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05 Feb 2025 07:39:22
{Ed's Note - Thefutureisoldgold1 has posted a new article entitled, Wolverhampton Wanderers Still Have Problems
1.) 05 Feb 2025 11:31:03
Hi TFIOG, a thorough and thoughtful piece as ever but more than a little troubling.
Without our Wolves goggles it’s clear that a rebuild will be required whether or not we stay up. Cunha will be snapped up at the release price, Fabio might be sold (if he continues to perform well in Spain) and Guedes could be shipped on at a (wash your face) price. Hwang’s status (and form) will likely continue to be uncertain and all in all, we will need a new forward line (I assume JSL will stay).
I can see RAN leaving (not an effective defender and can’t work in a back four) to hopefully be replaced by a developed Hugo Bueno. It will be good to have the potential to play a back four but we might need a new right back (not sure Semedo can work in a ‘four’ or even if he’ll still be around).
Hopefully we can retain Yerson and our midfield players (another year out of J.Gomes would be stabilising).
However what worries me is that all the work required for filling the holes (especially up front) could be beyond our recruitment team if we’re in that ‘sell to buy’ loop where our marketable players are sold at the end of the Summer window and there is no time to bring in our targets or suitable replacements.
2.) 05 Feb 2025 17:13:57
future. As you say our problem is the successively poor transfer windows possibly with the odd exception. I'm hoping this time with the three arrivals that sorts defence and midfield for a while whilst possible changes at full back can happen our problem will be front players leaving and the need to replace them. Unless Fosun sell I don't see our circumstances changing tbh whilst I don't expect a season this poor again next time but I doubt we hit top half without new owners. Which is a pity I'd hoped for better in my lifetime maybe have to retain a bit of optimism and hope for a cup! Tea or coffee!
04 Feb 2025 20:22:50
Thefutureisoldgold1 has written an article entitled, Wolverhampton Wanderers Still Have Problems
04 Feb 2025 14:11:49
Before the window opened we needed 3 to 4 new players for the first 11 and perhaps another 3 or 4 for squad depth.
As Wandering very sensibly stated it was never going to be possible to solve these problems - the result of 5 years of almost unmitigated mismanagement - in one window.
However we have seemingly managed to add 3 players to the squad 2 of whom we have to hope are going to be first choices at CB at least for the rest of this season - Yerson may place one of them under pressure for a starting place next season!
Consequently if we survive we may be able bring the squad back to the levels required to compete in the lower half of the Premier league in the next transfer window this summer
However sadly this does require 3 things to happen.
Firstly the players we have bought this window and the returning from injury Yerson plus the reinvigorated Guedes and Bellegarde all have to prove that they are capable of consistently being first 11 or squad players at the very least.
Secondly we have to retain all of the existing players we wish to
and thirdly we have to acquire a further 3 or 4 players all capable of filling their roles in the first 11/squad.
The first of these points should be achievable Emmanuel already looks a solid acquisition, Djiga has all the attributes to make a contribution as well and perhaps ludicrously optimistically I am hopeful that Yerson, Guedes and Bellegarde can continue to develop positively!
However unless there has been a massive change in our finances it is likely that even if all of the players wanted to stay - and given that several will be out of contract or have already made noises about wanting to leave that in itself seems highly unlikely - we are almost certainly going to have to sell at least 2 of our senior players and possibly more. Unless our underlying financial position has changed we will need to raise on average an insanely high £70m + a year, (every year!), from disposals to meet PSR rules. Note it is not sales prices but profits so selling Cunha for £60m, (as we now seem fairly certain to do), will only raise circa £40m of profits.
This sadly means that we won't need the 3 or 4 new players assumed in point 3 but, the once again unachievable, 5, 6, 7 or even 8 of which 4 or 5 will need to be first 11 quality and possibly 2 or 3 of which will need to be the superstars of the first 11.
So whilst we have to hope that we have done enough this January to stave off relegation this season we are sadly likely to be right back up to our necks in the mire again next season because as Wandering pointed out you can't solve the problems this club now has in one window!
1.) 04 Feb 2025 16:05:35
Especially not in a January window TFIOG but you're quite correct, survive this season maybe, but it will be more of the same next. Bumping along the bottom or worse may well be our fate for sometime yet.
2.) 04 Feb 2025 16:15:55
Thefutureisoldgold1. Maybe you should consider being renamed as Thefutureisbleak!
I honestly don't believe anyone knows the true financial situation of Wolves other than those inside the club and why should we be any worse than at least 50% of the teams in this league. I include London teams in that also Fulham, CP, Brentford. We are at least of Similar size if not bigger. We should be able to compete. If not and it's all doom and gloom according to you, we may as well give up now. We've just bought 3 players in (2nd highest spenders) in this window and managed to offload Lemina. Players will leave in the summer for sure. Sarabia, Dawson, Traore, Doyle?, Fabio, Doherty?, Hwang? Johnstone, SA,?
Cuhna, RAN, Gomes?
I doubt we'll take the option on Forbes.
Obviously the GK needs addressing, but assuming the players just bought work out and with H Bueno to return we should have a good defence and solid midfield.
If Cuhna does leave then so be it. It's up to Hobbs and VP to find suitable replacements. Don't forget Cuhna wasn't exactly performing brilliantly at his previous club and didn't look great when we first signed him.
A lot of those player listed above are surplus to requirements now anyway and just adding to the wage bill which should be significantly reduced when these go. We've just beaten Villa ( A champions league team), added to the squad in areas we all thought needed strengthening so IMO we need to be a little more positive.
3.) 04 Feb 2025 16:37:25
future. I have thinking about the permutations we are now able to have in both defence and midfield, it's quite a nice feeling for a change particularly for our midfield. For our defence we should have a pretty solid back 3 for quite a while from the start of next season when Yerson returns, if we stay up and the new guys do well. Then I read you piece and shatter my illusions, but obviously reality has to kick in and facing up to it you are quite right we are just going to go round in a cycle of selling our best players every year just to fight relegation again. Why do we bother! I think I'll just have a fantasy football team of my own instead! Nah can't do that too many years punishing myself following Wolves I've got to carry on to the bitter end!
4.) 04 Feb 2025 21:43:55
Blacksford - apologies.
Even I think I over do it!
You are undoubtedly correct in that I am very negative about the last 5 years!
To be fair to me though we have gone from a side that looked like we could be regulars in the smaller European trophies with potentially the occasional appearance in the main competition to a side that is having to battle incredibly hard not to be playing Championship football next year!
However if we are talking about negative if all 12 of the players you list do leave - (and I accept that some of them will and indeed others like Semedo for example may also leave, but surely not all of them) - we would be struggling to consistently get 11 on the pitch let alone have a squad. Given that you also have 5 or 6 of our current starting 11 including our best 3 players all leaving survival would surely also be highly doubtful even if we can scrape 11 pros together each week?
With respect to the financial position of the club, cf others, we can in fact all check out the publicly available, (on the internet), accounts of the clubs.
I have previously posted about how we compare to Brighton and it is very very badly!
However you listed 3 sides presumably chosen at random?
Well let's look at them and compare them to Wolves
In terms of turnover over the last 3 years Wolves have gone backwards sharply.
Fulham, Brentford and Crystal Palace, (albeit that only Palace have been in the Prem all 3 years!), all have seen their turnover rise rapidly!
At the pre tax level Wolves have seen their profits fall (in fact losses rise!) year on year (by over £85m in the 3 years)
Brentford are consistently profitable and Fulham and Palace have seen their profits improve (losses decline) to the extent that theirs are now some £35 - 40m pa better than ours.
At the pre player sales level the story is exactly the same. Our losses are racing away out of control, Brentford are consistently profitable and Palace and Fulham are seeing solid progress with losses now £70 -80m pa less than those suffered by Wolves.
So sadly if you do look at the accounts of these other sides the reality is that we are in fact substantially worse off than them and the gap is getting wider fast!
Should we be able to compete - yes of course and a few years ago we weren't just competing but were significantly better both on the pitch and financially.
However since Jeff become involved it is indeed a story of doom and gloom.
The solution is very very simple - replace Jeff with someone competent and turn around the financial debacle the club is suffering from. This would at a stroke, well as soon as the new CEO could deliver the changes required, allow the club to keep its better players and build the team.
Unfortunately over the last 5 years all of the managers from Nuno to Vitor have been operating with one hand tied behind their back as a result of the incompetence of Jeff!
5.) 05 Feb 2025 07:18:28
The way Wolves is managed is a contradiction to the way their other interests are managed.
“Fosun has never been an owner to spend for fun. It is not in their nature or character. They always try to invest where necessary, to give the club a leadership team and foundation, but also empower the team here.” (London TELEGRAPH, 9/27).
Then we see Mr Guangchang come over and authorise what is a panic spend. Clearly Shi has no real authority.
So they seem to care.but it is still unsettling for fans, not being clear on Wolves future.
6.) 05 Feb 2025 07:24:46
No need to apologise TFIOG1. It was me over reacting. TBH I really don't understand the financial aspects of how our club is run. I just thought we'd had a good/reasonable January transfer window. Just beaten Villa and things were starting to take shape. I do agree that we've been steadily going backwards, not sure if that's Shi, the over reliance on Mendes or a combination of both. IMO the problems started when we didn't replace Jota, but more so when we lost Raul to that horrendous injury. As others have stated this season is now all about survival, but there are a lot of players surplus to requirements at Wolves who are not good enough who are adding to the wage bill and contributing very little. Who knows what next season holds, but IF these new additions work out we once again have the basis of a good team. If Guo (Gua) did come across (or felt it necessary) to sanction both Cuhna's new contract and player recruitment then maybe Shi is simply not competent enough in his role.
7.) 05 Feb 2025 07:48:15
Good stuff again TFIG. Personally I prefer your conservative take on the numbers, knowing the worst scenario gives hope to improve the outcome. I have an issue over the hype with Cunha. For a long while he was ineffective, suddenly he has some great performances and wants to leave, and plays a couple of disinterested performances. No doubt he can play, but for me he is inconsistent and moody. I wonder what his second half of the season will produce? As it looks now and someone offered £70m I would take it. Perhaps not a popular view but I am not buying all the hype.
8.) 05 Feb 2025 08:09:05
I don't think you should reproach yourself TFIOG, these are the facts, pure and simple. After a storming start Fosun have left things to Jeff and it's not good reading, it is a story of decline both on and off the pitch for much debated reasons which is why we are where we are today.
Fosun have sanctioned further spending but that's only down to needs must, to correct the failings of the previous window. Had we have been in a less precarious position I doubt they would have. The extent of their ambition appears to be Premier League survival and nothing more, now that's negativity.
9.) 05 Feb 2025 10:27:36
Realistic hard nosed quantitative approach future, what is lacking in many areas of life now. Keep posting!
04 Feb 2025 07:39:17
{Ed's Note - Thefutureisoldgold1 has posted a new article entitled, Wolverhampton Wanderers Player Ratings v Aston Villa
03 Feb 2025 10:36:00
Thefutureisoldgold1 has written an article entitled, Wolverhampton Wanderers Player Ratings v Aston Villa
1.) 03 Feb 2025 12:11:15
Interesting comments TFIOG, too many are not first choice players so VP is working with one hand tied behind his back. As you say, thanks Jeff, GON had the same problem, imo, but lacked the experience and probably the right team with him to make it work.
Still, there'll be a deluge of signings later today to support VP, erm, won't there?
2.) 03 Feb 2025 12:31:05
Interesting as usual, have to say I would have been more generous with the marking tbh but the balance of who got what is ok so it's only a number after all. Like you I couldn't see why we didn't get a penalty, VAR is just crap get rid of it!
Long the only deluge in Wolverhampton is likely to come from the sky not from anything Jeff can do!
3.) 03 Feb 2025 14:37:35
Always interesting and thought provoking TFIOG but on Sarabia did you miss when he battled 3 or 4 consecutive challenges including two aerial ones trying to win ball back near the left touchline in both halves of the pitch second half, never seen him with so much fight and determination before, for that alone he was a 7 or 7.5.
Thefutureisoldgold1's rumour replies
31 Jan 2025 10:51:02
Wolfthistle hard to disagree.
What a shame that post Seville, when Villa were nowhere, 17th in the Prem, and we had just had 2 consecutive 7th place finishes, a fa cup semi and a Euro 1/4, the 2 clubs seemingly made conscious decisions to go in opposite directions.
Wolves seemingly and completely irrationally decided to become a very small team and Villa realising that being a big team - as Wolves were very very nearly at that moment - was far far better both financially and in football terms decided the opposite.
Who made the right decision?
Yet Jeff remains
28 Jan 2025 16:47:10
Excellent point Ed 01
My worry though is that whilst it would be very easy for him to find teams willing to benefit from being his showcase how easy has it/will it proven/prove for Wolves to find another competent head of recruitment willing/able to work with Jeff!
{Ed001's Note - clearly they need to get rid of him.}
27 Jan 2025 12:47:02
Baza - totally understand your comment but who would be left?
Why would any Premier quality player want to remain associated with a club that is being run like this one?
If we don't survive this year then most of the first team squad will leave anyway and we may well drop straight through the championship to the lower leagues even before you take into account the very real possibility of a 10 point deduction for going into receivership!
Madman - agree that in normal circumstances signing one premier league quality player in Jan would be good business. But in normal circumstances a serious premier league team wouldn't be going into the January window 3 or 4 players short of an acceptable premier league 11, (before injuries and suspensions), and at least 7 or 8 short of a premier league quality squad.
So these are not normal times and sadly we are not a serious premier league team and may well not even be a premier league team for much longer!
We in fact, as you acknowledge, only have a week to save the future of the club so not a lot of time for patience/keeping our heads.
I personally think it is easy to sell high quality players like Cunha but I, like you it seems, am far more sceptical that we are capable of bringing the required quality and quantity the other way.
26 Jan 2025 18:31:51
Obviously would be far far better than anything else we have in the back 3 at the moment but I very much doubt we could afford his wages or that he would be willing to swap Barcelona for Wolves permanently.
Perhaps a loan with them paying a (large ) chunk of his wages?
24 Jan 2025 18:02:16
Old
Agree we now have problems all over!
For me
Gk First choice Sa adequate Back up tbc - far from sure
RWB First choice Semedo good Back up Lima good
CB - issues everywhere - need at least 1 possibly 2 new CB for now and that assumes Emmanuel proves adequate and Yerson returns! Back ups Bueno, Toti adequate
LWB First Choice RAN (excellent if and big if he has CBs and DMs protecting him) back up Gomes R good
DM First choice Gomes J and Andre good Back up Traore and Doyle adequate
WF/10 First choice Cunha and an issue! Back up struggling to be optimsitic
CF First choice Larsen adequate Back up - issue
So we are 3 or 4 players short just to get a first 11 out!
Thefutureisoldgold1's banter replies
06 Feb 2025 21:27:06
Acle you are of course correct in that Wolves have spectacularly failed to drive revenues. However Wolves also have a very specific issue, a Non Football wage bill that is totally out of control. Despite one of the lowest football wage bills in the league we have an enormous non football wage bill perhaps £10, 20 or even 30m pa more than it should be cf Brighton plus the 3 London based sides Blackford asked me to compare Wolves to.
This is despite, not wanting to be rude, being based in an area where most wages will be much lower than in the south and other major cities. Until that is brought back under control we will have PSR issues whilst other clubs don't.
Blackford of course everything you say is correct, particularly about Fabio, whose transfer has not only hamstrung us financially since Seville but may well have been a major factor in the demise of the fabled "pack" spirit Nuno created.
However it assumes that it is the manager (s) - who to a man since Seville have complained that they didn't get what they wanted in the transfer market - who are making those decisions.
But you are correct I blame Jeff for everything because he is the CEO and it is his job, (which he is paid handsomely to do!), to ensure that everything is done correctly!
Forgive me for this rather socialist attitude but for me credit flows down. If a worker does a good job it was to the worker's credit.
However blame flows up - if a worker does a bad job he either: 1) wasn't the right worker to do the job so shouldn't have been doing the job, 2) was doing the wrong thing so should have been told what to do correctly or 3) was doing the right thing but badly so should have told how to do it correctly.
Ps I don't think I have said it but the transfer window that has just closed was better than adequate and so is one of the better ones from the last few years, (not quite on a par with Jan 23), was the visit to England of Fosun's chairman, who also visited in Jan 23, relevant I wonder?
06 Feb 2025 14:13:28
Shada - it is not a choice to sell our best players each year and replace them with cheap young players deemed to have upside, we have to avoid breaching PSR rules.
The club for reasons only Jeff can explain is run at a huge loss and this loss has to be covered by profitable player sales.
The tune that needs changing is to stop the haemorrhaging of losses, (can anyone explain how we have a wage bill of over £140m yet have one of the lowest playing wage bills in the Prem), presumably by replacing Jeff with a competent CEO?
06 Feb 2025 13:03:38
Far from happy about this.
Less than 12 months ago he was one of the best CMs in the Premier League and a rock of our side - that under GON was incredibly threatening to have a very good season. We had an outside chance of European football and "only" Coventry stood between us and another FA cup semi.
However today he is gone for pennies and to be honest it seems like pretty much it was the only outcome left and we should be grateful to get out with a few pence and saving his salary for the remainder of his contract.
We obviously don't know exactly what has gone on but it is a very sad situation where Mario appears to have had a "melt down"
Clearly he was still highly committed to the club at the start of the season - indeed GON made him captain and if you watched the early season games he was clearly still trying.
Indeed perhaps that was one of the problems?
He was at times running around like a headless chicken trying too hard.
Was he a victim of the total breakdown the side suffered?
The lack of organisation and defensive structure, (partly as a result of trying to play 4, 4, 2 without Premier League quality CBs but partly due to GON's seemingly total inability to get the side playing with even the basics of defensive positioning and discipline), meant that not only were we losing but we were losing embarrassingly badly. As a senior pro was the "shame" of being involved/associated with this "mess" too much for him to handle?
His head went down, his game fell apart and the rest as we say is history!
If GON had been dismissed, as he surely should have been, after the debacle of Brentford, could Mario's Wolves career have been salvaged?
For me I will be grateful for the good times we had - the astonishing win at Chelsea when he and Gomes totally outplayed the £200m+ Chelsea midfield - and wish him well for the future.
However we are not a side that can afford to lose top quality Premier league players for way below their "value" but sadly once again this has happened!
04 Feb 2025 21:43:55
Blacksford - apologies.
Even I think I over do it!
You are undoubtedly correct in that I am very negative about the last 5 years!
To be fair to me though we have gone from a side that looked like we could be regulars in the smaller European trophies with potentially the occasional appearance in the main competition to a side that is having to battle incredibly hard not to be playing Championship football next year!
However if we are talking about negative if all 12 of the players you list do leave - (and I accept that some of them will and indeed others like Semedo for example may also leave, but surely not all of them) - we would be struggling to consistently get 11 on the pitch let alone have a squad. Given that you also have 5 or 6 of our current starting 11 including our best 3 players all leaving survival would surely also be highly doubtful even if we can scrape 11 pros together each week?
With respect to the financial position of the club, cf others, we can in fact all check out the publicly available, (on the internet), accounts of the clubs.
I have previously posted about how we compare to Brighton and it is very very badly!
However you listed 3 sides presumably chosen at random?
Well let's look at them and compare them to Wolves
In terms of turnover over the last 3 years Wolves have gone backwards sharply.
Fulham, Brentford and Crystal Palace, (albeit that only Palace have been in the Prem all 3 years!), all have seen their turnover rise rapidly!
At the pre tax level Wolves have seen their profits fall (in fact losses rise!) year on year (by over £85m in the 3 years)
Brentford are consistently profitable and Fulham and Palace have seen their profits improve (losses decline) to the extent that theirs are now some £35 - 40m pa better than ours.
At the pre player sales level the story is exactly the same. Our losses are racing away out of control, Brentford are consistently profitable and Palace and Fulham are seeing solid progress with losses now £70 -80m pa less than those suffered by Wolves.
So sadly if you do look at the accounts of these other sides the reality is that we are in fact substantially worse off than them and the gap is getting wider fast!
Should we be able to compete - yes of course and a few years ago we weren't just competing but were significantly better both on the pitch and financially.
However since Jeff become involved it is indeed a story of doom and gloom.
The solution is very very simple - replace Jeff with someone competent and turn around the financial debacle the club is suffering from. This would at a stroke, well as soon as the new CEO could deliver the changes required, allow the club to keep its better players and build the team.
Unfortunately over the last 5 years all of the managers from Nuno to Vitor have been operating with one hand tied behind their back as a result of the incompetence of Jeff!
03 Feb 2025 14:27:52
Long you have a rival! CB73 well done sir v good poem!
Of course I knew nothing about either of them until today and my knowledge is still restricted to a cursory glance through the internet and other people's, (presumably equally uninformed), views. But I am, hopefully not totally unjustifiably, optimistic re Djiga who sounds as if he might be a real prospect, although shame right footed as when Yerson returns we will be v unbalanced with only Toti on the left.
However perhaps unfairly I am not so certain re the Zimbabwean as he appears to be another slow Traore. He apparently works very hard, puts in a fair few tackles but looks like Bambi on ice with a ball at his feet! Plus we already have 5 or possibly 6 CMs if you count Bellegarde and, if he doesn't leave today, Lemina (who until 12 months ago was one of the best CMs in the Premier league!)
However we don't have a single WF or 10 to play alongside Cunha?