Jeff Shi - Interview in The Athletic

[MasWolf]

So Spiers has just tweeted about an interview with Jeff Shi he's done for The Athletic where he talks about the transfer window, amongst other things. Unfortunately I don't have a subscription so can't read it. Can anyone who does sum up what he says please?

Jeff Shi interview: His view of Wolves' summer transfer window, why it was time to move on from Nuno and esports

Despite three losses out of three to start this season, Wolves' executive chairman Jeff Shi is incredibly positive about the club's future

theathletic.com

 

[MasWolf]

Just saw this would be great for someone to post !

Yes, I didn't expect him to make any statements so soon, especially not through official Wolves channels!

 

[DanishWolf]

““I think it’s a good window “Of course we can do better, but if you compare the squad to the end of last season, I think we’ve done a good job"

He lost me right there..

Oh and then he basically throws Lage under the bus: " We could easily have bought four or five players, but Bruno had the say on who he did or didn’t want."
I find it extremely difficult to believe Lage wants to go into the season with 3 midfielders..
Also Shi contradicts himself a bit because he states that he understands Lage wanting 3-4 players but then states "the market has been very difficult.."

 

[MasWolf]

““I think it’s a good window “Of course we can do better, but if you compare the squad to the end of last season, I think we’ve done a good job"

He lost me right there..

Oh and then he basically throws Lage under the bus: " We could easily have bought four or five players, but Bruno had the say on who he did or didn’t want."
I find it extremely difficult to believe Lage wants to go into the season with 3 midfielders..
Also Shi contradicts himself a bit because he states that he understands Lage wanting 3-4 players but then states "the market has been very difficult.."

I take from this that Shi and co. have offered Lage utter dross e.g. Keifer Moore and he's gone back and said he wants actual quality, not just bodies to make up numbers.

 

[Wolf316]

“For example, we wanted a top centre-back, but if we couldn’t find a deal for one better than Boly, Mosquera, Conor Coady, Max Kilman or Romain Saiss, why sign them? The truth is, it’s hard to buy one ‘top’ player, convincing a player to come, convincing a club to let the player come.”

Botman a top centre back agreed to come but you wouldn’t pay the money Jeff.

Article is a load of everything is great nonsense.

 

[DanishWolf]

I take from this that Shi and co. have offered Lage utter dross e.g. Keifer Moore and he's gone back and said he wants actual quality, not just bodies to make up numbers.

Yeah, that could well be it. Claims they looked at 30 players, and Lage turned down 2/3 of them...
Well, that leaves 10 players, he would've liked...

 

[jonesy]

If ffp wasn’t the problem then you wonder why they wouldn’t have just forked out the money for botman ala Dias which is now worth 100mil

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Sounds pathetic .

 

[GavW]

Says Bruno was offered 20 or 30 players but didn't think two thirds of them were better than he had. Not a great advertisement for the scouting team that.

Says the squad is 20 seniors and Bruno wanted 22.

Says it's a good window not a great one.

Says the targets on the last day weren't the top targets that they had been trying for months but would have helped the squad.

Looks forward to a window where we don't have to spend 50 or 100m so the money can be used on the Steve Bull stand

 

[Bacon Sandwich]

Jeff Shi conveniently forgetting that players get older/suffer injuries.

Are you telling me that Moutinho now is as good as he was two years ago? Class may be permanent but age is inevitable

Willy Boly? Looking injury prone and nowhere near the player he was.

Utter J Arthur, Jeff...

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

As I always say, actions not words please.

No interest in reading about people writing their own reviews.

 

[Wolf Pack leader]

Jeff Shi interview: His view of Wolves' summer transfer window, why it was time to move on from Nuno and esports

Despite three losses out of three to start this season, Wolves' executive chairman Jeff Shi is incredibly positive about the club's future

theathletic.com

Hopefully it works

 

[WickedWolfie]

““I think it’s a good window “Of course we can do better, but if you compare the squad to the end of last season, I think we’ve done a good job"

He lost me right there..

Oh and then he basically throws Lage under the bus: " We could easily have bought four or five players, but Bruno had the say on who he did or didn’t want."
I find it extremely difficult to believe Lage wants to go into the season with 3 midfielders..
Also Shi contradicts himself a bit because he states that he understands Lage wanting 3-4 players but then states "the market has been very difficult.."

Hmmmm....

Good spot re the contradiction. "Bruno had the say" huh.... Is that like Nuno liking a small squad (just like he has gone for at Spuds, NOT)....

If that is the best that he can come out with about the transfer window he would have been better, in my view, to just keep quiet.

If that is Shi's justification the word "pathetic" comes to mind. The scent of male bovine excrement reeks....

Much of the rest of the article was quite positive albeit much of it about visions and aspirations.

 

[Mutchy]

Just to make this absolutely clear. C&P of an article in the way that has been requested on this thread, and subsequently supplied, is a clear infringement of copyright. You cannot, and must not, to do that here.

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

I really rate the commercial expansion the club is undergoing and think that whoever is responsible is doing a good job.

I do not rate this interview as a whole. In my entirely subjective opinion, it's a clear attempt to curry favour with fans by rewriting what happened in the last month. The problem is that I don't really believe Scott Sellars is doing a good job because I'm told he is. I believe he is doing a bad job because of the palpable evidence infront of my eyes.

I dislike attempts to tell me what to think or feel. The evidence in front of me is sufficient for me to reach my own conclusions.

Interesting that he feels sufficiently pressured so as to instigate this interview.

As always, results dictate everything.

If we win a few, everyone is happy.

If we lose our seventh league match in a row, this 'good' transfer window is brought more into question.

We are looking for a window in which we don't spend 50/100 million so we can invest in the Steve Bull stand? Well....we've just had 5 of them in a row!

I preach actions not words because, otherwise, idiots like me pore over the transcript and find some inconsistencies.

Pivotal few months for Wolves. We need to start winning games.

 

[optimuswolf]

Thanks for sharing. It sounds quite positive, and i like the long term approach.

But then you consider the fact that we're one injury from crisis in midfield and we're hitting fans with price hikes that don't even make any real difference to the finances. These aren't good moves by the club - having a long term strategy is great but you have to execute....

 

[Wolf in the sun]

when was the last time he wasnt happy with the business in the transfer window,,,,,honestly jeff...you are really losing the fans here and are obv completely ignoring the fans concerned and not addressing them

if jimenez gets injured then who plays there ? it was the problem last year and still is the problem..well one of them

do you know what i cant even be bothered to finish what i am typing...just ****ed off with him and his bs..there is no point even talking about it..we will be ignored anyway

this was the chance to listen and respond to us.....logging off doe the day !!

 

[AndyWolves]

Was anything said about FFP?

 

[DanishWolf]

What annoys me mostly by the article is, that not only is their absolutely no recognition, that this was a very poor window and that we're in major trouble if 1-2 of our midfielders gets injured.
There's also this joyful expectation, that we should be almost grateful, that they worked so hard to get players in.
If I work really hard at my job, but I do it really bad, I end up getting the sack, not applause.

And yes I do appreciate that its not that easy to get players in, at that the market is difficult and all that. But I also noticed that Shi said prices has to be "fair". Could it be, that he reads the market wrong and thats why we ended up with none of our supposed 30 targets(10 of which Lage would've liked)?

 

[DanishWolf]

Was anything said about FFP?

Yes, not a problem according to Shi.

 

[VictorPyrrhic]

Conclusion: team performance is important but only to a certain extent in the short-term [premier league status whilst entertaining] and available resources are being used for brand exposure in the hope/calculated risk [you choose] that in x years the revenue will increase by y% [no mention of if that will be used to develop the team and aim for trophies].

Personally, it's all rather hollow again, 'good' window etc... i much prefer accountable, traceable and measurable statements of fact or intent.

 

[Nige100]

Does he at all mention why when we didn’t get any of the deadline day targets he still let go one of our other fit CM’s go on loan?

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Blaming Bruno for our lack of incomings. You have to laugh

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

presume he will do an interview before our next home game?

 

[groundhogwolf]

For me it comes down to TRUST, without doubt Jeff and Fosun see the potential of using the logo to create a brand, and we live in a society full of badges and labels, the difficulty for us is we want to be at the top now, but even Nuno finishing 7th twice was not sustainable, we still need a more solid foundation to the club. I remember the first game against Middlesbrough who at the time were favourites for promotion, that was the beginning of where we are now, Fosun have delivered and long term they will establish us as a solid football club. For all my short term disappointments I have no reason not to TRUST the group of people running the Wolves

 

[Wolf in the sun]

Blaming Bruno for our lack of incomings. You have to laugh

maybe we could do proper research and offer him the upgrades/top targets he asked for...just a thought..

 

[Dr Wolfenstein]

Not many PL club chairmen would (or could) speak at such length & be as open (& hopefully honest) on that number of aspects of the club's present & future. Clearly initial expectations have been reined in, but they do seem to be building a wider extracurricular support network for possible future expansion. So there still seems to be interest in continuing pursuance of a long term strategy, but a more realistic management of expectations.

If Fosun were no longer interested, Shi could have spun it with more brevity & a lot less detail.

Let's hope the 200 people beavering away on our behalf in China register more effectively than Vinnie Clark & Scott Sellars. And hopefully they don't flip priorities so that Wolves is just a part of something, rather than the driving force, getting lost in a fog of esports, vague feeder/loan club associations & dodgy agent-led transfer merry go rounds.

We seem to have gone from Mendes offering us something that we didn't know we wanted, to having a manager who creates profiles rather than pursues specific targets, relying on others to track down candidates who meet his criteria. We'll need a few windows to see if this is a more effective approach. Hopefully defenestration does not beckon.

 

[ANONYMOUS☆WOLF]

I wonder what Bruno will make of shi's comments.........

 

[steve vena]

Sorry Jeff but you are clueless, snidey, and full of ****!

 

[Rangiora Wolf]

If he was meant to redeem himself with this, it's gone the same way as Prince Andrew's interview I'm afraid. It's made it worse and an insult to Bruno

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

I’m slightly worried about this esports. It seems to be quickly becoming the priority and he’s kind of talked down about the fans here again, saying we have ‘200,000 in England’ who support Wolves but ‘10 million who follow the badge’ because of esports.

Does anyone know what they’re paying to buy these teams they’re taking over?

In terms of numbers of ‘supporters’ and exposure they’re blowing us out the water.

We always had the fact the Premier League money would make us Fosun’s priority but how long can that last to esports?

I don’t know enough about it so I’m just asking questions but ‘Wolves’ becoming the best in that area seems a priority for them and it’s insane the numbers it’s doing for them. With the way esports is rising, how far can this go?

I accept not many on here will know about the Chinese esports scene but it does seem crazy

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

JS may be correct on Bruno having the final say,but he doesnt expand on that does he ?
Bruno may have had 20 players on a list of possibles, and he pruned that down to say 5/6 of the calibre required
Bruno doesnt have the final say on finance though,so it doesnt matter a jot who he wants if we wont pay the asking price
Classic deflection tactics by Shi im afraid,and its wearing thin

 

[Scallywolf]

maybe we could do proper research and offer him the upgrades/top targets he asked for...just a thought..

That research should have started on 1st September and names should be in Jeffs hands at 12.01am on 1st January 2022!

No excuses!!!!

 

[jonesy]

The aim from last window was to improve the spine of the team in the summer .................... we didn’t sign one quality addition to any part of the spine so yes it was a bad window!! If you take that interview at face value he says all the right things however Bruno says he needed 4 and trusted the chairman at the time to get that while a short 2 weeks later the chairman blames Bruno for not acting and wanting to sign the targets (4 or 5 we could have signed in his own words) so who’s lying ? It stinks as a big contradiction from start to finish. If that was Nuno he would have walked after reading that!!

As someone wrote above words meaning nothing as a chairman and actions speak louder than words!!

 

[Scallywolf]

Sorry Jeff but you are clueless, snidey, and full of ****!

I’d keep off the alcohol so early in the morning if I was you!

 

[AndyWolves]

I kinda feared the chiefs would think this was a good window.

If they don't realise that it wasn't, then we might end up in a bit of trouble.

 

[Bacon Sandwich]

I’m slightly worried about this esports. It seems to be quickly becoming the priority and he’s kind of talked down about the fans here again, saying we have ‘200,000 in England’ who support Wolves but ‘10 million who follow the badge’ because of esports.

Does anyone know what they’re paying to buy these teams they’re taking over?

In terms of numbers of ‘supporters’ and exposure they’re blowing us out the water.

We always had the fact the Premier League money would make us Fosun’s priority but how long can that last to esports?

I don’t know enough about it so I’m just asking questions but ‘Wolves’ becoming the best in that area seems a priority for them and it’s insane the numbers it’s doing for them. With the way esports is rising, how far can this go?

I accept not many on here will know about the Chinese esports scene but it does seem crazy

E-sports teams obviously cost a fraction of 'real' teams. I haven't time to look them up now, but if you check the figures for people watching the final of Fortnite online it was absolutely huge. And I'm fairly certain that in the US - as far back as 2019 - more people watched the final of some shoot-em-up online than watched the Super Bowl

 

[bennymacca]

Just to make this absolutely clear. C&P of an article in the way that has been requested on this thread, and subsequently supplied, is a clear infringement of copyright. You cannot, and must not, to do that here.

I got a free 12 months of The Athletic with BT mobile. There are some offers out there...

 

[Wolf316]

I’d keep off the alcohol so early in the morning if I was you!

Not wrong though is he.

 

[sedgwolf1980]

Used to be a fan of Jeff’s but I’m now beginning to think he is completely out of his depth.