January 2022 Transfer Thread

[big mean bunny]

The idea that a players number of touches demonstrates effectiveness baffles me

It's contextual in the sense he is having a huge amount of influence and being heavily involved in games, often the only person with more touches was Neves, and yet many were still saying he wasn't doing enough.

 

[Throbber3]

I am Not saying this will happen but........ From a business point of view ( and Fosun seem to be crapping on about that a lot)
Semedo to Atleti for 30m- Doc back here for 5m -leaves us in profit by 10-15m
Neves to Man United for 30m +Donny van der beek- Profit on Neves plus a more forward thinking replacement for Lage (Not better )
Traore sold to spain for 25m
Return of Neto , Jonny and Jordao

We then have the same size squad and Fosun have trimmed the wage book and made a profit. They would look at that and premiership survival as a good year ( we need about 10 points to survive max). Most of the fan base would be spitting up feathers but I doubt the owners care that much. Getting a bit pissed off wityh this continual crap recruitment now. We are behaving like a club with a 12k fan base who are newly promoted not one in their 4th premier league season. Increased prices for what?

 

[Johnny75]

I'm not sure how much light the accounts of 31 May 2021 will show us in terms of the transfer fees "war chest".

The accounts at 31 May 2020 show:
£27 Million cash
£25 Million owed to Wolves to be paid within 12 months
£128 Million owed by Wolves to paid within 12 months (including transfer fees of £54 Million)

That didn't leave a lot to spend last summer which I suspect will be a major reason for the lack of transfer activity.

From those figures, I don't think the cash generated in a single year's trading is going to make a massive amount available to spend. If, for whatever reason, Fosun does not give further loans I can't see there being much net spending for a while.

It's almost like we're paupers and there isn't a massive set of TV deals, sponsorships, deferred PL final position income or EL income to consider that wasn't in those accounts.

Indeed the club would've posted a profit but for Covid as they have said in the opening statement of the summary.

But I suppose that's bollocks too.

Why some folks defend the clubs transfer policy of net spend is beyond me. Just recognise it FFS.

 

[WolfMan]

I'm going to play devils advocate a bit here. I've seen alot of people say that Jeff was caught out with his lying re FFP. Is it possible he wasn't lying, but rather referenced FFP as a constraint on big spending due to the risks of that approach demonstrated by clubs like Everton?

I understand the case has been made convincingly that there is more money available to spend than has been spent, but if the players available don't improve the team, what's the point in spending it.

There's a lot of talk about how shit out recruitment team is, I'm not sure how you define how good a recruitment team is other than results on the pitch. I can't remember a newly promoted team in recent memory finishing 7th twice, semi final of FA cup, QF of Europa League - one bad season when your star player is fucked and there is a global pandemic, but still in no real danger of relegation at all. Top half finish again this year would surely mean the recruitment team are doing something right would it not?

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

I think Fosuns ambition/investment strategy has changed in the past 16 months, that is all. We are not an endless investment and they have probably baulked at the money involved to become a real force in Football without a likely return on investment. They have talked about outside investment for a while but without any visible fruition, which no doubt has impeded growth.

We have got the best chance of my lifetime of a major honour, being so tangibly close to this is the major frustration with me, I do enjoy where we are at, and competing in the Premier league was something of a dream in itself.

If it were all to end tomorrow I would still see Fosun as the best owners we had in my lifetime, naturally with the Wolves way, we were so close to something really special but fell at the final hurdle.

 

[Tony Towner]

I'm not sure how much light the accounts of 31 May 2021 will show us in terms of the transfer fees "war chest".

The accounts at 31 May 2020 show:
£27 Million cash
£25 Million owed to Wolves to be paid within 12 months
£128 Million owed by Wolves to paid within 12 months (including transfer fees of £54 Million)

That didn't leave a lot to spend last summer which I suspect will be a major reason for the lack of transfer activity.

From those figures, I don't think the cash generated in a single year's trading is going to make a massive amount available to spend. If, for whatever reason, Fosun does not give further loans I can't see there being much net spending for a while.

Every single time you quote these figures you fail to mention the deferred TV payments

 

[Throbber3]

If it were all to end tomorrow I would still see Fosun as the best owners we had in my lifetime, naturally with the Wolves way, we were so close to something really special but fell at the final hurdle.

Yep. Me too

 

[Tony Towner]

It's contextual in the sense he is having a huge amount of influence and being heavily involved in games, often the only person with more touches was Neves, and yet many were still saying he wasn't doing enough

I don't see touches as equating to influence - involvement yes, but not influence, particularly in the case of Semedo, he'll often take 3/4 touches when the first time pass was the correct ball, notably in 1,2 situations. He could be more influential by having less touches. No doubt that the main thrust of our game plan especially in open matches is to utilise the wing backs, so they see a lot of the ball, that doesn't mean they use it well though.

 

[Throbber3]

The " Neves to Man United" rumour seems to be gaining momentum, unfortunately. If its going to happen please do it quick , not on deadline day when we cant sign anyone else to backfill ( Unless we get Donny as part of the deal)

 

[sycophantia]

It seems to me Fosun have settled for where we are, for the moment anyway. They may have been a bit overexcited by our rise in their first 2 or 3 years but can now see that to mount a challenge to go higher, eye watering amounts of money will need to be spent. Maybe covid and China's political situation has had an effect too.
Obviously they won't just come out and say they've accepted they're happy with a middling Premier league team, but I think that's where we are.
The downside to that is we will lose players like Raul, Neves, Jonny, Neto and their ilk eventually and turn into Southampton at best.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

The " Neves to Man United" rumour seems to be gaining momentum, unfortunately. If its going to happen please do it quick , not on deadline day when we cant sign anyone else to backfill ( Unless we get Donny as part of the deal)

You mean it’s on the BBC gossip page quoting a story in the Rag that United are “determined” to sign him? Big fucking deal.

 

[Tony Towner]

One thing I'm confident of is he'll sign a new contract or won't be here next season. Knocking £30m for Traore doesn't look smart business now, I can't see them risking that again.

 

[AndyWolves]

I’d like to know what has gone wrong in the 16 months since we signed Semedo for £30m, that we need to recoup that money and reduce the wage bill.
We’ve not spent anything out of the ordinary or had a huge unexpected loss of income. We signed him when stadium’s were empty and we had no European football.

I think we must have changed strategy shortly after spending on Fabio and Semedo. If we were under the same strategy then as we are now, those deals just wouldn't happen.

 

[Dire Wolf]

I'll be hugely disappointed if we let Neves go this January, especially to a shitshow of a team like Man Utd.

 

[Del Woppio]

I don't see touches as equating to influence - involvement yes, but not influence, particularly in the case of Semedo, he'll often take 3/4 touches when the first time pass was the correct ball, notably in 1,2 situations. He could be more influential by having less touches. No doubt that the main thrust of our game plan especially in open matches is to utilise the wing backs, so they see a lot of the ball, that doesn't mean they use it well though.

@YoungWolf will know for sure, but I'm 90% certain by touches they mean ball receptions - so a mazy dribble and a first time pass both count as one touch.

 

[From Distant Shores]

Every single time you quote these figures you fail to mention the deferred TV payments

That's because it isn't clearly stated in the accounts and I don't know how much it is. I also have no idea when it would be paid. Is it paid as a lump sum or spread over time? Did the TV companies demand and get a rebate?

If asked to guess, I'd use these four guidelines, though they are based on unaudited figures and I cannot vouch for the voracity of the sources.

1. Wolves Premier League income TV Money for 20-21 is reported as £120 Million, 29 games were played in the period covered by the accounts. This implies the deferred TV rights were around £28 Million.
2. The 2020 incomes was £133 Million, 2019 was £173 Million. The accounts mentions that permanent losses due to Covid was £12 Million. This also hints that the deferred income was around £28 Million.
3. The accounts state "The broadcast revenue deferred and forgone" was £53 Million. Given the £12 Million permanent losses due to Covid, this implies the deferred income was as much as £41 Million.
4. According to Statista.com, Wolves TV revenue for the 2019-2020 season was £137 Million. From the notes to ate accounts, it looks as though the club included £96 million TV revenue in the 2020 accounts. Again this implies the deferred income could be as much as £41 million.

Assuming the higher figure of £41 million in deferred revenue and adding that to Wolves current position you get:
£27 Million cash
£25 Million owed to Wolves to be paid within 12 months
£128 Million owed by Wolves to paid within 12 months (including transfer fees of £54 Million)
£41 Million in deferred TV Rights

That still says to me that unless Fosun injects more funds into the club, there isn't going to be a huge transfer budget.

That the May 2020 accounts showed that Wolves owed over £100 million in transfer fees suggests Fosun's early investment in the club wasn't as large as the perception that was created.

 

[Tony Towner]

The club themselves said that the £39m loss would have been a profit if the TV money wasn't deferred

 

[Johnny75]

The club themselves said that the £39m loss would have been a profit if the TV money wasn't deferred

It's in the summary and I'm sure was on the website.

£4m if I remember rightly and that didn't include prize money for obvious reasons.

 

[Sniffer]

From Wolves.co.uk

Overall, the financial loss for the year, after interest and tax, was £39.3m (profit of £19.5m in 2019).

It is important to note that, had broadcast revenues from suspended matchdays not been deferred, the club would have achieved a profit of £17.6m for the year, even with the permanent loss of matchday revenues for the final five home games of the season.

Headline financial information for 2019/20

Wolves have released headline financial information for the year ending 31st May 2020, confirming a loss of £39.3m during a period significantly impacte...

www.wolves.co.uk

 

[Banjo]

Fosun's change in strategy definitely coincided with the pandemic. All we can hope for is that they change back again once the losses suffered by their group *as a whole* (see below) level out again.

We know that the effect of the pandemic on the Wolves' finances is pretty limited. However, Fosun's other businesses are in some of the hardest hit economic sectors: retail, tourism, insurance, and real estate. I would not be surprised if the price hikes and lack of investment at the Wolves are a direct result of the significant losses suffered elsewhere in the group.