Our fanbase

[Puregold]

I live in Guernsey and there are a lot of Wolves here, Jersey also have a large Wolves following.

When ever I am away and wearing Wolves colours, I always come across other Wolves fans and not always from the UK.

After the so called big six, I would put Newcastle, West Ham, Wolves, Villa and Leeds in the next level of fan numbers which includes not only UK but World wide popularity.

 

[Banks's Mild]

We clearly have a decent sized fanbase and support all around the world.
This could easily be much larger locally by expanding the ground so that people that are not necessarily diehards like us but are just general football supporters/casual Wolves fans that would go either regularly or just occasionally if it was easier to get tickets. I know that if you put yourself out you will pretty much always get one but for some they either won't be that bothered or won't go unless sat all together.
You only have to look at the increases at Sunderland and Southampton and for any team in the Premier League that is a great time to do this and expand your fan base very quickly and easily.
My point being I suppose is that as good as our support is both at games and country/world wide it could be so much bigger if the ground was larger. But as things stand that doesn't appear to be happening and that will leave us behind Villa locally in terms of support but certainly better than all the others around us.

 

[Tarcisio Mifsud]

I forgot to write, that in January I was in Rome, but I had the Wolves scarf used by international members with me, when I wore it for the first time, the person at the front office desk, immediately told me -" I also support Wolves". I asked how is that, and he replied that actually his first team is Roma, which are called Lupi in Italy, and therefore he support Wolves in England. Wolves logo is very distingtive and the combination of colours are almost unquick.

 

[kiddywolves26]

See loads of Wolves tops around Telford shopping centre, infact many more than even the glory clubs.

Mind you, when me and the lad got the train into Wolves for the Brentford game, there were quite a few Wolves- based Villa fans knocking around. Concurrently, for one game last season at least a dozen Wolves fans got on at Smethwick which surprised me.

Probably just wolves fans from Kidderminster direction.

We have to change trains at smethwick Galton bridge when travelling to Wolverhampton. Easier than going into brum

 

[stever]

Our club badge is iconic and instantly recognisable. There are very few clubs in the UK, where this is the case.
Our colours are also a thing of beauty and our name Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, is steeped with history.

I'm not crying

 

[hollo]

Would we sell out a 50,000 stadium if tickets were priced much cheaper, say 20 pounds?
Many wolves fans can't make ends meet so a 40 pound ticket is prohibitive due to the cost of living and wages not keeping apace. 40 pounds would be better spent at Aldi.

 

[wwbug]

There are a lot of fans spread around the country due to our successes in the 1950's .
Children and grandchildren of supporters and a few older 1950s fan.

 

[wwbug]

Would we sell out a 50,000 stadium if tickets were priced much cheaper, say 20 pounds?
Many wolves fans can't make ends meet so a 40 pound ticket is prohibitive due to the cost of living and wages not keeping apace. 40 pounds would be better spent at Aldi.

Going on some of the matches I have seen at the Golden Palace you get better value at Aldi for £5.

 

[Lupo Italiano]

I live in Guernsey and there are a lot of Wolves here, Jersey also have a large Wolves following.

When ever I am away and wearing Wolves colours, I always come across other Wolves fans and not always from the UK.

After the so called big six, I would put Newcastle, West Ham, Wolves, Villa and Leeds in the next level of fan numbers which includes not only UK but World wide popularity.

I was born in Guernsey and was unaware that there were many Wolves fans there though I do have an Italian Facebook friend in Guernsey and noticed someone the other week commenting on his status was a Guernseyite with a Wolves logo for a profile picture.

I was only born there and have no actual family ties to the island, I support Wolves as the English side of my family are from Stourbridge!

There are plenty of Wolves fans here in Bridgnorth

 

[Prestatynwolf]

Quite a few wolves fans round Prestatyn and rhyl,see a few villa aswell but never albion

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Would we sell out a 50,000 stadium if tickets were priced much cheaper, say 20 pounds?
Many wolves fans can't make ends meet so a 40 pound ticket is prohibitive due to the cost of living and wages not keeping apace. 40 pounds would be better spent at Aldi.

So would £20. If you can't afford a £40 ticket, chances are, you shouldn't be spending your last £20 on watching football.

 

[Oh Robbie Robie]

Some good points although I'm not sure how people who have paid top dollar would react if people were getting cheap tickets so we can fill the ground.

The real test would be how much support we would get with pricing similar to it is at the moment but all around the ground if we had a much bigger capacity.

In my experience, people pay for the value they perceive they are getting. It's why you see so many "good, better, best" options in decent marketing campaigns. The upsell is important and leads to bigger margins / profits in most situations.

A bigger ground offers more opportunities for differing price points based on the experience you get. There's plenty of folks shelling out for match day experiences at Wolves. Just last weekend I met a couple of guys from North America who were over on holiday and wanted to go to a Premiership game. They said they were staying in the Cotswolds and the only game they could get tickets for, via a matchday experience, was at Wolves.

The museum experience at Wolves is now approx £195 quid per adult and is usually sold out. All other match day experiences offered by Wolves are a similar thing.

For the fan simply wanting to go to the match and nothing else, then I don't see any issues. They still can. Cheap tickets are a thing of the past and the club can simply offer tickets in packages if they really need to get rid of them. That protects individual pricing and disguises the actual amount paid.

Also, if you ever go to American stadiums, you'll see about 20 to 30 levels of pricing for a game depending on where you sit. A bigger ground simply offers more opportunity for differing price levels. The only caveat is that the team has to be doing well enough to attract fans in the first place. A difficult balancing act.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

In Malta, we have the second oldest supporters' Club of a foreign team, which was established in the 60s. The largest being that of United. Although in respect of numbers we do not match the big clubs in England and in Italy, I consider we have the biggest number in respect of what one calls "the rest". Supporters of Albions, Forest, B'gham, Leicester, Brighton, Stoke, and other small teams in London are practically non existent.

I meet Wolves fans all the time in Malta. Cab driver, jewelry shop owner, fans at Malta v Croatia...

The best one was trying to get a reservation at a highly recommended restaurant. The guy barely looked up from his reservation book before he told me "I'm sorry, we're fully booked for the rest of the..." He then looked up and saw my Wolves cap. "You're a Wolves fan? So am I and my uncle, I can fit you in at 9pm tomorrow".

 

[WickedWolfie]

So would £20. If you can't afford a £40 ticket, chances are, you shouldn't be spending your last £20 on watching football.

Agreed. It may sound harsh but attending football, particularly PL football, is a nice to have luxury, not a life essential. I truly hope that it is a luxury that all Wolves fans can afford.

 

[wolvesjoe]

With the arrival of Sky and international TV/streaming deals it's becoming increasingly hard question to answer. As we regularly get 99% capacity/attendance the club haven't had to think about actually selling match day tickets, even with a 50k ground cheap tickets, sales promotions, direct marketing there is a large enough geographical area to sell the extra 8-10k tickets over and above what I consider our base level (35k plus 5k away).

A 50k ground would not be full every week for the Fulham or Southampton type games but for Liverpool, City, Villa, Arsenal, Spurs, United type games even a 50 ground would be a sell out.

Personally, I think a 45k ground is a good enough. It protects the downside a bit, but gives a bit more financial strength as long as we stay in the prem.

Agree But 45k is also a great size for atmosphere

 

[Adrian_Monk]

I live in Reigate, don't have a season ticket but I am a member, and taking away the start of the season where I was studying so couldn't really take the time away to travel to games, I've managed to get tickets for most home games since the world cup break. Been to one away game and around eight or nine home in total.

I spend a lot of time at my parents in Willenhall now and will usually travel up during the week and then walk up to Molineux on matchdays. I walk along the Willenhall Road up to Horsley Fields, and then if I'm running late pick up a Beryl bike and cycle along the canal up to where the canal club used to be, then over the ring road and then past the police down towards ASDA.

One thing I've noticed, is how few Wolves fans I see coming through/from Willenhall. This is extra surprising when you consider that the keyway through to the M6 would require coming in along there, and yet all I see is away coaches. It's a similar thing if I take a detour along the Wednesfield or Bilston Road. I never see any Wolves shirts from people getting the bus and rarely ever see Wolves shirts in cars. And traffic is really clear - it used to take me forever to drive in from Willenhall on matchday, nowadays it's just normal.

Clearly fans are still coming to the stadium, so I wonder firstly whether my anecdotal observations are reflected in real terms, and if so what the shift in demographic now looks like.

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

We always have this discussion about how big a ground we could regularly fill in the top flight. I think 40,000 is adequate others think 50,000.

Villa in terms of support IMO are 20% bigger than us, and I think we are 10% bigger than Blues and Albion and Stoke. I wouldn’t like to separate the potential support size of Wolves , Forest, Derby and Leicester.

We certainly have the catchment area with the 4 Black Country boroughs totalling over a million people plus another half a million around Staffs and Shropshire where we are the local club - Cannock, Stafford, Telford predominantly but lots of smaller towns and villages. And also a sizeable chunk of support from Worcs and Gloucs.

Being out of the top flight for so long really damaged us at the expense locally of Albion, but now you feel the pendulum is swinging back strongly.

I’d agree with your assessment of the relative fan bases and also your assessment of the optimum capacity for Molineux

 

[reanswolf]

I live in Reigate, don't have a season ticket but I am a member, and taking away the start of the season where I was studying so couldn't really take the time away to travel to games, I've managed to get tickets for most home games since the world cup break. Been to one away game and around eight or nine home in total.

I spend a lot of time at my parents in Willenhall now and will usually travel up during the week and then walk up to Molineux on matchdays. I walk along the Willenhall Road up to Horsley Fields, and then if I'm running late pick up a Beryl bike and cycle along the canal up to where the canal club used to be, then over the ring road and then past the police down towards ASDA.

One thing I've noticed, is how few Wolves fans I see coming through/from Willenhall. This is extra surprising when you consider that the keyway through to the M6 would require coming in along there, and yet all I see is away coaches. It's a similar thing if I take a detour along the Wednesfield or Bilston Road. I never see any Wolves shirts from people getting the bus and rarely ever see Wolves shirts in cars. And traffic is really clear - it used to take me forever to drive in from Willenhall on matchday, nowadays it's just normal.

Clearly fans are still coming to the stadium, so I wonder firstly whether my anecdotal observations are reflected in real terms, and if so what the shift in demographic now looks like.

Interesting observation, it wouldn’t really surprise me if the bulk of our local support now comes from the suburbs and more affluent western side and beyond.