General Wolves News

[prawnking]

I know clubs don't always get who they want, but if the last day targets weren't the top targets... Then what happened to the top targets?

 

[Jinky]

“(Bruno) said he wanted three or four top players, and he’s right. From a coach’s view, if he has those three or four top players, something special can happen. He’s spot on, I totally agree with that and I appreciate the ambition. But the market has been very difficult to acquire top players"

So how about you back your new man? You literally hired the guy a month ago. He has come in, had an impact and performed well in his job - so help the guy by giving him players that improve his squad. If "something special can happen" - how about you help him out and make "something special" happen?

“Ask any club in the Premier League can they sign three or four top players in a window. Only a few can, especially this summer.

Actually Jeff, most PL clubs did more business than us.

“We could have spent money on a player, the budget wasn’t an issue, albeit we can’t spend like Manchester City or Chelsea. We could easily have bought four or five players, but Bruno had the say on who he did or didn’t want.

So we could "easily have bought four or five players" - why didn't we then? The budget was there but we refused to budge on an extra £5m that would have secured the Botman signing, for example? Why? The Bruno line throws him under the bus.

“It’s not all about the budget, it’s about finding top players to come here, which isn’t easy. You need the player to be top quality, to want to move, the club (he’d be leaving) to want to sell and the fee to be more or less fair.

“Through the whole window, we were working collaboratively with Bruno every single day, trying 20 or 30 targets overall, but the coach was unsure about two-thirds of them, he didn’t think they were better than (what was already in) our squad.

These comments, in particular, really don't sit well with me. Shi comes across like a typical businessman who can never admit he's in the wrong - and for someone at the very top and in charge - that isn't good news for anyone. I'm not happy with him throwing Bruno under the bus like this. Not one bit. And even if Bruno said "no" to 20 targets - what happened to the other 10? These comments from Shi are disgusting.

“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.”

That is your job and that of your recruitment 'team'. If you're unable to do it, get someone in who can.

“Bruno is OK, he understands how difficult it is, but from outside people might try to use his nice, honest quotes to attack us a bit,” he says. “I don’t want to correct (the fans), but inside the club we’re totally OK and the chemistry with the coach is great, we’re really happy with him.

More patronising stuff from, Jeff. "Nice, honest quotes". No, Jeff - we have three senior midfielders going in to a season in the Premier League, you clown.

“He was with us throughout the process; on deadline night, he was here with me and we jointly made the decision that we were done.

I suspect you're painting a slightly different picture to the reality here, Jeff. Bruno may well have been there - but he wouldn't have been happy with no more players coming in. He'd have had no choice but to accept it when you ran out of ideas/options.

“We have 20 senior players right now. He maybe wanted 22, but the squad is still a very good one.

We have 20 senior players do we?

“People ask why did Wolves leave all their targets until the final day…it’s not the truth. All the targets on the last day weren’t totally ideal targets. We’d been working for several months on ideal top targets.

So you admit we were scrambling around for players on the last day who "weren't totally ideal targets". Good to know.

“If the opportunity came (on the last day), the players we tried to sign could help. All the ideal targets were signed or went before the last day, but we worked until the last minute to try and strengthen the squad. It’s a positive sign to show our work spirit, not the opposite. We’re totally OK not signing anyone on the last day.”

Why were they already signed elsewhere or went before the last day? Why didn't we sign them? This is a direct contradiction to your line that "other clubs couldn't do business". You're chatting shit, Jeff.

“I think it’s a good window,”

Deluded. Absolutely deluded. I am seriously worried about the future if he thinks this was a good window. He's deluded.

“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. The squad is larger, we have more fit players and we have players who are improving — look at Kilman. I can’t say it’s the best window, but it was good.

The squad isn't larger. It's smaller. We don't have more fit players. Yes, Kilman is improving - that's thanks to the manager.


I actually can't even be arsed to get in to the stadium and esports stuff, because I'd be here all day and no one needs to read that. But I disagree with almost everything the bloke has said. Fair play to him for doing the interview with Tim - but it's shone a dimmer light on him and Fosun for me, at least. If his interview appeases other sections of the fanbase, fair enough. But I can't stand the bloke, I don't trust him and I think - on the football side of things at least - I am extremely worried about where we are going. I actually think Shi is using the club and our "brand" for gains in other areas, but actually doesn't care too much about the core fanbase at all.

 

[WsWolf]

Jeff saying 'but Bruno was unsure of two thirds' of their '20 to 30 targets' looks a bit like throwing him under the bus

Making our Scouting department look hopeless was my first thought. Why are we identifying targets who aren't good enough to play for us?

 

[The Bear]

It sounds like he's obsessed with commercial growth and self sustainability more than actual results on the pitch.

Lack of signings in key areas has left us in a precarious position, if he genuinely doesn't want to finish 13th as he says.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Not remotely similar

Bruno's comment didn't come across as particularly loaded to me. It also came before the window ended, Jeff is punching down to deflect blame after the event here

Both pushing blame onto the other if you want to read them that way, both indicating a collaberative approach by making suggestions of the others involvement in the process if you wish to read it that way.

A couple of isolated comments from either party don't really paint much of a picture one way or another for me, maybe they're raging at one another for blocking each others desired players or maybe they're standing together raging at the targets who let them down, maybe they're both cowering in a secure room in Molineux somewhere hiding from the angry mob if they see themselves to blame?

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I know clubs don't always get who they want, but if the last day targets weren't the top targets... Then what happened to the top targets?

They said no presumably? Hence dropping down the list to lesser interests at the end of the window.

 

[prawnking]

Both pushing blame onto the other if you want to read them that way, both indicating a collaberative approach by making suggestions of the others involvement in the process if you wish to read it that way.

Again, they're not fair quotes to compare in the first place regarding blame, as Bruno's comes before anything happened that needs blame apportioning to - ie the end of the window and the failure to strengthen our first XI CBs and CM

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Making our Scouting department look hopeless was my first thought. Why are we identifying targets who aren't good enough to play for us?

You're never going to pinpoint perfect targets every time are you? If they see a player that catches their eye he'll get noted and followed for a while, then perhaps presented as an option to sign somewhere down the line, maybe even for a different manager to the incumbent when the process started. I don't see any surprise that a provisional list is heavily filtered down when discussions around signings start to become more serious.

No different to someone looking for a new house or a car, you might shortlist 20-30 flicking through Rightmove or Autotrader, then you knock it down to 10 or so that you want to go and have a look at, maybe 5 of those tempt you into a bit of loose negotiation and eventually you settle on one to make an offer for.

 

[prawnking]

They said no presumably? Hence dropping down the list to lesser interests at the end of the window.

Delving deeper in this, why would all our top targets bomb? We're a decently established and relatively successful PL club, are we aiming too high or are we offering too little? Are top players not excited by our e-sports development?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I can sort of take not signing a CH (obviously I wanted one). If Kilman's form continues and Mosquera is further down the line than we first anticipated then it's kind of ok for now.

Having three central midfielders is negligent though.

Once again it's bad PR, so much stuff doesn't add up.

Oh and Tim should get his tongue out of Jeff's arse, him bothering to give you a ring doesn't mean you have to write like that.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Again, they're not fair quotes to compare in the first place regarding blame, as Bruno's comes before anything happened that needs blame apportioning to - ie the end of the window and the failure to strengthen our first XI CBs and CM

Bruno set his stall out early then, 'he knows what I want' could easily be construed as someone setting their colleague up for blame if those targets don't arrive, equally can be seen as someone saying they've done their bit and happy to see how it plays out.

There's not enough there to solidly say Bruno blames Shi, or vice versa, or both.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Delving deeper in this, why would all our top targets bomb? We're a decently established and relatively successful PL club, are we aiming too high or are we offering too little? Are top players not excited by our e-sports development?

Who knows? People have doubts about all sorts of things.

 

[Dinowolf]

I can sort of take not signing a CH (obviously I wanted one). If Kilman's form continues and Mosquera is further down the line than we first anticipated then it's kind of ok for now.

Having three central midfielders is negligent though.

Once again it's bad PR, so much stuff doesn't add up.

Oh and Tim should get his tongue out of Jeff's arse, him bothering to give you a ring doesn't mean you have to write like that.

This

 

[Sniffer]

Who wants us to sign 4/5 players if they aren't right for us? We've fucked up by not getting another midfielder and we all know it. Apart from that there is an argument that our squad options this season are equivalent or better than last. Personally I'm still not convinced on the change of keeper but some will think otherwise.

Anyone expecting that an interview with Jeff will see him admit that the window was a disaster, our recruitment team isn't fit for purpose and that he should fall on his sword and walk away from the job was always going to be disappointed.

 

[YoungWolf]

Yep, having only three senior centre midfielders is a farce, a position we clearly needed a different type of player in and when we also had Vitinha and Gibbs-White (not that we used them much) last season as younger back ups which are no longer here.

 

[AndyWolves]

Does it really matter whose fuck up we think it is? They're all culpable, trying to figure it out based on media statements does seem like we'll be getting the full picture.

I remember when we used to think Thelwell was useless....

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The chairman is also passionate in his defence of his senior management team of Scott Sellars (technical director) and his three general managers; Matt Wild (football operations), Vinny Clark (commercial operations) and Russell Jones (marketing and commercial growth). Clark in particular has become a target for overseeing ticket price rises in the summer. Shi justifies it by saying key revenue streams needed to increase.

No, they didn't. We were already turning a profit, a profit we don't spend.

Our ticket prices are a fucking disgrace.

 

[Tony Towner]

Does it really matter whose fuck up we think it is? They're all culpable, trying to figure it out based on media statements does seem like we'll be getting the full picture.

I remember when we used to think Thelwell was useless....

If you aren't interested in accountability, then no it doesn't

 

[AndyWolves]

If you aren't interested in accountability, then no it doesn't

I am, I just don't think we have enough information to determine who is accountable at a granular level.

 

[prawnking]

I am, I just don't think we have enough information to determine who is accountable at a granular level.

We probably never will do, at least not for years. Right now we can have opinions on what people at the club say and what they appear to do though