Fosun in? Jeff & Sellars Out?

[Jefe]

How can some fans not see that Jeff, Sellars, Bruno etc would love to have the money to get de Bruyne, van Dijk and Salah? They too all want Wolves to win.

We all want Wolves to win. The question is that of competence, not will. Watching Palhinha dominate against Liverpool brings that into focus. We could've signed him for a very reasonable fee (around £17m). Heck, if money is such an issue, we probably could've sold Edwards Dendoncker and almost broken even.

It just seems everything Jeff does of late, like getting our pants pulled down by Barcelona over the Traore / Trincao situation, to desperately low-balling Cardiff for Kieffer Moore on deadline day, is rooted in incompetence. Mendes made him look good, but now it seems that tap has been shut off; Shi is exposed as a bean counter not much better than Moxey. The lack of communication with the fans doesn't help (nor his shooting himself in the foot when he does). I'm sure if he were running say a pharmaceutical subsidiary of Fosun, he'd be doing great as CEO, but running a Football club is different. Tipton Wolf said he heard on the grapevine that Shi is seen as a laughing stock because he doesn't know how to run a Sports club - I can believe it.

The bench we had today is down to incompetence by the board, there is no way around it.

 

[VancouverWolf]

Who else is going to drunkenly communicate our transfer strategy to fans in an Indian restaurant?

Like that happened.
At best it was probably incredibly exaggerated.

 

[chignalwolf]

Why loan out Fabio with no replacement? Whose fault was that?

that was the big question last season with Adama Traore, loan him out without any back up was bad enough but without any buy on clause, shear madness, made us look like mugs,

 

[Wolf 82]

How about we just go back to what was working.. Jorge on the transfers..

 

[Wolves4Life85]

How about we just go back to what was working.. Jorge on the transfers..

It may have been working but how much per transfer was he pocketing? That has an effect on the budget surely too? I think we have ****ed off agents not wanting their players and only using Jorge's stable.

 

[Oh Robbie Robie]

Brilliant idea of his to loan out Fabio and Ryan Giles if that is the case then.

You have inside knowledge that it was his decision?

 

[Wolf 82]

It may have been working but how much per transfer was he pocketing? That has an effect on the budget surely too? I think we have ****ed off agents not wanting their players and only using Jorge's stable.

Sure.. but; Neves, Moutinho, Neto, Jota, Patricio, Raul, etc.. we did well from our business with Jorge.

I don’t really care about the other stuff in truth, if he’s finding us value then he should be rewarded.. I just want to feel like Wolves are moving forward on the pitch and I think Fosun will handle the business side.

 

[The Wolf In The North]

Exactly!
How can some fans not see that Jeff, Sellars, Bruno etc would love to have the money to get de Bruyne, van Dijk and Salah?
They too all want Wolves to win.

That's diversionary. No one is asking for De Bruyne or Salah, or asking for £50m players, or asking for £100m to be splashed on a half dozen star names, because by and large Wolves fans aren't mug punters flapping at their keyboards with their elbows. It has no more credence than Sellars' assertion in January that he was some white knight protecting the club from bankruptcy.

What fans want is a credible transfer strategy where a key summer window is planned for and where sensible targets are identified and secured, instead of staggering beneath the weight of an intractible model of financial value where we consistently come up short in pursuit of players we aren't inclined to afford, leaving ourselves with a bench full of inexperienced youth players in this season of all seasons.

No one is saying it's easy, but it is, quite literally, their job, and they have failed to do it before the start of the season. There's no magic money tree, they have to work within whatever financial restraints are put upon them, but if you know what money you have to work with and you spend all summer unsuccessfully trying to sign players you can't afford, you've not done your job.

It's not Football Manager where you can sign players with a magic button click, but it's also not impossible, because other clubs manage it and recognise where they're short of personnel and plug the gaps. We haven't signed a first team midfielder for three years.

At some point someone has to point out that it's to the detriment of the club, not a beneficial long term strategy.

 

[VancouverWolf]

All 3 out.

Ok, fine …..let’s just do it to keep people happy.
and everything will be great.



………….until Guo appoints another employee who follows his directions.

 

[Rhoswolf]

Ok, fine …..let’s just do it to keep people happy.
and everything will be great.



………….until Guo appoints another employee who follows his directions.

If all 3 go as I suggest Guo would be gone too.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

I agree our stock was high and a few quality additions could have seen us as shock champions league contenders. An opportunity missed.

We had no chance of ever being champions league contenders without spending a few hundred million a couple of seasons in a row.

The lack of spending is what it is, they gave us the money they always budgeted to give us now we have to run at a break even. If they sold us to a sugar daddy I'd be delighted. But if they sold us to an asset stripper like Burnley got, it's be careful what you wish for.

Just the facts that we would never have broken into the top 4 but we could have been a contender around the 6th/7th spot with probably £70-100M net spend over a couple of seasons

 

[Sussex Wolf]

It's truly pathetic isn't it?

Yes, the state of the squad we have started the season with is pathetic. I guess that’s not what you meant though?

 

[Wolves4Life85]

Sure.. but; Neves, Moutinho, Neto, Jota, Patricio, Raul, etc.. we did well from our business with Jorge.

I don’t really care about the other stuff in truth, if he’s finding us value then he should be rewarded.. I just want to feel like Wolves are moving forward on the pitch and I think Fosun will handle the business side.

I get that but it's dried up anyway by the looks of things. I'd even go as far to say from when Nuno left that was it. Unless we are willing to spend is Jorge really that interested?

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Ok, fine …..let’s just do it to keep people happy.
and everything will be great.



………….until Guo appoints another employee who follows his directions.

That’s possibly true. However I don’t think the broad strategy of a sustainable football club is wrong, and hence I don’t think it’s necessarily true that Fosun can’t operate Wolves in the way Guo appears to want to. I think to be successful in this model requires some very clever and experienced people making the football decisions, because it’s too easy to make mistakes and the financial margins are not forgiving. I think Jeff got a little lucky / benefited from the influence and support of Mendes in the early years, but strip that away, and his lack of football experience leaves him exposed. I’ve said for years, even when I was fully behind Jeff and Fosun, that we needed an experienced DoF, and I still think that’s a critical gap. I have nothing against Scott, but he’s not the person we need in charge of football operations.

So when I look at the bigger picture, I think Jeff needs to move on, and needs to be replaced by an experienced football club chairman who Guo can trust, and who has a track record of operating clubs at this level and within financial constraints. Such people exist, but not within Fosun.

 

[kentish wolf]

Is it 8 games now without a win, if you include last season.
I love my club but something has to change or we will struggle big time.

 

[SmiffyWolf]

Just all remember Shi appointed Zenga .

Enough Said really

 

[DJW]

I genuinely don’t understand the flak Jeff & Sellars receive? They’re not the boss and are simply working under orders surely? You think if they wanted to sign a £30M player they’re not going to run it by Fosun first? They’ve got instructions and budgets to work to. They should in my opinion be making a stronger case to Fosun to sanction signings but to say they’re responsible is misguided.

They know the budget well in advance. If they go chasing players outside that and they don't come then who else is to blame? This isn't a failure of just one transfer window. There is time to sort it, but we may be playing catchup to get in the top half with pressure mounting with each game like today's.

 

[Rhoswolf]

They know the budget well in advance. If they go chasing players outside that and they don't come then who else is to blame? This isn't a failure of just one transfer window. There is time to sort it, but we may be playing catchup to get in the top half with pressure mounting with each game like today's.

Pipe dream, ain't going to happen.

 

[The Wolf In The North]

I get that but it's dried up anyway by the looks of things. I'd even go as far to say from when Nuno left that was it. Unless we are willing to spend is Jorge really that interested?

I think Mendes is the mate who's always happy to go out for drinks when he knows you've just been paid and got a wedge of notes in your pocket, but when you're skint he's conveniently got other plans.

But who can blame him right now, it's business, not party favours.

 

[reanswolf]

That's diversionary. No one is asking for De Bruyne or Salah, or asking for £50m players, or asking for £100m to be splashed on a half dozen star names, because by and large Wolves fans aren't mug punters flapping at their keyboards with their elbows. It has no more credence than Sellars' assertion in January that he was some white knight protecting the club from bankruptcy.

What fans want is a credible transfer strategy where a key summer window is planned for and where sensible targets are identified and secured, instead of staggering beneath the weight of an intractible model of financial value where we consistently come up short in pursuit of players we aren't inclined to afford, leaving ourselves with a bench full of inexperienced youth players in this season of all seasons.

No one is saying it's easy, but it is, quite literally, their job, and they have failed to do it before the start of the season. There's no magic money tree, they have to work within whatever financial restraints are put upon them, but if you know what money you have to work with and you spend all summer unsuccessfully trying to sign players you can't afford, you've not done your job.

It's not Football Manager where you can sign players with a magic button click, but it's also not impossible, because other clubs manage it and recognise where they're short of personnel and plug the gaps. We haven't signed a first team midfielder for three years.

At some point someone has to point out that it's to the detriment of the club, not a beneficial long term strategy.

Great post.

 

[Scallywolf]

Ok, so if we’re not going to recruit anyone, why bother to employ Sellars?

And why bother with a recruitment team!

 

[Oldvic161]

I can almost see the logic in reducing spending due to covid/world problems, BUT if the purse strings have been cut/tightened, why not bulk out the squad with freebies/journeymen so we at least have experience and options on the bench?
I also get the idea of buying prospects to make profit on, buy Neto £15m sell £30m, neves £25m sell £60, then buy that quality again so you could get at least 4 players to replace 2.
Although we’d all love a homegrown Robbie Keane type, mgw isn’t that quality, I definitely think right now, we have to sell him at the next offer from forest and at least get in batshuai or however you spell it and another to bulk us up, likes of traore semedo need to get back to the squad too.
Too early to panic but if the squad does not grow I too see a struggle on the horizon.

 

[Wednesbury Wolf]

As everyone must know by now the Chinese cannot lose face and cannot say sorry. So Fosun will not sack the incompetents in charge as that would be an admission of failure. Unless Fosun find a new owner nothings going to change.

 

[Guzeppi]

Just all remember Shi appointed Zenga .

Enough Said really

That was at least a exciting move.
Appointing Lambert was hilarious.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

The argument that even with a very limited budget, why go after players we know we can't afford is a very good one.
Reminds me of that thing Arsenal used to do when they didn't spend any money. That £40M+£1 for Suarez thing.
Let the fans think the market is impossible. Every club knows the price for players they want before they even speak to the selling club, the player agent knows it off the agent who the club uses to do most their deals (they all have one, not just us - ours is just very high profile).

 

[JOSWolf]

I don't believe they intended to replace Fabio, I think they wanted Raul and Hwang to play striker...

Well that would sum them all up if that was the case.

 

[JOSWolf]

that was the big question last season with Adama Traore, loan him out without any back up was bad enough but without any buy on clause, shear madness, made us look like mugs,

Did it with MGW as well last summer.

 

[JOSWolf]

You have inside knowledge that it was his decision?

Whose was it then? I highly doubt Bruno would have been happy loaning him out without knowing an imminent replacement was coming in.

 

[Very Proud (AKA Still Proud)]

Can’t understand people saying our first 11 is good. It plainly isn’t.

We have regressed since our first season. We have players no-one wants to buy.

Yes they are better than the groundhog Championship teams but frankly they aren’t good enough.

Our first XI is a relegation team.

 

[Glow69]

Can’t understand people saying our first 11 is good. It plainly isn’t.

We have regressed since our first season. We have players no-one wants to buy.

Yes they are better than the groundhog Championship teams but frankly they aren’t good enough.

Our first XI is a relegation team.

Is it *******s

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

We’re supposedly run differently, more like a business, I struggle to see how Sellars has achieved any of his objectives.

He needs replacing, the windows he’s overseen have been a disaster.

 

[Very Proud (AKA Still Proud)]

Is it *******s

I’m guessing your question but the answer is yes, I think? Hasn’t been good enough for the last two seasons. We’re a poor side that is going backward.

 

[Glow69]

I’m guessing your question but the answer is yes, I think? Hasn’t been good enough for the last two seasons. We’re a poor side that is going backward.

Our first team 11 are not relegation fodder.

 

[Tring Wolf]

Problem is if we don’t get the squad sorted until the end of the window, the next four games after that are Liverpool, City, West Ham and Chelsea. If we’re only on 5-6 points after those first 6 games (which is very possible), we are going to have a huge task to turn things around.

We had to be have been in a position where we could hit the ground running and take advantage of those theoretically easier fixtures.

Frustrating thing is this is of our own making. We’ve known for a few windows now where the problem areas have been.

 

[The Clock]

Our first team 11 are not relegation fodder.

Well it’s an interesting perspective given that we were the lowest scoring team that didn’t go down last season and we are the only Premier leagues team that has currently played eight games without a win.
But there is nothing wrong with being optimistic

 

[Glow69]

Well it’s an interesting perspective given that we were the lowest scoring team that didn’t go down last season and we are the only Premier leagues team that has currently played eight games without a win.
But there is nothing wrong with being optimistic

Ah okay, so then what 11 players would you like us to sign then to make us into a midtable team then?

Seeing as a collective the likes of Sa, Neto, Neves, Moutinho, Raul, Semedo, kilman, Collins etc etc are championship standard

 

[Oh Robbie Robie]

Whose was it then? I highly doubt Bruno would have been happy loaning him out without knowing an imminent replacement was coming in.

So you either know or you don't. Everything else is speculation. When you throw emotion into the equation you end up where you clearly are in your statements.

 

[Very Proud (AKA Still Proud)]

Our first team 11 are not relegation fodder.

Erm yes they are. They aren’t good enough. Nearly a quarter of a season without looking like a win.

We are poor, very poor.

 

[WolfLing]

First home game has gone to general sale.

Regardless of the opposition, that shouldn’t happen.

Shows the apathy that is starting to creep in at the moment.

 

[VancouverWolf]

That’s possibly true. However I don’t think the broad strategy of a sustainable football club is wrong, and hence I don’t think it’s necessarily true that Fosun can’t operate Wolves in the way Guo appears to want to. I think to be successful in this model requires some very clever and experienced people making the football decisions, because it’s too easy to make mistakes and the financial margins are not forgiving. I think Jeff got a little lucky / benefited from the influence and support of Mendes in the early years, but strip that away, and his lack of football experience leaves him exposed. I’ve said for years, even when I was fully behind Jeff and Fosun, that we needed an experienced DoF, and I still think that’s a critical gap. I have nothing against Scott, but he’s not the person we need in charge of football operations.

So when I look at the bigger picture, I think Jeff needs to move on, and needs to be replaced by an experienced football club chairman who Guo can trust, and who has a track record of operating clubs at this level and within financial constraints. Such people exist, but not within Fosun.

Fair enough. You are obviously more knowledgeable about Jeff and Scott’s capabilities than I am.
Now if we can just get Guo to listen to you, all will be rosy.