The buck stops with Jeff Shi @ WWFC

[oldgoldheart]

We lost again, we are playing poorly but surely we can be realistic. of the "others" only west ham has had a better season and we have a game in hand on them in the league.i am sure everton fans might swap places (and they are likely to have been moaning last season too)

watching football is about losing and winning. if we can finish 8th like this we might make 4th if we get things more sorted

 

[Puddled Duck]

I understand how building the brand oversees helps to develop sustainable revenue for Wolves. I do not understand how you think Fosun are using Wolves to make money in the Asian markets…it seems to exactly the other way around….Fosun are using the Asian markets to make money for Wolves.

Same thing effectively, premiership football is broadcast in China via oversees SKY TV and PPV and we have an Asian Internet Gambling sponsorship with a long term deal and are selling Wolves fashion range etc abroad, the objective to make money via our strong premiership showing to sell into the Asian Market to gain additional revenue, I think the Hwang signing was principally to field a player that would appeal to the Asian Market.

 

[wwbug]

A lot of people in life focus on what isnt being done rather than what is being done.
They can be very annoying when you brush up against them.
Yes we are doing very nicely .
But there are very big problems with recruitment and trading players .
In absolute terms we are fine but we are a worse team than three years ago. Undeniably .

 

[Puddled Duck]

A lot of people in life focus on what isnt being done rather than what is being done.
They can be very annoying when you brush up against them.
Yes we are doing very nicely .
But there are very big problems with recruitment and trading players .
In absolute terms we are fine but we are a worse team than three years ago. Undeniably .

Raul hasn't really returned from injury properly and we sold Jota at a profit probably to balance the books post Covid, let's face facts we have a weak attack and it's unlikely Jeff will open up the cheque book and spend serious money in the summer unless he can dispose of players, there are too many players on our books that are effectively dead weight or nearing the end of their contracts.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Gone are the days of the great "football managers" like Stan Cullis and Sir Alex Ferguson having total control over a football club in the top flight.
Bruno or Nuno like many "football coaches" not "football managers" in the PL have little say about the recruitment and buying and selling of players anymore.

Jeff Shi after getting rid of other managerial positions ie Laurie Dalrymple and others in the past 3 years is in total control nowadays of all matters at WWFC..
He has the final say of the big transfer decisions like of Diogo Jota, Fabio Silva and maybe Ruben Neves this summer? At the end of the day the buck stops here with him.

The question is as Jeff hasn't come from a footballing background previously in jobs. Is he the right man to be making such massive footballing decisions for our great club?

Hypothetically, if the answer to your question is "no" then what exactly do you propose to do about it? Why no poll???

 

[WickedWolfie]

I thought this was an evening with Jeff Shi at the Bucks Head for a minute.

If you mean Telford the ground is still there but the associated pub with the same name is now a bloody Domino's pizza place....

 

[WickedWolfie]

I just won a bet with myself, though I did give myself lousy odds…

Over the thread subject matter or who would post such a thread, l wonder.... lol

 

[Wolf in the sun]

cant believe jeff shi wasnt in the 6 yard box to get on the end of those chances.....

 

[John de Wolf's hairdryer]

Fosun seem to be attempting to defy gravity by aiming to grow WWFC into a power brand on an essentially static budget. It'll be some alchemy if they pull it off, but in all likelihood it will stall.

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

Hypothetically, if the answer to your question is "no" then what exactly do you propose to do about it? Why no poll???

Can't you see it's not just one question It's questioning Jeff's big decisions on and off the pitch that he has made.
As I keep mentioning ie selling (Jota) buying (Silva) and loaning certain players out in particular. Plus getting rid of CE Laurie Dalrymple.

Jeff Shi needs more and better executive staff around him to meet the ambition that Fosun have or had for WWFC?

 

[WickedWolfie]

Can't you see it's not just one question It's questioning Jeff's big decisions on and off the pitch that he has made.
As I keep mentioning ie selling (Jota) buying (Silva) and loaning players out in particular. Plus getting rid of CE Laurie Dalrymple.

Jeff Shi needs more and better executive staff around him to meet the ambition that Fosun have or had for WWFC?

Even if l accept all of those as accurate, which is far from a given, l repeat: what do you propose to do about it?

 

[Jonzy54]

Raul’s injury ,Jota’s goals (albeit he didn’t contribute as many in his last season) and Doherty’s goals have not been replaced and in the meantime many of our players hardly contribute any .
A return of a goal a game ,our leading scorer probably won’t even reach double figures and the fact we have fired 15 blanks in 33 games speaks volumes.It is a good job that as a unit our back line has done well but that might not be the case next year .
I don’t know how but we have to address our lack of goals and by that I mean with first team players and not ones shipped out to Grasshoppers in the off chance that they might come good in 3 years time

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

Even if l accept all of those as accurate, which is far from a given, l repeat: what do you propose to do about it?

I'm just a fan I'm not on the board of directors for WWFC.
Only jeff our Chairman with Fosun can do something about this by Jeff being the captain of the Wolves ship and steering our ship on a safe course. Otherwise imho the only course Jeff is steering us is into an iceberg as with the Titanic.

This summer will be the acid test of big decisions Jeff and Fosun will have to make with Raul, Ruben, Adama, Trincao MGW etc etc.
Plus Molineux stadium plans if they really want us to be an established top 10 or top 6 even PL Club anymore?

 

[old wittonian]

Raul’s injury ,Jota’s goals (albeit he didn’t contribute as many in his last season) and Doherty’s goals have not been replaced and in the meantime many of our players hardly contribute any .
A return of a goal a game ,our leading scorer probably won’t even reach double figures and the fact we have fired 15 blanks in 33 games speaks volumes.It is a good job that as a unit our back line has done well but that might not be the case next year .
I don’t know how but we have to address our lack of goals and by that I mean with first team players and not ones shipped out to Grasshoppers in the off chance that they might come good in 3 years time

We need to plan far more for the here and now and not the future.

 

[WickedWolfie]

I'm just a fan I'm not on the board of directors for WWFC.
Only jeff our Chairman with Fosun can do something about this by Jeff being the captain of the Wolves ship and steering our ship on a safe course. Otherwise imho the only course Jeff is steering us is into an iceberg as with the Titanic.

This summer will be the acid test of big decisions Jeff and Fosun will have to make with Raul, Ruben, Adama, Trincao MGW etc etc.
Plus Molineux stadium plans if they really want us to be an established top 10 or top 6 even PL Club anymore?

I don't necessarily disagree with any of that. I'm just unsure what any fan, or even group of fans, can really do about it.

 

[Puddled Duck]

I'm just a fan I'm not on the board of directors for WWFC.
Only jeff our Chairman with Fosun can do something about this by Jeff being the captain of the Wolves ship and steering our ship on a safe course. Otherwise imho the only course Jeff is steering us is into an iceberg as with the Titanic.

This summer will be the acid test of big decisions Jeff and Fosun will have to make with Raul, Ruben, Adama, Trincao MGW etc etc.
Plus Molineux stadium plans if they really want us to be an established top 10 or top 6 even PL Club anymore?

Could be worse we could have blown half a billion on a Smith folly like Villa and ended up with a name manager like Gerrard.

FOSUN are not stupid, very sensible investment that should hold us good stead in the long term.

But I agree the summer will be a big one, lots of decisions to make principally with our attack, our midfield and defence effectively solid!.

 

[Flump]

Gone are the days of the great "football managers" like Stan Cullis and Sir Alex Ferguson having total control over a football club in the top flight.
Bruno or Nuno like many "football coaches" not "football managers" in the PL have little say about the recruitment and buying and selling of players anymore.

Jeff Shi after getting rid of other managerial positions ie Laurie Dalrymple and others in the past 3 years is in total control nowadays of all matters at WWFC..
He has the final say of the big transfer decisions like of Diogo Jota, Fabio Silva and maybe Ruben Neves this summer? At the end of the day the buck stops here with him.

The question is as Jeff hasn't come from a footballing background previously in jobs. Is he the right man to be making such massive footballing decisions for our great club?

a) Would you have started this thred if Wolves had won yesterday?
b) Are you so naive that you think a Chair's quality should be judged based on the performance on the pitch in the most recent match?
c) What part of 8th in the table and financially stable do you think is unacceptable when judging the Chair's performance?

 

[Jonzy54]

When the Summer window opened several including myself said as there no guarantees that Raul would return to his former self we needed strikers and certainly different options.
One or two said we had enough strikers but I said strikers and goalscorers are not the same .Raul hasn’t scored many,Silva hasn’t scored any,Hwang has scored 2 since October,Neto has been injured but isn’t prolific anyway and neither was Adama before he left
Answers on a postcard of how we will address this .

 

[Jonzy54]

We need to plan far more for the here and now and not the future.

Exactly

 

[KBWWFC]

Wolves are simply on a sensible investment plateau and the focus is on expanding the Wolves brand in China to increase turnover as opposed to just engaging in silly investment

We have been left with 2 fit central midfielders in the entire squad.

We haven't signed a centreback since promotion.

Most of our assets have declined in value (Adama, Raul, Neto, Boly, Moutinho)

We're currently sell to buy with a threadbare squad that will require a massive rebuild in summer to stay competitive.

Sensible investment.

 

[SuperGran]

We need to plan far more for the here and now and not the future.

We need a balance of both otherwise you end up like villa having to replace the squad every season

 

[Manic88]

about 15 years ago a lot of people in Detroit were laughing at some Musk guy that "didn't have a background in the auto industry"

 

[Flump]

We have been left with 2 fit central midfielders in the entire squad.

We haven't signed a centreback since promotion.

Most of our assets have declined in value (Adama, Raul, Neto, Boly, Moutinho)

You undermine sensible points if you tack on false or irrelevant names just to make the list longer.

Moutinho was clearly not signed to appreciate in value at his age
Neto has clearly increased in value since he was signed, even if he hasn't yet hit his pre-injury heights
Boly is 31, so again they wouldn't have expected him to appreciate much
Raul had increased in value, until the injury, which is of course the risk you run when "investing" in any footballer, so not something Wolves/Jeff/Fosun would be unaware of.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

about 15 years ago a lot of people in Detroit were laughing at some Musk guy that "didn't have a background in the auto industry"

15 years? Some on here won’t wait 15 minutes for us to achieve world domination

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

I'm just a fan I'm not on the board of directors for WWFC.
Only jeff our Chairman with Fosun can do something about this by Jeff being the captain of the Wolves ship and steering our ship on a safe course. Otherwise imho the only course Jeff is steering us is into an iceberg as with the Titanic.

This summer will be the acid test of big decisions Jeff and Fosun will have to make with Raul, Ruben, Adama, Trincao MGW etc etc.
Plus Molineux stadium plans if they really want us to be an established top 10 or top 6 even PL Club anymore?

We need to plan far more for the here and now and not the future.

a) Would you have started this thred if Wolves had won yesterday?
b) Are you so naive that you think a Chair's quality should be judged based on the performance on the pitch in the most recent match?
c) What part of 8th in the table and financially stable do you think is unacceptable when judging the Chair's performance?

@Flump NO NO and No problem there either!

@old wittonian and @Jonzy54 You can't do anything about it NOW and bring a player in or out can you? That's why I say the big decisions for Jeff are in the summer transfer window. Who we sell, buy or give new contracts are going to be big busy business for Jeff in just a few weeks time. The main thing is will Jeff make all the right decisions for the future for our great club?
As Jeff has said a year or so ago. The investment now is more on the players for the club rather than the stadium. Yet in the last 2 transfer windows Jeff has shown not much intent of boosting the Wolves and Bruno's 1st team squad to become a top PL team. If Jeff & Fosun would have invested somewhat more in the January window that European place was there for grabs..Just when the chance was there for us to break into the top 6 with Man U and West Ham started faltering badly too

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Can't you see it's not just one question It's questioning Jeff's big decisions on and off the pitch that he has made.
As I keep mentioning ie selling (Jota) buying (Silva) and loaning certain players out in particular. Plus getting rid of CE Laurie Dalrymple.

Jeff Shi needs more and better executive staff around him to meet the ambition that Fosun have or had for WWFC?

I wouldn’t hold up Dalyrmple up as an example of anything to be honest. Speak to anyone who worked at the club with him and words such as “clueless” will be used. He was no loss at all.

 

[old wittonian]

@Flump NO NO and No problem there either!

@old wittonian and @Jonzy54 You can't do anything about it NOW and bring a player in or out can you? That's why I say the big decisions for Jeff are in the summer transfer window. Who we sell, buy or give new contracts are going to be big busy business for Jeff in just a few weeks time. The main thing is will Jeff make all the right decisions for the future for our great club?
As Jeff has said a year or so ago. The investment now is more on the players for the club rather than the stadium. Yet in the last 2 transfer windows Jeff has shown not much intent of boosting the Wolves and Bruno's 1st team squad to become a top PL team. If Jeff & Fosun would have invested somewhat more in the January window that European place was there for grabs..Just when the chance was there for us to break into the top 6 with Man U and West Ham started faltering badly too

I think we all understand the transfer windows.

 

[KBWWFC]

You undermine sensible points if you tack on false or irrelevant names just to make the list longer.

Moutinho was clearly not signed to appreciate in value at his age
Neto has clearly increased in value since he was signed, even if he hasn't yet hit his pre-injury heights
Boly is 31, so again they wouldn't have expected him to appreciate much
Raul had increased in value, until the injury, which is of course the risk you run when "investing" in any footballer, so not something Wolves/Jeff/Fosun would be unaware of.

So you agree with me but you want to look like you disagree.

All of those players have lost value over the course of the past 2 seasons since we have pivoted towards sell to buy.

 

[Flump]

So you agree with me but you want to look like you disagree.

All of those players have lost value over the course of the past 2 seasons since we have pivoted towards sell to buy.

No, I think you started off making a valid point, then used some wrong examples, which makes it look like you're fitting your theory to evidence, rather than vice versa.

Moutinho (obviously, given his age) was not signed to make a profit from. So it would be extremely stupid to set that as some kind of yardstick for success.

 

[KBWWFC]

Moutinho (obviously, given his age) was not signed to make a profit from.

Correct, but he has lost his value and will need to be replaced, which is difficult to do when most of the squad have lost value too.

 

[Ned Stark]

I wouldn’t hold up Dalyrmple up as an example of anything to be honest. Speak to anyone who worked at the club with him and words such as “clueless” will be used. He was no loss at all.

Funny how his name always gets dragged up when we lose a couple of games ay it, usually goes with the ‘There’s something not right at the club’ theme.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Dalrymple left Wolves, not the other way around from everything I've been told. Wanted the Quins job more for location and because he was a rugby guy

 

[steve vena]

A lot of people in life focus on what isnt being done rather than what is being done.
They can be very annoying when you brush up against them.
Yes we are doing very nicely .
But there are very big problems with recruitment and trading players .
In absolute terms we are fine but we are a worse team than three years ago. Undeniably .

Nail on head. We had a cracking side then. It's weaker now definitely.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Dalrymple left Wolves, not the other way around from everything I've been told. Wanted the Quins job more for location and because he was a rugby guy

I didn’t say he was pushed but I know there was no attempt made to keep him. He wasn’t a particularly well liked guy and the two people I know who worked with him don’t have a good thing to say about him.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

I didn’t say he was pushed but I know there was no attempt made to keep him. He wasn’t a particularly well liked guy and the two people I know who worked with him don’t have a good thing to say about him.

Yeah was agreeing with your broader point that he wasn't forced out by the tyrannous Jeff.

 

[VancouverWolf]

We all want a better squad but if we’re being fair, dont you think Guo, Jeff, Bruno and everybody else at Wolves/Compton want that too?
They all want a de Bruyne, a Kane , a van Dijk in the ranks. Of course they do……just like we all want a Lear jet or a new Rolls.

But yet we don’t want to sell Neves, or Sa or Neto or Podence but we expect Jeff to somehow wave a financial magic wand , find money from somewhere and deliver fantastic players this window. ( I was going to say great players but I knew that nothing short of fantastic players would suffice on the Mix).

Jeff and Bruno have said several times that if they find the right player, at the right price they will try to get him.
But what if he doesn’t want to come to Wolves…….

Is there a reasonable point that Jeff can’t make stuff happen? Regarding the transfers, are some Wolves fans’ expectations too high?
Are Wolves and Jeff punching above their weight?

Take City last year offering £130m for Kane and they still couldn’t get him.
Think about that for a moment…..£130 million and Spurs could just say NO. Wow.
Thats the kind of money that Wolves are up against…….and the clout that comes with it.

 

[Puddled Duck]

Hes right in one way we do have more possession than previously,we just dont do enough with it
We are so slow in transition in the main
Previously we broke on the counter with speed and aggression,we also had prime Raul, occasionally a firing Traore, previously Jota then Neto,all have for one reason or another been missing for over a season
Its not an excuse for Bruno just how the cookie has crumbled unfortunately

We have been left with 2 fit central midfielders in the entire squad.

We haven't signed a centreback since promotion.

Most of our assets have declined in value (Adama, Raul, Neto, Boly, Moutinho)

We're currently sell to buy with a threadbare squad that will require a massive rebuild in summer to stay competitive.

Sensible investment.

Sensible considering FOSUN have only invested £175 million since they brought us and we are effectively just below European places, look where Villa are after blowing half a billion?.

 

[cannockwolves]

The buck does stop with Jeff, but I think Jeff is going to be reasonably happy with a 8th or 9th place finish to be honest. And given where we were last season so am I.

At £2m a place that's £10m more income than last season.

Jeff will also be happy because we have improved the value of, players like Sa, Neves, Podence, MGW, RAN, Coady, Gomes, Cundle, Giles, Ronan, and Campbell. (not to mention Bolla over at Grasshoppers)

Moutinho is still a capable player and may resign.

There must be some money available because we made a couple of bids that did not come off - there must be at least £25m available before we start any sales. OK they are committing £12m to Whang but we are due £9m from Vinager.

I am convinced someone will pay £10-£15m for Adama, so that's £40m available, then we come to Neves. It will be a sad, sad day but I think he will go this year. That's got to be at least another £50m or £60m

So 8th in the prem. Almost a dozen players with improved value, not to mention the progress of the u23's - and the best part of £100m to spend to make the squad fit to Bruno's vision.

I think we will be fine next season, and Jeff will be happy because as he says 'time is our friend' - time to improve player values, time to build the other income streams, and time for our injured players to regain their value.

Address the goal scoring and middle of the park and we will be fine - but for Jeff fine will be another top 10 finish - personally I am fine with that if we get a bit more goals and entertainment.

 

[Puddled Duck]

The buck does stop with Jeff, but I think Jeff is going to be reasonably happy with a 8th or 9th place finish to be honest. And given where we were last season so am I.

At £2m a place that's £10m more income than last season.

Jeff will also be happy because we have improved the value of, players like Sa, Neves, Podence, MGW, RAN, Coady, Gomes, Cundle, Giles, Ronan, and Campbell. (not to mention Bolla over at Grasshoppers)

Moutinho is still a capable player and may resign.

There must be some money available because we made a couple of bids that did not come off - there must be at least £25m available before we start any sales. OK they are committing £12m to Whang but we are due £9m from Vinager.

I am convinced someone will pay £10-£15m for Adama, so that's £40m available, then we come to Neves. It will be a sad, sad day but I think he will go this year. That's got to be at least another £50m or £60m

So 8th in the prem. Almost a dozen players with improved value, not to mention the progress of the u23's - and the best part of £100m to spend to make the squad fit to Bruno's vision.

I think we will be fine next season, and Jeff will be happy because as he says 'time is our friend' - time to improve player values, time to build the other income streams, and time for our injured players to regain their value.

Address the goal scoring and middle of the park and we will be fine - but for Jeff fine will be another top 10 finish - personally I am fine with that if we get a bit more goals and entertainment.

Good analysis

FOSUN are sensible in their investment approach, they have money to spend and made a billion in profit last year but are investors and want to keep the investment sensible at £175 million and make a small profit unlike Villa and Newcastle who will just pour money in and probably make losses in pursuit of some Champions League mirage dream.

The promotion of Wolves in Asia is key to grow additional revenue streams and ultimately compete in revenue terms with the BIG 6, this will take years but in that time we should at least be competitive in the premiership which is better than can be said for Morgan.

 

[old wittonian]

Good analysis

FOSUN are sensible in their investment approach, they have money to spend and made a billion in profit last year but are investors and want to keep the investment sensible at £175 million and make a small profit unlike Villa and Newcastle who will just pour money in and probably make losses in pursuit of some Champions League mirage dream.

The promotion of Wolves in Asia is key to grow additional revenue streams and ultimately compete in revenue terms with the BIG 6, this will take years but in that time we should at least be competitive in the premiership which is better than can be said for Morgan.

Newcastle are now 9th and haven't had much of a spend or overhaul yet. IMHO they will challenge the top 6.