Update from Matt Hobbs

[SanFranWolf]

Really good article from Hobbs, finally giving some transparency into how the club works behind the scenes.

 

[Yorkshire Wolf]

Reading Hobbs’ comments Lopetegui was never leaving. Keen, Madeley and Guillem Ballbag couldn’t wait to tell us how many doubts Julen was having.

He’s always going to say though isn’t he to save face

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

I really like Hobbs

Lots of expensive players in our squad. Time for the ones that stay to really step up.

In Nunes and Cunha, there's 80 million+ of talent that we haven't seen the best of yet

 

[Oldgoldilox]

The obvious we already knew

Clear out time…

Very good read though, happy to see Coady back in the squad as we change formation hopefully to something more attacking 3-4-3

We already read today that RAN, Sa and Podence can leave

Fabio, Kilman, Neto, Neves, Nunes our highest assets will have interest

But more importantly Mr Hobbs remember the free agents out there we can go for

Contracts expiring

This overview shows all players whose contracts expire in the upcoming summer, sorted by their current market value.

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

I post it every year but it could actually save us a few quid some options below (not saying sign all of them obviously 2/3 could help us though)

Matt Doherty RB
Hamari Traore RB
Alejandro Catena CB
Gerardo Arteaga LB
Ellyes Skhiri DM
Dani Ceballos DM
Ryan Kent LM

How on earth do you conclude that Coady is "back in the squad" and we are going to change formation?

Hobbs actual words are "He’s made it clear he’d like to come back, however there’s obviously a lot of interest in him, but the manager is speaking to him soon to get a feel for him and see what Conor wants" Yet you have us going back to Nuno ball which ain't Lopetegui's way in case you haven't noticed.

 

[Oldgoldilox]

Kind of confirms what we understood all along but I must admit that I had hoped that the misunderstanding between Lopetegui and the board over finances had been over blown but Hobbs confirming that there had been a disconnect worries me.

I find it difficult to believe that there wasn't transparency between coach and hierarchy and they weren't discussing the situation regularly. But then if the senior management weren't aware that FFP was becoming an issue until someone did the sums in April then that too is pretty baffling.

Sounds very much like they're was either a fairly major and fundamental misunderstanding or Lopetegui was misled. Either way it raises serious questions about how the club is being run.

 

[Rangiora Wolf]

And if it takes a while to sell so miss out on our targets?

And it will take time to sell because I suspect clubs wont exactly be queueing up in bidding wars so any who are interested can play the waiting game and grind us down. We are going to have to bite the bullet and get some in before we sell.

 

[Agent Cooper]

The takeaways for me:

1) Julen and his staff committed and dedicated, contrary to what some have said/implied.
2) The word 'Generally' a sell to buy transfer policy doesn't rule out buying first in some cases.
3) Players want to come and play for Julen, which should hopefully mean targets are more likely to be prepared to wait for us to sell or at least give us some leeway before turning elsewhere.

 

[Deleted member (smith)]

And it will take time to sell because I suspect clubs wont exactly be queueing up in bidding wars so any who are interested can play the waiting game and grind us down. We are going to have to bite the bullet and get some in before we sell.

good points. So far the following are gone

costa-free
traore- free
moutinho-free

it exemplifies that transfer fees are an expense…how much has Fabio cost to date? Could we recover that? Next year neves will be free….soon after fabio will be free.

sell to buy is an admission the original purchases were a mistake ( or a naive view that you can profit trading players?)

Await summer activity …

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

How on earth do you conclude that Coady is "back in the squad" and we are going to change formation?

Hobbs actual words are "He’s made it clear he’d like to come back, however there’s obviously a lot of interest in him, but the manager is speaking to him soon to get a feel for him and see what Conor wants" Yet you have us going back to Nuno ball which ain't Lopetegui's way in case you haven't noticed.

Coady will be back that’s my personal thoughts and formation from when Hobbs said we are going to try something new….

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Fabio not being mentioned should be a given that he is our main striker

 

[AndyY]

Or 3) We spent more than we wanted to in January and now can’t spend so much this summer.

That is the most likely, I think.

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

Fabio not being mentioned should be a given that he is our main striker

Deary me !!!

 

[JuliusCaesar]

Sounds very much like they're was either a fairly major and fundamental misunderstanding or Lopetegui was misled. Either way it raises serious questions about how the club is being run.

I take the opposite view.

I think back to the mess Wolves were in when they fired the fraud who was going to deliver relegation. They set their sights on an elite manager and he'd said no. They were so desperate, they were considering Beale. When Shi is sat in front of Lopetegui, if the main thrust of Jeff's presentation to him was that he would give him all the financial resources he needed to help the club escape relegation, but he decided to totally omit that this would also mean the Summer window would be a tight squeeze, so be it.

Shi's objective was to get the best manager he possibly could. He did. If he'd decided to make a pitch to Lopetegui with all cards on the table and that had resulted in Lopetegui saying, nah, Shi would have failed and Wolves would most likely have gone down. The Summer budget issue was something future Jeff could worry about as and when Wolves safety had been confirmed. If it meant Lopetegui walked, I'd have made the assessment Jeff did that this would be a worthwhile price to pay. The alternative is to look at what Leeds did, a hail Mary to Big Sam, too late.

I also think it Wolves had ended up with Beale and gone down, if it then emerged that the reason Lopetegui couldn't be persuaded to come was because Jeff had told him, we'll give you money in January but we have to take it all away again in the Summer, I for one would have found that to be a very naive way of doing business. Stopping short of outright lying to the man, a failure to focus discussions on the negative aspects of the Summer budget when trying to lure a very in-demand manager to the job seems entirely prudent to me. I'd have done the same in Jeff's shoes. In fact I'd go further, I'd have been willing to tell Lopetegui whatever he wanted to hear in order to get him through the door. Avoid the drop and then reassess from a position of greater strength than we were in before Christmas.

This is one very rare scenario where I don't have any blame or criticism for either party. Lopetegui has every right to have been annoyed by having the tight Summer budget dropped on him. Jeff had every right not to mention it when he was trying to entice Lopetegui to join.

 

[wolfgar]

Good news that Lopetegui will be staying, but a little disappointing to hear that its going to be sell to buy in order for us to do a bit of budget shopping later on. We have plenty of players I’d shift tbf, but if we don’t get the type of bids we want, it concerns me then that we may struggle to bring in our targets (even in the £8/15 million bracket) and will be lumbered with several unhappy players (and probably an unhappy coach). We left things quite late last season too, and got off to an abysmal start, so I am a bit nervous still, I can’t lie.

Ultimately I think its all a little deflating if I’m honest (even if its just the reality of FFP biting). Personally I had thought/hoped when hiring a manager of Lop’s stature, that he’d be given some serious funds this summer to build us a side if survival was secured. I guess I hadn’t really envisaged we’d be asking him and hobbs to take us forward on a relative shoestring. Tbf the Dawson and Lemina deals were in that bracket and perhaps the two most crucial we made in Jan, so it is what it is, but Lop and Hobbs are certainly going to have to earn their money by the sounds?

Be interesting to see how the summer pans out now, but if we end up going into the season looking undercooked again, and get off to a bad start, I wouldn’t be surprised to see tensions quickly open up between manager and club. Lets hope that won’t be the case?

 

[Matt]

Good to see communication coming out of the club.

A bit concerning though that it looks like we’ll be getting players in late again. The shocking start nearly killed us last season.

 

[Wolf316]

I take the opposite view.

I think back to the mess Wolves were in when they fired the fraud who was going to deliver relegation. They set their sights on an elite manager and he'd said no. They were so desperate, they were considering Beale. When Shi is sat in front of Lopetegui, if the main thrust of Jeff's presentation to him was that he would give him all the financial resources he needed to help the club escape relegation, but he decided to totally omit that this would also mean the Summer window would be a tight squeeze, so be it.

Shi's objective was to get the best manager he possibly could. He did. If he'd decided to make a pitch to Lopetegui with all cards on the table and that had resulted in Lopetegui saying, nah, Shi would have failed and Wolves would most likely have gone down. The Summer budget issue was something future Jeff could worry about as and when Wolves safety had been confirmed. If it meant Lopetegui walked, I'd have made the assessment Jeff did that this would be a worthwhile price to pay. The alternative is to look at what Leeds did, a hail Mary to Big Sam, too late.

I also think it Wolves had ended up with Beale and gone down, if it then emerged that the reason Lopetegui couldn't be persuaded to come was because Jeff had told him, we'll give you money in January but we have to take it all away again in the Summer, I for one would have found that to be a very naive way of doing business. Stopping short of outright lying to the man, a failure to focus discussions on the negative aspects of the Summer budget when trying to lure a very in-demand manager to the job seems entirely prudent to me. I'd have done the same in Jeff's shoes. In fact I'd go further, I'd have been willing to tell Lopetegui whatever he wanted to hear in order to get him through the door. Avoid the drop and then reassess from a position of greater strength than we were in before Christmas.

This is one very rare scenario where I don't have any blame or criticism for either party. Lopetegui has every right to have been annoyed by having the tight Summer budget dropped on him. Jeff had every right not to mention it when he was trying to entice Lopetegui to join.

But if Lopetegui had walked no manager would be able to trust anything Jeff said so attracting anyone any good would be nigh on impossible.

 

[RosehillWolf]

Cunha and Guedes purchases have hamstrung us. I’d love to know who decided to splash ridiculous amounts on these two bang average players. We could basically have got Scott and Gykores for what we paid for Cunha

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

good points. So far the following are gone

costa-free
traore- free
moutinho-free

it exemplifies that transfer fees are an expense…how much has Fabio cost to date? Could we recover that? Next year neves will be free….soon after fabio will be free.

sell to buy is an admission the original purchases were a mistake ( or a naive view that you can profit trading players?)

Await summer activity …

We unfortunately held onto player too long. That was either by design or by fault. Realistically Neves, Traore and Jiminez should have gone similar time to Jota. Would have been a massive rebuild but that’s when their stock was highest.

 

[RosehillWolf]

What was it now ?? oh yes i remember " the Next man city in 10 years" Fosun

Yes. What a load of *******s that was. We had the ideal position to push on when qualifying for Europe. Typically though , we threw that chance away.

 

[Direwolf]

Happy with the article seems a genuine update on where we are. I especially liked the bit about getting the right people with the right character. Which implies some of those leaving perhaps do not quite fit in this regard (Neves excepted of course). - We have to accept 'it is what it is'. Let's hope the recruitment team make the best of it and get some good fits.

 

[lets all have a disco]

Good to see communication coming out of the club.

A bit concerning though that it looks like we’ll be getting players in late again. The shocking start nearly killed us last season.

Leeds had 7 points after 3 games...

 

[Ned]

Leeds had 7 points after 3 games...

Yea but still, the shocking start last season nearly killed us

 

[lets all have a disco]

Yea but still, the shocking start last season nearly killed us

The squad was badly in prepared on and off the pitch...for the start of the season last year.. .the subs bench was shocking at Leeds.... obviously it helps to be prepared but the first 4 games aren't the bee all and end all .. a good run between November n march is what you want .. which is what Leeds n Leicester didn't do.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

good points. So far the following are gone

costa-free
traore- free
moutinho-free

it exemplifies that transfer fees are an expense…how much has Fabio cost to date? Could we recover that? Next year neves will be free….soon after fabio will be free.

sell to buy is an admission the original purchases were a mistake ( or a naive view that you can profit trading players?)

Await summer activity …

There is another way of looking at those departures. Roughly £10m per year in salaries saved.

What’s interesting about that, is that covers a large part of the salary and transfer amortisation impact of signing Cunha in January, or a large part of the £50m hole which our January business created. If Jonny leaves on a marginal fee, then that combined with his salary saving, should just about cover it, meaning all further sales can be reinvested in new signings.

 

[Ned]

The squad was badly in prepared on and off the pitch...for the start of the season last year.. .the subs bench was shocking at Leeds.... obviously it helps to be prepared but the first 4 games aren't the bee all and end all .. a good run between November n march is what you want .. which is what Leeds n Leicester didn't do.

I agree. I was being a pedantic knobhead!! The first two months fixtures are rubbish but we’ve got a good manager with a great fitness and medical team on board, im thinking we can surprise a few early on.

 

[wolvesaywe]

If we get Nunes and Cunha firing more consistently, Sarabia to find his feet in the Premier League, Neto to regain his form and Fabio and Kalajdzic back in, coupled with a few astute signings and a full pre-season under Lopetegui, then I'm confident we'll be top half

The form since Xmas was just that, and from a side that could barely muster a point, so I just don't get the negativity. A couple of hammerings once we were safe have clouded what was an incredible turnaround from Lopetegui. The guy is top drawer

 

[North West Wanderer]

Reading Hobbs’ comments Lopetegui was never leaving. Keen, Madeley and Guillem Ballbag couldn’t wait to tell us how many doubts Julen was having.

he was clearly thinking about it, that’s for sure.

 

[CodsallWolf]

I take the opposite view.

I think back to the mess Wolves were in when they fired the fraud who was going to deliver relegation. They set their sights on an elite manager and he'd said no. They were so desperate, they were considering Beale. When Shi is sat in front of Lopetegui, if the main thrust of Jeff's presentation to him was that he would give him all the financial resources he needed to help the club escape relegation, but he decided to totally omit that this would also mean the Summer window would be a tight squeeze, so be it.

Shi's objective was to get the best manager he possibly could. He did. If he'd decided to make a pitch to Lopetegui with all cards on the table and that had resulted in Lopetegui saying, nah, Shi would have failed and Wolves would most likely have gone down. The Summer budget issue was something future Jeff could worry about as and when Wolves safety had been confirmed. If it meant Lopetegui walked, I'd have made the assessment Jeff did that this would be a worthwhile price to pay. The alternative is to look at what Leeds did, a hail Mary to Big Sam, too late.

I also think it Wolves had ended up with Beale and gone down, if it then emerged that the reason Lopetegui couldn't be persuaded to come was because Jeff had told him, we'll give you money in January but we have to take it all away again in the Summer, I for one would have found that to be a very naive way of doing business. Stopping short of outright lying to the man, a failure to focus discussions on the negative aspects of the Summer budget when trying to lure a very in-demand manager to the job seems entirely prudent to me. I'd have done the same in Jeff's shoes. In fact I'd go further, I'd have been willing to tell Lopetegui whatever he wanted to hear in order to get him through the door. Avoid the drop and then reassess from a position of greater strength than we were in before Christmas.

This is one very rare scenario where I don't have any blame or criticism for either party. Lopetegui has every right to have been annoyed by having the tight Summer budget dropped on him. Jeff had every right not to mention it when he was trying to entice Lopetegui to join.

The alternative approach would have been to be clear and open with Lopetegui, and offer him a role to the end of the season with significant funds available in January, with both sides having an option to re-visit in the summer depending on outcome of the season. Personally I don’t think it’s smart and certainly not good business sense to bring in your most important employee (or any employee) on false pretences if that is what has happened. Integrity matters.

 

[Flump]

he was clearly thinking about it, that’s for sure.

Yes... but you have to remember that Keen, Madely and Ballague directly benefitted from the mass hysteria they managed to induce - how many more clicks did those articles get than "Lopetegui in daily amicable discussions with Wolves around future spending plans" would have?

 

[Matt]

Leeds had 7 points after 3 games...

Our **** start, which came from going into the season with the squad underprepared, is why we went into the World Cup bottom of the table. We were saved by the World Cup break and a £75m spend in January.

Hopefully some sales are around the corner so we can start to add to the squad soon.

 

[Flump]

The alternative approach would have been to be clear and open with Lopetegui, and offer him a role to the end of the season with significant funds available in January, with both sides having an option to re-visit in the summer depending on outcome of the season. Personally I don’t think it’s smart and certainly not good business sense to bring in your most important employee (or any employee) on false pretences if that is what has happened. Integrity matters.

It really doesn't have to be as dramatic as "false pretences" though does it?

Jeff: "We'll back you with significant funds right now, up to £80m!"
Julen: "Great, and what's the long term project?"
Jeff: "We want to progress in a healthy way, so we'll give you as much backing as we can, although there are obviously some constraints".

Nowhere that I've seen has Lopetegui (or Ballague etc) say that Wolves/Jeff lied. They've said Julen wasn't aware of certain things - if he didn't ask, or didn't ask in enough detail, then really, that's on him.

Or when you're selling a house, do you point out to the buyer all the creaky floorboards and which taps leak without being asked?

 

[Flump]

Our **** start, which came from going into the season with the squad underprepared, is why we went into the World Cup bottom of the table. We were saved by the World Cup break and a £75m spend in January.

We were 14th after 6 games.

It was from games 7 on until the Christmas break that were really bad, especially the ones managed by Davis.

 

[arctic rime]

If we get Nunes and Cunha firing more consistently, Sarabia to find his feet in the Premier League, Neto to regain his form and Fabio and Kalajdzic back in, coupled with a few astute signings and a full pre-season under Lopetegui, then I'm confident we'll be top half

The form since Xmas was just that, and from a side that could barely muster a point, so I just don't get the negativity. A couple of hammerings once we were safe have clouded what was an incredible turnaround from Lopetegui. The guy is top drawer

100% !

 

[Fenrir_]

Cunha and Guedes purchases have hamstrung us. I’d love to know who decided to splash ridiculous amounts on these two bang average players. We could basically have got Scott and Gykores for what we paid for Cunha

Who's saying Scott or Gyokeres would have been successes? Scott would have probably played less than Cunha and we'd be having the debate Gyokeres vs Costa. Personally think Scott is a good 18 months away from being a PL regular and have major doubts that Gyokeres will ever be that level. Cunha has shown - albeit in flashes - he has serious ability, as things stand he's way ahead of both Scott and Gyokeres

But you carry on thinking these players impressing in the Championship will be improvements on those here. Wasn't long ago you were saying Corbeanu was a better prospect than Silva, how's that been working out?

 

[lets all have a disco]

Our **** start, which came from going into the season with the squad underprepared, is why we went into the World Cup bottom of the table. We were saved by the World Cup break and a £75m spend in January.

Hopefully some sales are around the corner so we can start to add to the squad soon.

Yes it did .....just glad we wasn't prepared like Leeds was....

 

[JuliusCaesar]

But if Lopetegui had walked no manager would be able to trust anything Jeff said so attracting anyone any good would be nigh on impossible.

And if Lopetegui hadn't come in the first place, Wolves would be planning their Summer budget for the Championship and would be in an even more frantic position having to sell players at knockdown prices. If Jeff had to omit the true nature and difficulties of the financial position / FFP constraints in order to get Lopetegui to sign, I will not criticise him at all for that approach. But I definitely would have criticised him if he presented the full picture to Lopetegui and he hadn't come. And how do we know it's likely he would not have come? Because he's made it quite clear how unhappy he is with the spending constraints he only just learned of. I'd say if they were presented to him up front, he'd have said no to the job and Wolves would be in a much bigger mess.

 

[Matt]

We were 14th after 6 games.

It was from games 7 on until the Christmas break that were really bad, especially the ones managed by Davis.

The whole spell before the World Cup was bad. We couldn't score goals and were forced to sign a semi-retired striker on a free transfer.

 

[North West Wanderer]

Yes... but you have to remember that Keen, Madely and Ballague directly benefitted from the mass hysteria they managed to induce - how many more clicks did those articles get than "Lopetegui in daily amicable discussions with Wolves around future spending plans" would have?

oh for sure, it’s what put me off being a journalist many years ago. doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking of leaving though.

 

[Flump]

The whole spell before the World Cup was bad. We couldn't score goals and were forced to sign a semi-retired striker on a free transfer.

Yes, I agree - but it wasn't until game 9 that we actually dropped into the bottom 3 properly.

Between games 7 (0-2 v Liverpool) and 16 (0-2 v Arsenal ) just before the break we won 1, drew 1 and lost the rest. That was the stretch that put the pressure on.

 

[North West Wanderer]

Yes, I agree - but it wasn't until game 9 that we actually dropped into the bottom 3 properly.

Between games 7 (0-2 v Liverpool) and 16 (0-2 v Arsenal ) just before the break we won 1, drew 1 and lost the rest. That was the stretch that put the pressure on.

View attachment 35207

scary stuff when you see it like this