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27 May 2025 12:14:34
Final post of the summer and the most controversial.
Football despite complex accounts and a myriad of on field variables is in fact a simple game and business.
Win matches and make money, (the 2 are directly correlated in both directions - rich teams win matches and teams that win matches become rich)
So how have we been doing under Jeff these last 2 years.
This has been beaten to death with many posters on here either obfuscating, ignoring or directly denying facts.
So for the numerate ones amongst you 2 v simple to read and understand facts that illustrate exactly the aims of the club.
In the last 2 years of the Thelwell, Dalrymple and Nuno era - i.e. the 2 years up to Seville we came 7th twice and made, (according to the club's official audited accounts), an underlying, on going, pre player sales profit of just over £20m
Over the last 2 years under Jeff we have come 14th and 16th and made on the same basis as above a loss of over £182m.
So as I have said here many times under Jeff we have dropped down the league, 14th and 16th are not as good as 7th twice.
Whilst financially we have seen an over £200m swing from profit to loss.
Not sure how any Wolves fan defends this but I'm sure there will be some!
Have a great summer and I hope that everything you want, (both at Wolves and in your own lives), has come to fruition when the new season starts in August.
1.) 27 May 2025 12:35:22
Personally, I tend to look at the profit and losses of the entire business rather than just one element or everything except one element.
Usually find the accounts submitted to HMRC to be pretty accurate.
You may be correct about the pre sales figures, but you have to look at all of the figures and they don't seem as bad as you state.
Yes we've made a loss of over £200m pre player sales, BUT player sales form part of the business so must be included.
Anyway, have a safe summer and let's see where we are in the summer.
2.) 27 May 2025 13:40:21
TFIOG as usual you're not wrong and Wandering I think you're making his point for him. It's exactly because of those pre-player sales losses that Wolves are having to sell off the best on a continuous basis to avoid PSR.
If Fosun had done more to build the clubs income, hang on to our best and maintained the momentum pre-Seville maybe we wouldn't be scrapping to survive at this level. I don't think it's a coincidence.
3.) 27 May 2025 13:41:20
Sorry sent that a bit early, have a good summer everyone, let's see what next season brings.
4.) 27 May 2025 20:10:39
At risk of being called a pedant, Future there's one fact you've missed; summer hasn't even started yet! ?
I think that most of us believe it's going to be an interesting transfer window and, given that funds from sales may well be held back to cover at least some of the losses mentioned, I'm sure it'll be even more interesting for us to find out how much Fosun will be prepared to spend and how smart our transfer dealings turn out to be.It will make a very nice change not to have to rely on the next January window to get us out of trouble. Don't bank (excuse the pun) on it though!
5.) 28 May 2025 16:47:58
Fosun and WWFC, One's a super rich conglomerate while the other is a Club having to sell players and struggling to stay in the Premier League, must be some reason for them to own the Club, it has little to do with football, unless of course you see trading players as an entertainment, same old, same old for next season, repetitive and boring is an understatement.
6.) 28 May 2025 18:19:18
I am still hoping funds from player sales will be re-invested and VP will oversee and suggest some excellent players. Time will tell but have to try and be optimistic.
27 May 2025 11:52:00
Our realistic aim for next season (based on squads (ours and theirs) as are - so potentially changeable positively and negatively).
I split the teams into 3 groups
A)Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Villa, Newcastle and Chelsea - I don't see us being above any of these (although of course until recently we were well above both Villa and Newcastle).
B) Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham, CP and Forest - the 3 Bs all seem to be moving away from us rapidly and although maybe Brentford are vulnerable to losing key men this summer the other 2 have deep and broad squads and superb recruitment records. Will European football be a curse or benefit for CP, will Forest collapse (a one season wonder?) and Fulham on paper just don't look that strong?
C) Man U, Spurs, Everton, WHU and the 3 promoted sides. Man U and Spurs surely with their money and squads can't be that bad again, (and with their money will surely add to and theoretically improve their squads), WHU hugely under performed and should be better next year whilst Everton are moving to a new stadium (impact?) with a very experienced and solid manager next year.
In conclusion I can't see us above all 6 of A at least 3 of B and 2 of C so 12th is the ceiling.
But 17th is not an unrealistic floor - and that makes 2 assumptions
1) We don't get markedly weaker - which with even only Cunha going we are unless he is well replaced and 2) all 3 of the sides coming up are hopeless (v confident Sunderland and Burnley will be less certain Leeds will be)
thoughts?
1.) 27 May 2025 13:20:10
We were much improved under VP. We won't be as bad next season.
2.) 27 May 2025 19:38:21
Wow. Hope you're not promoting tickets sales for next season.
3.) 28 May 2025 11:19:06
The season is over, no good dissecting it, we underperformed until vp came and steadied the pack. We're going to lose players, we always do, it's what wolves do, but we always seem to find a couple of talented players who come in and do a job, Vitor seems a sensible manager, he has his targets and I have no doubt that he will get us going from the start next season, no relegation worries, aim for top six, settle for top half, always remain positive, don't forget "WE ARE WOLVES", we always bounce back. COYW
27 May 2025 11:29:16
3 posts A last boring one on Jeff
One on squad development.
One about our realistic aims for next season
Start with the most optimistic
If we only lose Cunha from the core squad, how many first 11 players do we need to add and how many squad players?
How possible would this be?
This season we bought 11 players 8 in the summer 3 in Jan (we probably need them all bought this summer!)
3 were undeniably hits - Andre, Emmanuel and JSL
6 were duds {for this year but may come good later on }- Forbes, Johnstone, Meupiyou (injured/too young?) the kid from Scotland (disappeared?) Djiga (?) and Lima.
2 were jury out - Munetsi clearly liked by Vitor but extremely limited footballer and Gomes looked v good but has faded and questions exist re his best position.
So circa 1 in 4 for the first team and say at best 1 in 2 for the squad
Cost by the way according to transfer market Euro 124m
Can we spend the same again if we only sell Cunha for £62.5 or circa Euro 75m
Let's be hopeful and say yes as non key players will also go for fees -Johnstone and Hwang whilst Sarabia's wages will also go.
For first team need 3 - new CB, (although Yerson may be that as funnily the less you play the better you seem to get), 2 new forwards to play alongside JSL (Bellegarde or indeed Munetsi might do occasionally but feel we need 2 high quality creative and goal scoring forwards).
For squad - new GK, perhaps another CB (left sided) and a back up CF (assume Sasa is never coming back).
So perhaps 6?
Well we nearly did that last year so why not?
Of course if we lose more whilst the budget may rise if it is for a fee, eg RAN it might not if it is for example Semedo and then things become more challenging.
RAN and Cunha going not only means losing 2 of your top 5 players again but also losing a huge proportion of your goals and assists and obviously your creative threat.
If only Cunha goes then the summer is massive and to stand still we probably need it to be a bit better than last year but if RAN and Cunha plus others we might want to keep, (Semedo), it becomes highly challenging and we need an astonishing summer.
Thoughts?
1.) 27 May 2025 12:46:10
TFIOG.I agree your summery summary. A great window or worse than losing players, we lose VP who did get a tune out of the squad.
2.) 27 May 2025 20:42:39
Until Fosun give us an indication of their intent I find speculating slightly pointless. I have no hope towards recruitment, I will have no surprises at sales. Until that commitment is shown, until ambition proven its just wishful thinking.
Jeff?
21 May 2025 21:11:14
Wandering
Why do you think we can't have Kilman and Emmanuel and Neves and Andre and Neto and Jota and Cunha?
We would have a much better team then?
1.) 21 May 2025 22:03:50
I didn't say we couldn't but using your theory that Jeff Shi doesn't know how to run a club and generate any money, how exactly would we be able to afford Agbadou, Andre and Cunha if we didn't sell the likes of Kilman, Neto, Neves and Jota.
2.) 21 May 2025 22:11:07
Here's a question for you TFIOG, if we had Kilman, Neves, Neto and Jota, who out of the current team drops out?
3.) 22 May 2025 00:16:21
Wandering
You have hit the nail on the head!
We can't and haven't precisely because Jeff is grossly incompetent.
(ps it is not a theory but a fact - go read the accounts)
If Jeff could only run my club as well as say Brentford are run, they have no big stadium, no heritage or massive fan base, but made £230m more profit than us over the past 3 years pre player sales, we could easily have afforded not to sell any of those players with tens of millions left over to cover their wages!
We could in fact have afforded to keep Collins and MGW as well but would have to win a few more games to generate a bit more revenue to cover the wages. However with the 6 of them in the squad we wouldn't just have won a few more games but a whole bucket load meaning that we would now be a highly successful club both on and off the field rather than a club in real danger of failing both on and off the field.
In the first 11 Doherty obviously drops out as does Munetsi/Bellegarde and probably JSL.
Neves might play the Coady role meaning Toti might drop out but in reality the 6 of them would not just markedly improve the starting xi but the whole squad. For example Neves, Andre and Gomes J probably would not all be on the pitch at the same time that often unless Neves was in the back 3. However it is a squad game and the paucity of options - see Palace game this week - available to the manager (s) has really hurt us over the last few years.
Squad would look like
Sa - vacancy
Semedo -Lima
Emmanuel, Kilman Toti -Doherty, Yerson, vacancy (Djiga out on loan to see if he can make it)
RAN - Bueno H
Neves, Andre, Gomes J- Traore, Munetsi
Neto, Jota, Cunha. - MGW, JSL, Bellegarde, Gomes R
Looks really good and deep!
That front line is scary and MGW and JSL on the bench - wow anyone would think we were a serious top 7 team!
4.) 22 May 2025 00:32:39
Apologies I missed Nathan Collins out of the squad.
First thought was that he simply replaces "vacancy" as a back up.
However with only Toti comfortable on the left despite Kilman actually being left footed, I might say goodbye to Matt D and replace him with a LCB "vacancy"
5.) 22 May 2025 06:02:33
It's all very good saying 'we could have kept this player and that player' but some players we could have 'kept' are Nunes, Jota, Adama, MGW and now Semedo and Cunha. Only problem is, is that they wanted to leave so would you pay big bucks to keep them at the club knowing that their hearts weren't in it or would you allow them to go and get as much money for them as you can. Yes we didn't get money on Adama and we'll miss out on Semedo but if they don't want to sign what I would expect to be very good contract that ensure they are very wealthy, would you hold them against their will. It isn't just about Jeff being thrifty or incompetent. There are other factors that need to be considered.
6.) 22 May 2025 06:36:04
Do you play fantasy football, get real and move on.
7.) 22 May 2025 09:03:08
Great analysis TFIOG.
Shows you care deeply about our club and can see straight through what the upper management are trying to achieve.
Jeff is the fall guy between the fans and the owners and is happy to take the flak for his high salary.
First The Points.
8.) 22 May 2025 09:22:26
TFIOG, all teams have to evolve. Have we signed some duds over the years, well of course we have, but the fact (for me at least) is that although I'd much rather have Neves, Jota, Adama and Neto, if we didn't didn't move them on we wouldn't have Adbadou, Joao Gomes, Andre, Cunha and JSL. I have no doubt that should Fabio Silva move on this summer and become a success at his new club, everyone linked to the club will lambast Jeff Shi for allowing him to go even though for the past 3 years they have demanded that be allowed to go as he was not good enough. A recent example of this is Vitinha. He was useless when he was on loan at Molineux and not worth the £21m quoted at the time. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake but based on the performances at the time, I don't think anyone disagreed with the clubs decision. Then a few weeks ago, our ex player - Marcal gave an interview where he said Vitinha never wanted to be at the club in the first place and was determined not to play the required 20 games which would have triggered a permanent move. As I've said, us fans don't always know what's going on behind the scenes. All we see are the headlines, not the story behind it all.
9.) 22 May 2025 10:36:18
EVOLVE;To change or develop slowly into a better more complex or more advanced state.
There are plenty of clubs that have evolved over the last five years and the Premier League table will show who those clubs are.
First The Points.
10.) 22 May 2025 11:24:51
OK, so we haven't evolved a quickly as some of the other clubs. The best example of this is always thought to be Brighton and Brentford. But just remind me of how they Evolved. Is it by buying players cheaply, developing them then selling them on? Isn't that exactly what we've done?
Recently (this season) we developed over a very short period of time by removing GON, bringing in VP and buying better players who no doubt will move on for larger fees than we paid for them.
26 Apr 2025 23:25:55
Another fantastic result but sadly as I have mentioned several times before RAN and Cunha are pretty essential to the team, 1 goal and all 3 assists.
However will either of them be here next season.
Cunha seemingly is lost to Man U and for what now looks like a pittance whilst rumours are now surfacing that Wolves are considering doing a deal with Chelsea effectively swapping RAN for Felix and £10m.
Surely madness with Felix on an insane, £150k a week for another 6 years, contract at Chelsea?
Given his very disappointing performances this season at Chelsea and on loan at AC Milan Chelsea must be desperate to off load him. So why are Wolves looking to dig them out of the hole they are in?
Not sure we would even want Felix - especially as he will be looking for stupid money - but for us to only get £10m - which we have to pay to Angers anyway - from Chelsea for RAN is barmy!
He is a £50m player and Felix is worthless to Chelsea - actually costs them over £14m pa, (wages plus his amort), yet won't play!
We should, if we actually want Felix, be playing hard ball and offering to take Felix off their hands - saving them say £30m off their wage bill - (they I assume will have to pay up the surplus on his contract of say £50k pw for the next 6 years) for free.
Then, although it will be insane to sell RAN and Cunha in the same summer, we should ask for the £50m RAN is worth. Seemingly several other clubs are looking at him for fees of this order but we should be taking this in cash not ludicrously over valued swaps - see Hoever for Jota!
1.) 26 Apr 2025 23:57:20
We have shown that we can play without Cunha and I expect us to have our targets sorted to go after. RAN is good going forward but not so much defending. Plus he spends too much time slowing down play and trying to fit in about 127484 step overs a match. Hugo Bueno can easily fill his shoes, has a great cross on him and can defend. I think we will be ok. In Vitor we trust!
2.) 27 Apr 2025 07:11:49
Hi TFIOG1,
For once I'm in agreement re Felix. Personally I've never rated him and couldn't see where his huge price tag came from. There's no way we should bail Chelsea out. Let them drown in their own financial mess. If RAN has to go we can do a lot better.
3.) 27 Apr 2025 07:23:40
I think that those who were advocating that Cunha should be left out of the team may reconsider after yesterdays performance.
4.) 27 Apr 2025 07:29:40
Exactly VaB. RAN loses the ball way way too much for me and is also poor defensively. If we got anywhere near £50m for him I'd be very surprised.
5.) 27 Apr 2025 07:49:40
I'd ask why do we want Felix? We can replace RAN with Hugo or ricardo but why such the need for Felix? Surely there are cheaper more reliable players out there.
6.) 27 Apr 2025 08:11:49
His on pitch attitude was so different to what we've seen in recent months Derry and it showed. Can he do that consistently particularly when things aren't going well? We'll have to watch from afar.
7.) 27 Apr 2025 08:54:53
TFIOG You are quite right it doesn't make sense unless they just base their valuations on the amortised value on the books viewing anything more as 'profit'. Wolves need to sell players every Summer and they seem to price them 'too sell' ensuring these deals go through, buyers know this.
As long as the fundamental issue i.e. shortfalls of income versus expenditure remain unresolved, we can expect more of this every year, frankly I can't see an alternative.
Cunha believes he can do better elsewhere, although a move to Man U smells like Nunes to City to me and I think he will regret that.
RAN, Cunha and actually Sarabia (again) created all 3 goals between them and I suspect they will in our remaining games, but all are heavily tipped to be sold on in the same window. How this makes any sense is a mystery to me, maybe someone can explain it, our recruitment will have to be top draw.
Just to be clear I think VP, his team and the players have all done a magnificent job since Xmas but we were only in the relegation zone thanks to the policies and muddled thinking of the owners and senior management. Ok, mistakes were made and admitted but will it be the 'Great Escape' every season or will VP accept Fosun's thinking, accommodate it and slowly build a strong cost effective squad to get us back into the top half or higher?
8.) 27 Apr 2025 10:47:45
Abbey Felix is regarded as the replacement for Cunha.
He is actually far from a poor player but if he comes he will surely need to take a circa 50% pay cut and I just can't see him being happy "slumming" at Wolves so am v sceptical he will give us the output we will need especially from a player who will have cost us RAN and has to replace Cunha.
East and VaB I completely accept you are entitled to the view that the team can cope without these players. Obviously Jeff thinks so too.
However as I have stated previously I like history and believe we can learn a lot from it.
Jeff told us we could do fine without our best players each time we sold them over the past few years.
However he was wrong every single time and we tumbled down the league as a consequence - becoming increasingly financially strapped as well as a result of these errors.
Consequently having taken on board the evidence of history I personally think he and you are wrong and that we - indeed no team - can sell probably its best two players, (certainly our 2 most creative players as Andre, Gomes, Semedo and Emmanuel, our other standouts, are all largely defensive players), without suffering greatly.
I also accept that we will attempt to replace those players with new players to drive the team forwards but again history shows us that we do not do that successfully.
We have of course had some major success, (all 6 of my outstanding players have been signed relatively recently), but sadly amongst the successes inevitably there have been failures hence the tumbling down the league.
This should not however be a hard lesson to learn as no team ever in the history of the game has done it successfully over the medium term and indeed the poster boys of the policy - Southampton ended up getting relegated despite selling enough talent to have won a Champions league trophy or two!
9.) 27 Apr 2025 11:55:49
Silly season has started. Rumours galore and everyone be8ng linked with everyone.
Personally, I don't think Cunha is moving to Man Utd. If he goes anywhere, it'll be Liverpool if they move Nunez, Diaz or Jota on.
10.) 27 Apr 2025 13:08:19
Anyone from chelsea would be Neto for me.
11.) 27 Apr 2025 13:58:54
Tfig I knew Felix would be for cunha replacement, I was trying to say 'why' Felix?, as you say he's expensive and of a charcter that may not befitting in the pack. He dosnt seem to have wanted to be a 'squad' player at Chelsea and dosnt seem to have been at AC. But surely given our financial position we could find cheaper.
I don't doubt his skill but a player needs to be 100% committed to show/give it.
12.) 27 Apr 2025 15:16:58
Sorry Abbey and a good q! Completely agree re your comments about the player too! I would hope we would find not just cheaper - fee and wages - but better as well!
Wandering I agree he could be the Mane replacement they have never found and as Salah fades become the main man.
Personally I would gamble on Jota's fitness and take him as part of the payment although with a cap on Cunha's value of £62.5m Liverpool may feel that they don't have to pay much in cash despite Cunha obviously being a better option.
Thefutureisoldgold1's rumour replies
22 Feb 2025 10:15:23
Tks
So it may be a totally innocent piece of admin, simply doing as you say "making it simpler and easier to tie up the 2 reporting requirements"
Guess I am so sceptical I am seeing "issues" where none may exist.
Shame the club hasn't put out a statement explaining what it is doing and why - assuming they haven't and I haven't just missed it.
{Ed001's Note - you could well be right, but as they are changing the way it is calculated, it seems more likely to be just about making it easier to deal with. The 85% threshold has held a lot of clubs back from transfer business though, so who knows until the accounts are released? It is all guesswork until then, as no one knows what terms finance has been taken out on or payment terms of players coming in and leaving.}
22 Feb 2025 09:47:54
Ed - do you know therefore if clubs that report at the end of May 2025 can include transactions done at the start of June 2025 in the 2025 PSR calculations.
If the answer to the q is yes then why have Wolves moved the date?
If the answer is no - which seems more consistent with accounting concepts - it does suggest does it not that perhaps Wolves do have PSR issues?
Regardless though all in all I tend to agree with Wandering that it would be sensible for all clubs to align the PSR date with their Financial year end.
{Ed001's Note - the reported accounts are separate, so it makes no real difference. It is just sensible and easier to produce the full accounts at the same time as you are producing the PSR documentation for the Premier League.}
22 Feb 2025 09:10:14
Wandering are you sure?
If so why?
Are you saying it is just Wolves the Premier league has forced to do this or is it all clubs?
As far as I can tell from Companies House Liverpool and Arsenal for example still have 31.5 as their year end?
Eds any info on this matter?
{Ed001's Note - I think he is getting mixed up between the dates of accounts being released and PRS calculations being done.}
22 Feb 2025 02:40:14
Baza
I had noted that fact but didn't want to mention it as I sadly tend to agree with you and thus I would once again risk being "Thefutureis (very)bleak"
Clearly we will know the outcome of 23-24 in the next few weeks - some clubs have already reported.
But as we know the club passed PSR in 23-24 we can say that we must have broken even at worst.
Profits, (mainly losses), therefore for the last 3 years are
2021-22 -£43m
2022 -23 -£64m
2023-24 must be circa profit of £2m so that we get to a 3 year loss of no more than £105m.
How did we achieve that when pre player sales the previous year we lost well over £100m.
Well firstly we didn't sack a manager that year so perhaps our pre player sales losses did not increase from the previous year and may even have declined slightly
Secondly we sold a bucket load of talent - headlined of course by Neves, but it also included Nunes, Collins, Coady, and Jimenez etc etc.
Profits from these sales were probably in the region of £100m on their own.
However if we have moved our year end date to beyond the opening of the next transfer window we must have done it for a reason.
Perhaps we expected to sell a player in Jan, but didn't because we would be relegated if we sell another of our saleable players, (and to make matters worse actually signed 3 new players increasing both wages and amorts), then we would still need to sell at least one before the year end. This was not possible before as the market doesn't reopen until June, hence the need to move the date to the end of June.
Lets look at the numbers
Over the 3 years to 2024 -25 we need to have losses of less than £105m.
That means that
-£64m + £2m + 2024-25 loss must be below £105m, ie 2024 -25 loss must not exceed £43m.
Is it possible therefore that we are worried that this is not looking likely at the moment
A very scary statement given that we sold Kilman, Podence, Neto amongst others this year surely generating profits of over £100m.
Thus does this say that, including the pay off for GON our pre player losses have increased to more than £143m?
If that is the case not only are our accounts totally out of control but we would almost certainly need to sell further players at a profit of circa £80m in 2025-26 which is probably impossible given what will be left with after the sale (s) made in June 20025.
Surely things can't be this bleak but as Baza says what other explanation is there for doing this?
15 Feb 2025 11:20:29
Indeed Rollo but as you say Wolves hopefully already have Semedo's eventual replacement in Lima.
By resigning Semedo for free we can, perhaps in 6-12 months time, buy Lima's replacement for a modest fee, (the fee you pay for a youngster not yet ready rather than the multi million pound fee you need to pay for a rock solid mid table prem league player).
Then in 18-24 months time as Semedo is edged out of the side by Lima we are still "covered" with Lima's replacement bedded in and presumably measured/tested to ensure they will be ready if and when Lima in turn needs replacing.
Planning in advance not only saves money but improves the team/squad.
All it requires is good management!
Shame we have Jeff!
Thefutureisoldgold1's banter replies
22 May 2025 00:32:39
Apologies I missed Nathan Collins out of the squad.
First thought was that he simply replaces "vacancy" as a back up.
However with only Toti comfortable on the left despite Kilman actually being left footed, I might say goodbye to Matt D and replace him with a LCB "vacancy"
22 May 2025 00:16:21
Wandering
You have hit the nail on the head!
We can't and haven't precisely because Jeff is grossly incompetent.
(ps it is not a theory but a fact - go read the accounts)
If Jeff could only run my club as well as say Brentford are run, they have no big stadium, no heritage or massive fan base, but made £230m more profit than us over the past 3 years pre player sales, we could easily have afforded not to sell any of those players with tens of millions left over to cover their wages!
We could in fact have afforded to keep Collins and MGW as well but would have to win a few more games to generate a bit more revenue to cover the wages. However with the 6 of them in the squad we wouldn't just have won a few more games but a whole bucket load meaning that we would now be a highly successful club both on and off the field rather than a club in real danger of failing both on and off the field.
In the first 11 Doherty obviously drops out as does Munetsi/Bellegarde and probably JSL.
Neves might play the Coady role meaning Toti might drop out but in reality the 6 of them would not just markedly improve the starting xi but the whole squad. For example Neves, Andre and Gomes J probably would not all be on the pitch at the same time that often unless Neves was in the back 3. However it is a squad game and the paucity of options - see Palace game this week - available to the manager (s) has really hurt us over the last few years.
Squad would look like
Sa - vacancy
Semedo -Lima
Emmanuel, Kilman Toti -Doherty, Yerson, vacancy (Djiga out on loan to see if he can make it)
RAN - Bueno H
Neves, Andre, Gomes J- Traore, Munetsi
Neto, Jota, Cunha. - MGW, JSL, Bellegarde, Gomes R
Looks really good and deep!
That front line is scary and MGW and JSL on the bench - wow anyone would think we were a serious top 7 team!
20 May 2025 23:42:56
Are you sure?
We played the Palace, (a lower mid table team) reserves and got smacked?
The fringe players?
Rodrigo was poor defensively - is he really a FB?
Djiga was not as good as "poor" and had to be removed.
Sarabia and Guedes, (neither of whom are likely to be here next season), were their usual selves, ie hopelessly inadequate.
Bentley shouldn't be playing Premier League football.
Our first 11 next season (depending on in-comings and
out-goings) might be just about good enough to stay up:
Sa, Semedo, Yerson, Emmanuel, Toti, RAN, Gomes J, Andre, Bellegarde, JSL and Munetsi but there is very very little behind them.
Even this will require JSL to massively step up because I don't see a lot of goals from Munetsi or Bellegarde and outside of Gomes J and RAN, (who along with Semedo might well not be here), no one else is likely to get more than the odd goal or two.
It is yet another huge summer for us and has to be better than the last few!
We need at least
a) 1 new GK capable of playing in the Prem
b) If Semedo is allowed to leave, (insanity!), a new first choice RWB as Lima is seemingly behind Gomes, who, (although normally looking a good player especially going forwards) is clearly not yet ready to be a first choice RWB! { same comment on RAN although Bueno H might be adequate - no more though -albeit a major downgrade going forwards)
c) At least 2 new CBs. At the moment we only have 3 who should be playing Premier league football - 1 of whom is currently recovering from another long term injury plus 2 not good enough Djiga - although early days - and Bueno and one now too old and not a cb anyway in Doherty?
d) At least 1 new CM as Doyle not good enough and Traore v v limited as a back up
e) Plus 2 or more new forward players at least one of whom has to be top half of the Prem quality from day 1!
In reality that is probably only 2 (or more if Semedo and/or RAN leave) first 11 players and a number of back ups but those 2 have to be top top quality players.
Finding them will not be easy or cheap!
20 May 2025 20:01:03
Wandering I have seen the rumour that he was offered £100k but also articles saying the offer was £60k.
Clearly only Adama and the club really know.
Additionally I have seen the £48k figure you quoted for his wage but also a £40k figure and indeed a £55k figure.
However you cut it though that is a fraction - only just over or indeed exactly 1/2 - of what Fabio was supposedly earning some £80k+
Given the relative contributions they were making you can see why he was far from happy.
It is your opinion that Jeff was wise to allow him to leave for free. Perhaps by the end there was no choice and to be fair his game had fairly significantly deteriorated - although playing in a team without a credible cf when you are an out and out winger will do that for you - by then anyway.
But at the time Fabio arrived and upset the apple cart he was one of the stars not just of the Wolves team but the Prem league.
Failing to keep him happy on and off the pitch meant that sadly we lost out on a superstar. However you are correct (and maybe Jeff takes comfort from this ) that he has failed to recover that level of magic since and Fulham are indeed only paying him the circa £65k you mention, albeit with the signing on fee to bolster his wage.
20 May 2025 17:36:22
Surely even Jeff isn't that incompetent? We treated Adama appalling, (he was being paid a fraction of the salary Fabio was but was being tasked with, (and succeeding), carrying the team after Raul's injury. He apparently asked for this to be recognised and we obviously said no?!
We, having completely lost any sort of relationship with him, then incredibly stupidly gave Barcelona a free option to look him over.
I have a very low opinion of Jeff but not even he could get it so wrong again.
Besides 2 more years of Cunha, even if you think he would simply sit there and run his contract down and leave on a free, might well be worth £62.5m.
With him in the side we would finish far higher in the league/stay in the league, show our existing squad and prospective signees we are a serious club etc etc etc.
Quite possibly worth a damn site more than £62.5m but Wolves sadly, due to Jeff, don't have the pockets to take long term sensible decisions but are living hand to mouth.
Worrying though that you think Wolves sign such horrible people that they all shaft the club. Why do you think Wolves have such a bad relationship with their employees that they all want to leave?