General Wolves News

[Quirkafleeg]

MANE MANE MANE MANE MANEEEEEE



HERE COMES THE MANE, HERE COMES THE MANE. MANE MANE MANE MANE DOLLAR DOLLAR.

 

[big mean bunny]

I get this is probably an era thing, but that truly is excellent! I can totally hear it in my head

 

[leedswolf]

Wolves set for suicide prevention focus fixture this weekend

Out of Darkness Cometh Light. Don’t let suicide take the final whistle.

www.wolves.co.uk

 

[Lupo]

Behind a paywall but a good read if you know how

Premier League Aug '27
January plans
Relegation pay cuts
Damning recruitment stat
Edwards impact

Wolves look doomed but here’s how they are already fighting back

There is growing optimism at Molineux, fuelled by Rob Edwards’ work and the emergence of a special talent, that they will be back in 2027

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Anybody want a ticket for North Bank upper for Newcastle £35. Got to meet my sister on the Sunday.

 

[Del Woppio]

I'll be with her anyway on Saturday night so I'll grab it off her then

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Vijf voor twaalf: hoe financieel wanbeleid Wolverhampton Wanderers in gevaar bracht | Voetbalzone

www.voetbalzone.nl

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

This downward spiral was exacerbated by financial inefficiency. Despite player sales, both wage costs and transfer write-downs rose, particularly for signings linked to Mendes. In the 2023/24 season, Wolves' operating costs amounted to a staggering 117 percent of revenue, the second-highest percentage in the Premier League. Since 2020/21, this figure has been above 100 percent every season, with peaks of up to 133 percent. This points to a structurally unsound financial model.

Like Wolves, Aston Villa is owned by private investors, but Wolves may have even more untapped potential. The club almost completely dominates its region, and Fosun has strong Chinese networks, offering significant opportunities in Asian markets. Yet, that potential has hardly been tapped.

Instead, Fosun early on focused on esports as a growth model. However, that yielded little. In nine years, the team competed in over one hundred tournaments, netting only $10.4 million in prize money. In football terms, that's negligible and no substitute for strong sponsorship deals.

The time, money, and attention spent on this could also have been invested in brand building, regional sponsorship, and international partnerships. Those opportunities were largely missed.

As a result, Wolves' commercial revenue has barely grown: from £28m in 2018/19 to £27m in 2023/24. Five years of virtual stagnation.

 

[Kenny]

As a result, Wolves' commercial revenue has barely grown: from £28m in 2018/19 to £27m in 2023/24. Five years of virtual stagnation.

Barely grown = reduced?

Go Team Shi.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Who could imagine esports would be an expensive distraction?!

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Who could imagine esports would be an expensive distraction?!

It's galling how obvious so many of Shi's mistakes have been.

Especially when he clearly thought he was the cleverest person in the room.

 

[SSB]

This will no doubt result in a fixture change for us:-

Crystal Palace will play Zriniski Mostar in the playoff stage of the UEFA Conference League. The first game will be away on 19th February.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Genuinely never heard of them.

(Mostar, not Palace...)

 

[Lycan]

I assume it's the same Mostar as the bridge in Bosnia. Beautiful part of the world.

 

[SSB]

Villa played them in 2023.
This is the away cage.

 

[Jack Regan]

Hospitable! What Reform will have immigrants put in (in five years time) before they deport them.

 

[Kenny]

It's galling how obvious so many of Shi's mistakes have been.

Especially when he clearly thought he was the cleverest person in the room.

The main reason Fosun got in on eSports was similar to why they purchased us.
Their Government want to dominate that field. Guo, after spending a few weeks on holiday with some nice members of that Government, is very keen to promote what they want. Hence them building eSports arenas.

Somehow Jeff is viewed as a genius on this side of things, not sure how but he seems untouchable and he remains in charge of it.
Just like the world of eSports, that confuses me a lot.

 

[pr0sl0]

There's also plenty of reporting from the time Fosun were looking for a club to buy that they felt player trading was the only part of the sport that could reliably make a profit. Hence the link-up with Mendes.

I would not be surprised if Jeff's (crude) instructions from on high were explicitly to focus on growing revenue through buying low and selling high, and similarly it's not surprising that he finally got the boot when our shoddy approach to scouting and transfers led to both a) inevitable relegation, massively reducing the value of the club as an asset in itself, and b) a squad full of trash which won't just struggle to recoup its purchase value, but will almost certainly need to be sold at a loss.

The stat that transfer write-downs have been highest over the last few seasons for players we got via Mendes is also not a shock (hi, Gonçalo!), but I do wonder what that means for the relationship between him and the club. It's not like Fosun have any idea how to get promoted from the Championship without his help, but at the same time... he clearly doesn't have the juice these days, and doesn't seem to have had it for a while. Are they really going to continue to trust him? Their entire business model rested on him and his agency for a decade, and it didn't work.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]