General Wolves News

[Kenny]

Listened to it in the car earlier. Was alright, tbf. Mainly an introduction Podcast and both Spiers and Oatley spoke about how they became Wolves fans, their first games etc - and then went on to discuss the potential transfers. Key for me it was only half an hour, which is ideal. So many podcasts try and stretch their material over an hour and it just gets lost. Not a bad start.

Not OTT bantz? Actual sensible chat?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Oatley doesn't do bantz

 

[The Bear]

Football Ramble podcast from 21st Jan has a section looking at Traore and Wolves.

"Today we begin with Wolves’ flying winger Adama Traoré and his hugely impressive season thus far. We discuss how his all-round game has matured since leaving Barcelona and establishing himself in England, as well as praising Wolves for their continued success."

https://play.acast.com/s/footballramble

2nd one down on there.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Temporary stand between South Bank and Steve Bull this summer. Main redevelopment on hold

 

[Deano]

Not sure what minor work they'll be doing on the Steve Bull but i'd say that stand needs rebuilding pretty urgently. It's awful.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

We can’t take a two year hit on attendances to do it at the moment. I reckon they will re-visit doing the South Bank expansion first to get round that, but for now they want to invest in the team instead.

 

[Deano]

We can’t take a two year hit on attendances to do it at the moment. I reckon they will re-visit doing the South Bank expansion first to get round that, but for now they want to invest in the team instead.

There's never a good time to do it though, we'll have to take the hit at some point. The Steve Bull is far more pressing than the South Bank.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Also looks like they have reiterated that we are staying put at Molineux which is good news.

 

[Kenny]

Wolverhampton Wanderers are considering adding another temporary stand at Molineux as part of plans which could be in place for the start of next season.
They are weighing up more than 10 short-term options to improve what’s on offer for fans, including adding seats and updating facilities such as the club’s corporate areas.
Filling in the corner between the South Bank and the Steve Bull Stand with temporary seats, similar to the Graham Hughes Stand in the adjacent corner, is a likely option.
The Athletic understands the masterplan to transform Molineux into a huge stadium of around 50,000 seats remains in place but is on hold for now.

PWolves fall behind clubs such as Newcastle United (52,305-capacity) and West Ham United (60,000) in terms of generating match-day income and are now adopting a cautious approach to gradually improving and expanding Molineux from its 31,700 capacity, rather than making a huge outlay on a massive redevelopment which would not see a financial return for many years.
Their arena of 130 years has been a sell-out in home areas for every match since Nuno Espirito Santo’s team won promotion back to the Premier League and, as revealed by The Athletic earlier this month, the club now has season-ticket waiting list of 10,000 fans.
Knocking down and rebuilding the dated Steve Bull Stand, which was constructed in 1979, would take two years and, with nowhere to house the displaced fans from it on a temporary basis, the hit to attendances would be considered too great.
It would also come at a huge financial cost and wouldn’t necessarily lead to a quick return on that investment. Instead, spending will largely be focused on improving the playing squad.
It is thought that leaving the ground for any period of time is not being considered. Nor is a permanent move away from Molineux.
However, the club is looking for a new home for its under-23 games. Telford United’s New Bucks Head ground is no longer fit for purpose, with matches having been postponed there for the past few months owing to an unplayable pitch.
Telford and the club’s Compton Park training ground aren’t thought to be long-term options. Instead, Wolves could look elsewhere in the city, such as the CKW Stadium in the Castlecroft area of Wolverhampton, where their women’s team play, as a short-term move while they source an area in the city to either build a permanent small stadium or use another facility.
The majority of the short-term options for Molineux — where Wolves don’t have enough space to satisfy demand — revolve around the Steve Bull Stand.
Bosses are looking at how to reconfigure that stand to add more seats and rows, improve the corporate offering and also possibly increase the number of turnstiles. Fans often queue for more than 30 minutes to get in.
They would also like to permanently house away supporters in the corner between the Steve Bull and Stan Cullis stands, but again the former would need reconfiguring in terms of access to the stand and also segregation.
Wolves have been working with architects and business consultants on their most viable and profitable options.
Chairman Jeff Shi and marketing boss Russell Jones, who have taken on ex-managing director Laurie Dalrymple’s responsibilities, will meet next month. Shi is set to make a final decision on what will happen this summer in time for next season.
While Shi has publicly floated the idea of leaving Molineux, it’s understood the club has no plan to build a new home and wants to remain as the heartbeat of their city. They are working closely with council and university chiefs on how best to redevelop the area around the stadium, which could include replacing the subway that links the city and Molineux with a new walkway. Discussions over new hotels and restaurants have been ongoing for some time.
The new short-term improvements mark a change of approach from Wolves, who only last May unveiled an exciting vision of what the stadium may look like in the future.
A year ago, the hope was that work would start on permanently redeveloping the Steve Bull Stand in the summer of 2020. The South Bank would then be doubled into a huge, 10,000-capacity, one-tier stand from 2022.
However, Wolves’ owners Fosun’s desire to make the stadium far more profitable without lengthy work that would temporarily reduce the capacity have led to a new strategy.


From Tim in the Athletic

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

There's never a good time to do it though, we'll have to take the hit at some point. The Steve Bull is far more pressing than the South Bank.

If you put 6k of extra capacity on the South Bank (which you can do without closing it) then the capacity hit from Steve Bull being down is minimised. It’s the logical way round to do it.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Not sure what minor work they'll be doing on the Steve Bull but i'd say that stand needs rebuilding pretty urgently. It's awful.

Inside it's absolutely rubbish (feels every bit like a 40 year old stand) but the most pressing issue is the queuing. It's actually getting dangerous now.

Shame the uni bought the Feathers for no reason at all and so it just sits there in the way. If we could have that and knock it down it would provide at least some space and relief.

 

[Derby Wolf]

Inside it's absolutely rubbish (feels every bit like a 40 year old stand) but the most pressing issue is the queuing. It's actually getting dangerous now.

Shame the uni bought the Feathers for no reason at all and so it just sits there in the way. If we could have that and knock it down it would provide at least some space and relief.

Trying to get down to the North Bank is a nightmare too.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Trying to get down to the North Bank is a nightmare too.

Yeah, that's the boat we're in. We don't even go down particularly late but it's still awful. Having to climb over the mini-wall to the former pub now so we can get round and if it's been raining it's properly treacherous.

It's hard to reconfigure something that's that old, I understand that. And I'm no architect or engineer so I don't have the answers.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

You have to use the feathers courtyard, cross the road, grass verge and jump off a low wall to get round the queue. Really bad bottleneck. And then you get to the North Bank and it takes about a minute to get in. So much better by comparison

 

[Jinky]

I reckon I'm in the top 1500 of the 10,000 waiting list for season tickets, but even with the addition of a new temporary stand, they'll be some way off chipping away at that ST waiting list.

Looks like we'll all be sitting and waiting for a few more years yet!

 

[Derby Wolf]

Yeah, that's the boat we're in. We don't even go down particularly late but it's still awful. Having to climb over the mini-wall to the former pub now so we can get round and if it's been raining it's properly treacherous.

It's hard to reconfigure something that's that old, I understand that. And I'm no architect or engineer so I don't have the answers.

I've long since thought if there was an evacuation of the Steve Bull there would be a disaster. The stadium pre-dates Hillsborough and the Taylor Report and when you're in there there is only exits at far end so you'd have thousands of panicked people all moving in the same direction, they can't even be filtered downstairs.

 

[Parkins left foot]

I've long since thought if there was an evacuation of the Steve Bull there would be a disaster. The stadium pre-dates Hillsborough and the Taylor Report and when you're in there there is only exits at far end so you'd have thousands of panicked people all moving in the same direction, they can't even be filtered downstairs.

An evacuation from any stand would be difficult quickly - the BW is nowhere near as difficult to get in, but if you want everyone out in a hurry from the upper tier then all are using the same steps onto the concourse (whether from above or below them) which creates a massive bottleneck then you all have to go one way to the stairs
to get out. Not a problem without emergencies as a fair number will have left before the end, but otherwise?

 

[playtheace]

Problem with the John Ireland is that a large % of folks turn up 20 - 25 mins to kick off and it causes those huge queues.
Ive found if you come 10 minutes earlier (like 35 minutes before kick off) its more managable.
I think they could half build it (like they did the North Bank) but they wouldnt have the corporate facilities in that stand then and thats probaly
why they wont.

OH....and sticking away fans in the North Bank permanently will kill the atmosphere.

 

[Deano]

Problem with the John Ireland is that a large % of folks turn up 20 - 25 mins to kick off and it causes those huge queues.
Ive found if you come 10 minutes earlier (like 35 minutes before kick off) its more managable.
I think they could half build it (like they did the North Bank) but they wouldnt have the corporate facilities in that stand then and thats probaly
why they wont.

OH....and sticking away fans in the North Bank permanently will kill the atmosphere.

People would be more inclined to get to the ground earlier if it wasn't nearly £5 for a bottle of warm Carling.

 

[Derby Wolf]

An evacuation from any stand would be difficult quickly - the BW is nowhere near as difficult to get in, but if you want everyone out in a hurry from the upper tier then all are using the same steps onto the concourse (whether from above or below them) which creates a massive bottleneck then you all have to go one way to the stairs
to get out. Not a problem without emergencies as a fair number will have left before the end, but otherwise?

Maybe so, but there are at least two stairwells in the BW, no? So you'd have fewer people on either stairwell, in the SB once on the concourse everybody has to move in the same direction to the fire exits at the far right by the South Bank. Anyway, it's a hypothetical I'd rather not find out.