuts for us to think they weren’t very, very diligent.
Now I understand the appearance of the deal but, jesus, this is £35m…….that’s a lot of money and they didn’t just spend it willy nilly.
Anyway, without all the facts, who knows?

Here’s a fact we are desperate for a ball carrying central midfielder meanwhile we have a £35m kid sat on the bench getting virtually no game time.

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

Yes I seen this article but I suspect it’s only a part of the reason for buying Wolves. I can think of several other plausible reasons why they might have considered buying a football club.

Makes sense now but we’re not trading that many players atm lol in or out

 

[Pagey]

No, but i'd certainly listen to someone's opinion if they had played, rather than someone who has never kicked a ball in anger on the internet's opinion

What level do we need to have played at? Top flight, English, Scottish, Welsh, it's all relative? Sunday league, kick about with mates, or over the park with our kids? How about kick kerby, will that be sufficient.

I had subuteo when I was a kid

 

[Rhoswolf]

What level do we need to have played at? Top flight, English, Scottish, Welsh, it's all relative? Sunday league, kick about with mates, or over the park with our kids? How about kick kerby, will that be sufficient.

I had subuteo when I was a kid

Rumour has it your an expert on family planning, not!!

 

[reanswolf]

Ok, you and others have judged him but I won’t because the way he was rushed in, the covid year, a new country and the speed and pace of the PL.
He wasn’t expected to be ready ……if Raul hadn’t been injured, nobody would have been bothered if he played a couple years in the U-23s.

As for taking the financial gamble…..we’ll, obviously, the Wolves mgt. DID think we were in a position to gamble. Thats their job and without being privy to ALL the pertinent reasons, info, data, discussions, numerous scout reports, spread sheet, accounting forecasts and god knows what else, then it’s nuts for us to think they weren’t very, very diligent.
Now I understand the appearance of the deal but, jesus, this is £35m…….that’s a lot of money and they didn’t just spend it willy nilly.
Anyway, without all the facts, who knows?

BTW, I havent passed judgement on Fabio, I thought made that clear, what I have judged is the decision to spend £35m on a gamble when you cannot afford to bring in key players where areas are clearly and evidently weak.

It does seem more and more likely to me that beyond the initial splurge on excellent players to establish us to a set standard, we are now involved chiefly in trading players rather than being driven by decisions to improve the club itself as a footblling entity. A sweeping statement I accept, but one that is arguably becoming more and more feasable based on decisions over a few windows.

 

[VancouverWolf]

BTW, I havent passed judgement on Fabio, I thought made that clear, what I have judged is the decision to spend £35m on a gamble when you cannot afford to bring in key players where areas are weak.

Sorry, I did miss that about you judging Silva.
Btw, there’s no reason to think that £35m would have been spent on other players. I think that deal was a one off.

 

[reanswolf]

Sorry, I did miss that about you judging Silva.
Btw, there’s no reason to think that £35m would have been spent on other players. I think that deal was a one off.

Well you would presume that any sensible football club starts off with a strategy of what positions they will need to strengthen, and how much money have they got to spend to do that. FFP still counts whoever you spend it on

Then act sensibly.

 

[Deleted member yltz11841]

Makes sense now but we’re not trading that many players atm lol in or out

Can’t really trade many out as we would struggle to get a match day 11 plus 1 sub if we did.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Sorry, I did miss that about you judging Silva.
Btw, there’s no reason to think that £35m would have been spent on other players. I think that deal was a one off.

Then what would the money from Jota and Doherty gone on?

 

[Deleted member yltz11841]

Then what would the money from Jota and Doherty gone on?

Making the accounts look good so Shi can get a nice bonus.

 

[Pagey]

Can’t really trade many out as we would struggle to get a match day 11 plus 1 sub if we did.

What is known as "doing a Watford" ?

We could call off games till we promote the youths

 

[Pagey]

Rumour has it your an expert on family planning, not!!

If you need advice mate, give us a ring, I'm close to fielding a u23 side

 

[Deleted member yltz11841]

What is known as "doing a Watford" ?

We could call off games till we promote the youths

Can we call them off until 2024 when the youth players will be ready.

 

[VancouverWolf]

Well you would presume that any sensible football club starts off with a strategy of what positions they will need to strengthen, and how much money have they got to spend to do that. FFP still counts whoever you spend it on

Then act sensibly.

You do realize that they think they’re acting sensibly, don’t you? How you’d run a major business might be different from how they do. Your idea of sensibly might be vastly different from what Guo thinks.

Anyway, you have your ideas where they are wrong and others agree with you.

 

[Timberwolf]

I would swear you are one of those non-attending, non-match-paying Wolves fans, emotionally detached from the current reality and maybe even living in another Country altogether.

But I am probably wrong (as I often am) and you live in Gornal -.

Nope! Financially committed to a season ticket and have travelled from Sheffield for most home games since 1994. Still don’t get the hate for Jeff and Fosun.

 

[reanswolf]

Nope! Financially committed to a season ticket and have travelled from Sheffield for most home games since 1994. Still don’t get the hate for Jeff and Fosun.

Fair play mate.
I don't hate Jeff at all, in fact I have been one of his biggest advocates. But it frustrates me immensely as we seem to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Lets see what happens in the window, but they do seem to be making some very bizarre decisions in the last few windows. We are certainly regressing IMO, but then even if Fosun leave Wolves tomorrow they have still provided the best 3 seasons in my living memory and for that I would always be thankful.

 

[reanswolf]

You do realize that they think they’re acting sensibly, don’t you? How you’d run a major business might be different from how they do. Your idea of sensibly might be vastly different from what Guo thinks.

Anyway, you have your ideas where they are wrong and others agree with you.

They might think they are acting sensibly if their primary aim is to generate a turnover of players to make money.
Of course its opinion, as I routinely say.
But you keep on saying that people's views are worthless unless you can prove things. What's the point of being on a forum then, if you don't want to discuss and debate.

 

[Timberwolf]

Fair play mate.
I don't hate Jeff at all, in fact I have been one of his biggest advocates. But it frustrates me immensely as we seem to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Lets see what happens in the window, but they do seem to be making some very bizarre decisions in the last few windows. We are certainly regressing IMO, but then even if Fosun leave Wolves tomorrow they have still provided the best 3 seasons in my living memory and for that I would always be thankful.

I don’t think they’re making bizarre decisions. What I believe is that they’re so married to the idea of finding ‘bargains’, that it’s clouding their judgement a touch. Let’s face it, Jose Sa was a ‘find’. Max Kilman is proving to be a truly monster bargain, though I realise it’s taken him a couple of years to break through. Mosquera showed enough on those few matches to make me think he’s got the right stuff too.
Hwang can finish yet he drifts in and out.
The purchase of Fabio I think is where things get a bit quirky but we won’t know the answer to that for another season or two. I think he’s a star in the making but Fosun did have their pants pulled down with the fee.
I didn’t mind the hike in season ticket prices but understand that there are those that can’t afford it and are angry. However, the ST’s couldn’t stay as they were when we’re talking about supporting a top half Premier League side that isn’t Burnley.

 

[Hot Fuss]

Yes I seen this article but I suspect it’s only a part of the reason for buying Wolves. I can think of several other plausible reasons why they might have considered buying a football club.

Name a few. Genuinely interested.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Name a few. Genuinely interested.

Well buying a club for 40m, getting it promoted to the PL, keeping it there using only cash generated by the club, and then having an asset worth more than 5x that would be one.

Getting access to a unique historic brand, which can resonate in China and other markets, which is readily transferable to a wide variety of other products and services so as to grow a family of businesses would be another.

As Jeff said at the time of the takeover. Fosun we’re looking for a club to buy who they could grow value. Buying an existing PL club would have allowed them to do all the player trading stuff faster because of PL level income, but wouldn’t have generated such a large growth in asset value. So I deduce they chose Wolves more for value and asset growth than player trading.