It could be a lot worse at Wolves
Tuesday 26th January 2010, 9:15AM GMT.
Wolves’ Sporting Star columnist John Lalley has warned critics that life could be worse at Molineux as fans call for the club to ‘break the bank’ in the window.
A growing number of Wolves fans are voicing their opinion that it is time for our owner Steve Morgan to start some serious speculation by investing heavily in transfer fees and wages. Supporters of all clubs routinely demand hefty investments, with the financial consequences left to look after themselves.
There are an increasing number of clubs currently regretting that they undertook such a policy. I would not have begrudged Morgan his dream of owning Liverpool rather than Wolves, if Sheikh Mansour had spent his £210million gaining a 90 per cent share at Molineux rather than at Middle Eastlands!
No doubt, we would be employing higher profile recruits this transfer window and not been chancing our arm with a couple of hopeful recruits from the Belgian top-flight if that had come to pass. But you have to live within your means and, on occasions, be grateful for small mercies.
Regardless of what he achieves for Wolves, a section of our fans will always castigate Jez Moxey until the day he drives down Waterloo Road for the last time. In fact, I’m amazed he hasn’t copped the flak and been blamed for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake failing to score any goals!
But give me Moxey every time if the alternative is stomaching Manchester City’s chief executive, Mr Garry Cook. It was toe-clenching embarrassment watching him make an obnoxious spectacle of himself last week, boasting with all the arrogant bluster of a man who finds himself endlessly fascinating at a Fans Forum in New York, of all places!
Microphone in hand, smug and belligerent in equal measure, he resembled a second rate stand up comic dragged off Rochdale Road as a warm-up for Bernard Manning. He spouted the certainty that City is set to become ‘the biggest and best club in the world’ and that absolutely nothing can stop this inevitable and inexorable rise to the summit of world domination.
Glasses raised and spirits soaring, Cook’s grinning audience roared its approval and reassured that he was preaching to the converted, City’s biggest big shot assured the light blue half of the Big Apple ‘when, not if we are at Wembley having beaten United again’ the trophy is assured.
With such an abundant history of indignity to draw upon, in the shadow of Old Trafford, you might expect of all people, the chief executive officer of Manchester City to display just a modicum of caution and humility.
But, not a bit of it, the man in the sharp suit who a year ago accused AC Milan of ‘bottling’ the transfer of Kaka and who, after just weeks ago conducting himself shamefully in the worst face-the-press conference in living memory on the day Mark Hughes was sacked, was too busy relishing the delight of being drenched in money.
Cook’s performance on the day Hughes departed was a mixture of bumbling contradictions, evasion, squirming and wriggling. Finally, confounded by his own confusion, he ranted angrily at legitimate questions in the most contemptible ‘shoot the messenger’ mode imaginable. It was a truly lamentable episode.
What with Manchester United’s Gary Neville and City’s Carlos Tevez conducting their own feud by way of word and rude gesture, it is scant wonder that the Assistant Chief Constable of Manchester police has entered the fray to warn the warring parties about their civic responsibilities before the second leg of the League Cup semi-final with the threat of violence brewing in the city.
United are £700million in debt and saddled with the Glazers, Liverpool are stymied under tom Hicks and George Gillett, West Ham are facing a monumental debt with David Sullivan at the helm, who began life at Upton Park bragging that he was prepared to pay Ruud van Nisteirooy a hundred grand a week, Hull are virtually broke and Portsmouth are an absolute basket case.
Life at Molineux could be a lot worse! After all, no so-called ‘big club’ ever went closer to going to the wall than we did. And the Bhatti era wasn’t a lifetime ago either. Wolves, more than any other Premier League club should know a thing or two about the pain of going bust, because that’s exactly what we did.
Talk of the same fate happening to another club might be dismissed as scaremongering but we managed it, no trouble and were literally within minutes of going the whole hog and finishing up as extinct as the dodo.
It was heartbreaking and we should never forget it, soul destroying to see the very lifeblood of Wolves seeping away. By God, we would have welcomed some financial restraint back then!
Remember Jez Moxey joining in the Mexican wave when Southampton – another salutary lesson in how not to run a football club – were drubbing us 6-0? I thought the old boy was going crackers under the strain. He wasn’t and the club was fine too.
We are not having a great time on the pitch at present, but we can still pull through and let’s be grateful we don’t have to endure the likes of Garry Cook to front the operation.
UK Sport
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THIS IS VERY TRUE.
NO PLAYER IS BIGGER THAN THE CLUB, WE DO NOT WANT OUR CLUB IN DEBT SIGNING BIG PLAYERS.
WE DO NOT WANT THE SAME SITUATION AS PORTSMOUTH, SO I THINK THAT THE 3 M’S ARE DOING THE RIGHT JOB!!
WE ARE WOLVES!!!
UTW!!!
CMON LETS BEAT LIVERPOOL TONIGHT AND HEAP MORE PRESSURE ON RAFAEL BENITEZ!!!!!!
MUJANGI AND GUEDIOURA TO START!!
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I don’t think any of us are calling for anyone to “break the bank”. I think we’re calling for the club to “use the bank a bit more than it has been used already, like you’ve been promising to do, and invest in a little bit more than two blokes who have played a handful of games for some Belgian also-rans.”
We need full-backs. We could get Degen from Liverpool, who doesn’t look half as bad as people seem to think. As a starting point.
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I agree nobody wants the club to break the bank but spend the money a little more wisely yes.
My argument has always been quality over quantity, we have now bought 11 players with only 2 you can classify of having experience. Why did we not buy 3 or 4 and accumilate the wages if neccessary out goings would be the same. We now sit here with a massive squad of average players, who i might add have served the club well but most games we play the same team as last year and then play people out of position when we have lot’s of natural options.
Blues showed the way to do, less signings but more quality and experience and they keep a settled team and have an average age 5 years older than ours. MM has no idea what his best team is not a clue.
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A sound enough article John, it does feel that the scars of the bhatti brothers disaster are still fresh in the molineux boardroom.
Its also absolutely right that we must not follow the full on cheque book way to success – either shortlived like pompey (FA cup) or Hull (promoted but now struggling) or longer term like Man U, Liverpool where the history of the clubs are in the hands of distant money men.
But surely there must be some middle ground, where we can attract more established players than the recent duo from Belgium. Maybe these two will come good but how long will it take.
Only a few people really know whats going on in the background at Molineux so people on these boards should do there job and fully support the club.
Hope the M6 is reasonably clear tonight as I need to get to Wolves from Essex. I’m picking up the boys from school at 330 to get to the match. Back home at midnight. Tomorrow morning is going to be hell getting them up for school – I just hope its worth it!!
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now thats loyalty walden wolf, of course its worth it and your boys can go to school and brag they watched wolves beat the mighty liverpool last night.
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Well said John Lalley.
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General tenor I agree with, but the alternative to Jez has to be Gary Cook? Its not an either or.
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The reason why we’re all moaning is because we we’re promised big signings in the Summer and Morgan brought this club on the basis that he’d put £30 million into the club.
Well i don’t see where any of that has gone, do you?
Let’s start with the stadium. It’s a mess. How many more games will we have to put up with seeing those old screens in the corners. Either FIX THEM or KNOCK THEM DOWN. Come on Morgan, i thought you worked construction.
And as for the team. We’ve spent £18 million. On what? We’ve brought one player capable of making things happen in this league – Kevin Doyle.
The fans have been taken for a ride again. That’s why the majority will be happy if they saw the back of the three M’s. I think that says it all.
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You always moan!
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Morgan put £30M in the bank as soon as he took over and I recall him on about Stadium improvements these don’t happen overnight he has only been in charge for 18 months and look what he has done FFS !.
Your just on the wind up again which really proves what a sad act you really are.
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Sorry, come again?
What has Morgan done?
We are the same club that Dave Jones took up years ago!
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Are you thick ?
Promotion, financially stability and Premiership status god sounds like he has done something doesn’t it.
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stadiums a mess ???? are you on drugs ?? we’ve got one of the best stadiums in the country. people like you make me sick if you cant support our club properly then crawl back under the rock you came from.. what has morgan done ?? more than you probably ever have for the wolves pal
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We are the same club that Dave Jones took up years ago !!!!
what pap you spout mr mod …we have players who are not on their last legs, we have players with a bright future, a club in a fantastic position with out an aging chairman wishing to sell, we have money in the bank and no second rate prem players just here for a pay day, we have no golden tit that has dried up but a fantastic business man who can run this club on a sound footing…why though when people make judgements like you have i no not
get your head out of your arsenal wanna be state and look on the bright side…you may find a positive if you look hard enough…then again may be not
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top wolf -
We have one of the best stadiums do we?
Why are we then looking at redeveloping it then? Why is it that the concorses are too busy at half time to get served or get to the loo?
Why is it the catering facilities are poor? Why are there no escalators for older supporters in the upper BW or SB stands? Why do we not have swipe card turnstiles instead of miserable operators?
Because our stadim is mutton dressed as lamb.It is very much outdated in every factor previously mentioned, a bit like the team really!
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what has morgan done? the ground is a mess, the pub in the stan cullis is a dive its a state, propa social club down your local its a mess, what a disgrace, the tvs are far to small u go old trafford and theyve got big hdtvs at the snackbars and have mcdonalds in there ground. Morgan cant be bothered to get the paint out and repaint the ground. its a mess
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Agree about the TV screens. Its a bit embarrassing!
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it’s nice that we are worried about the screens. Other clubs cant pay the players…..
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We do not want to be in Pompeys position or Leeds do we?
That said I am of the firm opinion that the club should have bought fewer players but better quality.
If you take Doyle and Hanneman, possibly our two best players at present, they were from a team that GET RELEGATED! I think that says everything about the rest of the squad does it not?
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Wembley, you seem to have a real downer on the team and the club.
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Jake – Not really – I live in the real world!!
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“we’re all moaning”……
No we are not, it is just that the most vocal minority are those who would rather be in a financial mess caused by living beyond our means and buying all these Premiership quality players who are knocking our door down to play for us.
GET REAL!
Do you really want our club to do a Leeds?
Do you hear “Premiership” players speaking about how they are dying to play for us?
NO!
It is a little disappointing that such players have not arrived, but we are where we are and I consider lucky to be in a poor division this season, one with enough other weak teams that we should be able to survive this season.
How many before this week had heard of our new signings, but suddenly are experts on whether they are any good or not.
This squad IS good enough to stay up in this division this season and then attract the players required to go on to the next level and keep Premiership football for years to come.
I know this little piece will not silence the moaners, but for once look at where we actually are rather than the dream land you all live in, and back the club and the three M’s
As the piece says, we could be dealing with a lot worse.
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Morgan and Moxey didn’t help themselves by indulging in some Man City-style triumphalism themselves on the back of our promotion. If they’re the astute financiers we’re led to believe, their long term forecasts/strategy should have made them guarded against publicly setting unrealistic targets for this season. A little more discretion last summer would have served to temper expectations, and would have been more in keeping with the ‘softly-softly’ approach that served us so well in recent years. Moxey, certainly, should have been around long enough to know what happens when you raise false hopes amongst our passionate, but success starved support. In that much, Chairman and Chief Exec have certainly done supporters, manager and playing staff a huge disservice.
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Common sense talking for once.
We may need a little longer to develop this club into what we all want to see, throwing money away has never helped us in the past.
Give the new guys a chance and lets hope we can stay up.
You cannot sign anyone if they do not wish to play for us.
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This article was probably written by Martin Swain and lacks balance.N0 ONE wants massive debts but is that a reasonwhy we should always make do with second best.I would think Moxey was the best thing since sliced bread if he changed his ways and delivered some quality on the football pitch.We are supposed to be a football club not a money making machine for long serving Chief Executives.It is about time Swain addressed the concerns of long suffering fans and the wasted opportunities due to mis management at our football club.Still I suppose he will miss out on all the perks if he upsets Moxey.
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So this mis-management would include successfully getting the club into the Premier League, debt free?
Show me one club who has taken the gamble of lending against future revenue and came up trumps? It’s an avenue to disaster, ask Leeds, Southampton, Portsmouth, Hull etc etc. How many examples does your empty head need to tell you that throwing the kitchen sink isn’t the answer to all our dreams?
Clueless mate, absolutely clueless. But symptomatic of a minority of Wolves fans.
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The mismanagement is the waste of Sir Jacks legacy. Are you guys all pleased with the signings this summer.Can you name any other club that has failed year after year to establish itself in the Premier league given the finanacial benefitsfrom Sir Jack. You are right I am in the minority,I went to one of the Chorley games. I was there in the 80s.I support the Wolves not the endless excuses from Moxey. Still best of luck to Mick and the boys tonight.It is a great pity we have signed the quality we need
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Sorry, I mean’t NOT signed the quality we need.
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I would identify mis-management as the pre-mentioned clubs; Hull, Portsmouth and the like. It would be nice to think we are just a football club but that does not exist in top flight anymore. We are all businesses! Fact! Thats why we have business people running clubs.
I think theres a choice to be made here. Either invest heavily on fees and wages and put club in debt or be live within your means and work with what you have got?
Look what happened with Leeds!
Final point. I’m guessing that most of the people saying we should go for broke with the finances have a similar view with their life i.e. living off credit cards, loans and HP’s; always catches you up!
UTW & 3 M’s
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So you do not identify mismanagement with the failure to achieve success despite the funding from Sir Jack and the £30m promised from Steve Morgan. The failure to survive one season in top flight football since 1982. Just because someone down the street has their house repossessed is that a reason to rent all your life.Mismanagement is about wasted opportunities as well as wasted money.
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Portsmouth won the FA Cup and played in Europe, we will both probably be in the same league next season. I appreciate we don’t want to go bankrupt but there is a middle ground. The fact is we spent millions on Surman, Maierhofer, Halford, trying to do it on the cheap when surely this could be used on one player of absolute quality and their wages. AT least we can brag to out grandchildren that we supported the mighty solvent wolves who spent 2 seasons in 25 years in the top flight : ) I cannot believe McCarthy’s view of the Belgian debutant, was he watching the same game?
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Portsmouth only won the FA cup because Barnsley did all the hard work for em!
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We dont want the clubs future put in jepordy,we just want what we were promised by JM and SM !!!.
When it was time to sell season tickets we were sold the usual crap that we would not do an albion and we were not just there to make the numbers up,Luckily and for the first time in fourteen years i saw past the lies and kept my money in my pocket and how glad i am i did with the disgracfule way in which we fans have been treated by the club.
McCarthy has lost the plot big time this season, he seems to be getting worse as each week goes by.
MUPPET MICK OUT !!!
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funny that I thought we’d got promoted last season ??? didn’t see you moaning then ??? now we’re in the best league in the world and fair enough were not top of the league but get real !! we’re finacially stable and not relegated yet !! get a grip
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So we get rid ov MM who would you bring in at this late stage of the season you must have some idea share them with us.grant you MM tactics have been questionable but to sack him now would not be good house keeping.and as for our finances let the man utds liverpool and west hams spend the money they do not have the self distruct button for them has already been pressed i do not want to see it happen to us again.
GOOD LUCK TONIGHT LADS.
ps remember to give the pool keeper 90mins of hell for his 40 yard sprint at anfield.
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40 yards more like 90 at Usain Bolt speed….agree he must get loads of abuse.
Also agree with what you say on MM he got us promoted and deserves his shot at it.
just like him to be backed to get the likes of Hunt ect….
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It’s about time someone put things into perspective.
Up the Wolves
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This is the best journalistic piece I have seen on Wolves in recent weeks. Spot on. It looks at the bigger picture.
Wolves fans are happiest when they have something to moan at. At the moment everyone is moaning we have no Premiership experience, not spent big money or pay enough wages. But if Wolves had bought Ronaldo for £80 million, the same people would moan he isn’t worth that or more than likely Jez wouldn’t doing his job negotiating effectively! If we had a team full of Premiership experience and still in this position they would moan about the players being too old. That’s the fickleness of our supporters and need to look at the bigger picture.
Football fans around the country despise at teams like Man City and Chelsea that buy success. Wolves is being run properly and slowly building as a club, look how far we have come in 20 odd years!!! And imagine where we can be in another 20 years, especially when all the rich Russians and Arabs get bored leaving these clubs with crippling debt.
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rubbish blog! Who cares about Man City and the rest of them! On another note, I can understand the frustration! We need to sign Stephen Hunt and a striker!!
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well said straight to the point a couple of good signings could save our season so cmon the 3 ms get your fingers out now and give us a fighting chance thats all we ask,,,WE ARE WOLVES,,,in mad mick we dont trust,,,ilk
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I appreciate that we dont want to go bust, and that having to pay ridiculous wages to often sub standard, lazy and injury prone players is a risky business and one that we should leave to the top clubs.
We are not the legendry club we once were, and in my mind we never will be whist the scouse Morgan sits in charge. (I hate Scousers!)
However what we do have is a large squad and lots of deadwood that are either bad signings this season, or left over from previous.
Put a few of them together,
Iwelumo
Elekobi
Friend
Hill
Halford
Hoff…
and we could probably scrape enough together to add to the pennies we do have to sign a little bit above our normal weight.
But forget being able to entice the best of the worst we should have done that at the start of the league. I would have thought we would have had more chance with hungry young players from the lower leagues and abroad at this stage than has beens not good enough to get in our rivals 1st teams. Try Beckford for instance!
You can look at the Prem and any other top league around the world, work down top to bottom and I will almost guarantee that they are in order of wealth.
Lets remember that most clubs now are owned as play things, toys for the Mega rich. Whilst on paper and seperate businesses they do lose millions of pounds (see how much Man City, Chelsea, and Man Utd have all written off) the amount is insignificat to the feeding hand of the owners.
Unless we get one of those type of owners for Christmas our club will always struggle to compete, entice and survive in the big league.
All I would ask MM is that you at least play the strongest squad avaialable in the strongest positions and that if we do go out of this league we go out as WOLVES FIGHTING!
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iwelumo was brilliant last year and i dont think we should count him as dead wood……. you could say them same bout blake at the moment but he will come good and iwelumo will score…….. same goes for
elokobi…. he was brilliant in the championship anbd hes good enough for now as a replacement left back….
Hill well hes off on loan anyway…….
i totally agree with halford hes awful…….
the hoff well i think he will also score a few more wen he has a run inb the team if he has a run in the team….
friend is one for the future and has been bought by mick considering the teams for the futuure as have vokes and others……
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hi..on Elokoki, how was he brilliant in the championship?…think he played about 5 games then got injured and didnt play again til the last match when he came on for a little while just as a token gusture,…so not sure how you can call him brilliant.
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Iwelumo is not prem Player and yes he was good for us in the Championship. Didnt Charlton offload him to us when they were in the Prem? I would have thought that we could have enticed Leeds with a swap for Beckford?
Elekobi yes for now but we are desperate for a intelligent left back.
Regards the others well yes and yes.
To be honest my point is that we may need to sell some to accumulate others. Morgan and Moxey are clearly restraining the purse strings, for whatever agenda they have and by selling others it may well be the only way to strengthen the squad with the talent we need.
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So the main point of your article is that you wouldn’t want Wolves to swap places with Man City??
I don’t think anyone would disagree when you say you don’t want Wolves to risk bankruptcy. However, there is a massive gap between the extreme of “breaking the bank” as you put it and the other extreme of only bringing in two players on loan for the rest of the season from the Belgian league.
So, whilst of course life could be worse, I think most people would argue that it could be a hell of a lot better without “breaking the bank”. It seems that the present management is not even willing to pay the necessary maintenance costs to keep us at the higher level where we find ourselves as opposed to undertaking massive investment that may or may not lead to problems down the line.
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I agree with everything you say and have tried my hardest is putting this forward to my fellow fans .. But I think you will fond the most arrogance amongst the older dans and younger fans , fans who have seenthe likes of Richards , wagstaffe , Doug , Hughes etc etc … These bloke seem to think we have eight to be at the top o the footballin ladder , we don’t we are a very small fish amongst other small fish in a massive river !!! Why moan and groan and make a difficult task for the wolves players harder by booing and moaning and groaning !! Yes I have had a moan this season it’s wolves you never get away Scott free , but we have to work in our limits and if these players turn out to be wonder kids well McCarthy has pulled I off again …
Fans keep talking about prem experieience , someody tell me a player with enough , also who would want to come to our club ?? .. I can’t think of any players with massive experience in the prem who would want to lose ther 60’000 salarys and come to a reledation battle ??…
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I totally agree. Wolves have nearly gone to the wall twice in the last 30 years and it is desperate when West Ham are offering £100k a week for Van Nistelrooy but are still £50 million in debt and Pompey want their embargo lifted yet cannot pay their wages on time and still owe other clubs and the previous owner shed loads.
However, as the bottom is very tight Wolves need to make a big effort whilst being sensible to get the likes of Hunt, O’Hara, Roberts etc as staying up will have a massive boost on the youngest squad in the Premiership. Yes there are half-a-dozen that are probably not good enough but there are plenty that will get better and better!
I hope after Saturday that Zubar, Vokes and Jones are in the shake up!
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no none is wanting wolves to break the bank..what we do want is the investment promised, 2m on a player here and there just isnt going to cut it at this level. who cares what is going on at man city and man utd..those are clubs, that no matter what debt they have,will never go to the wall. we are not of their stature so it was pointless remarking on them. 40 odd million for going up as champs last year..30 million investment from morgan…plus what ever was in the bank from years of season tickets and player sales.we never really invested heavily since the lescott/olofinjana/camara fees we received so no wonder we are on a sound footing financially. surely 10-15 million investnment extra will no where near put us in jeopordy. if it will…then exactly where has the money gone!!! UTW
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Couldnt agree more with the article, which begs the question why let mccarthy quander money on player who are clearly not up to the job, remember quality not quantity will keep us in this league.
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At last the voice of reason, Wolves is one of the best run clubs in the country and whilst the current transfer window has not brought in the experience we crave so far there is still a week left.
Jez Moxey is a bit like marmite he is loved and hated in equal measure but no one can say he dosen’t run the club well.
The fans that moan should remember is wasn’t that long ago we nearly went to the wall.
We should also remember we tried the “big name” approach to get out of the championship in the mid 90′s and that failed.
At the end of the day it could be a lot worse and its also worth considering no club has really spent big in the window including Man City, Blues and Chelsea, so a bit of perspective is needed.
Wolves also have a tendancy to about their business quietly so it wouldn’t surprise me if a couple decent players arrive before the deadline
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john lalley u r a legend!!!
maybe some of the typical wolves supporters who are always thinkin negative and trying to get rid of someone from the club maybe a bit open minded!!!
lets make our home a fortress tonight….. lets be united together and make our ground a scary place to make liverpool slip up…. we can do it wolves….. lets forget about recent displays and lets go out there tonight and back our team…. and if sum 1 makes a mistake lets not booooo lets cheer them on to the end!!!
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its easy to say lets make it a fortress,we wouldn’t be having this convo on here if mad mick new what he was doing if only he would play the players in there right position i know its not the players fault because they just want to play but its confusing them playing out of position,have you noticed the players he buys mad mick always describes them as a player that can play anywhere across the middle or anywhere across the back line he never actually buys a player to play in one position hes trying to cover as many positions as posible with one player and its not working so cmon mad mick sort it out,,,WE ARE WOLVES,,,in mad mick we dont trust,,,ilk
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Im no fan of cooke but the tirade of abuse is nothing to do with us as fans or a club. But was’nt it jez who said we will pay the wages and fee’s ? And not be down with the also rans. So he built up the hype and expectation not us.
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I do not want our club in debt either, money does not buy passion, commitment or loyality. It also does not give the manager the brains to adopt the right tactics. All I want is to go and watch us beat Liverpool later :)
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Yes, in the black and in the Championship.
Bring it on! :o(
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as far as i know none of us were asking for wolves to break the bank but for them to deliver what was said at the start of the season that prem players would be bought in just to try and get a foot hold in the prem,ive got nothing against these 2 players that have come in i really hope it works for them and us only time will tell but had the club spent all the money mad mick is wasting on so many cheep players and spent it on 4 or 5 players of the quality of doyle then we would have stood a far better chance of staying in the prem,then theres the problem of mad mick playing players out of position this is a cardinal sin in the prem its hard enough as it is being a newley promoted team now we have this new player bia who is a winger so play him there on the left and jarvo on the right and the rest of the team in there own positions it can only help doing the job that they know lets get a bit of continuity to the team for the rest of the season and we might just survive,good luck to the lads tonight against liverpool lets get 3 vital points to the cause,,,WE ARE WOLVES,,,in mad mick we dont trust,,,ilk
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This very sound article brought back memories – we certainly don’t want to go down that road again! I do agree with Walden Wolf in questioning whether we could find, prudently, enough to tempt in the one or two proven players who might help keep us in this league. We are not scoring enough goals, so we need a striker – on loan or whatever. Who knows, we might have one by the end of next week. I don’t want to be a yo-yo club, I want us to build on what we have and stay where we are.
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We are not asking our club to break the bank at all,as supporters all we needed was four good experienced players added to our squad and everyone of us would have been happy.The point you seemed to have missed is that most of the players bought were no better than what we already had!!!on top of that not playing a settled team all season and playing players out of position,well thats the reason we are not scoring goals and also no passion or desire in the team because only a settled team can do this.
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Good article with alot of good points!
I’ll be there tonight, cheering the lads on as always, so lets get every1 behind them and get a good result tonight
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5. Wolves Mod.
So many on here remind me of posters on our own board. You are typical. I think Steve Morgan promised the £30m investment in the infrastructure not for transfer money. On top of this, it might have escaped some that the World’s financial structure has gone into meltdown since he made the promises.
‘That’s why the majority would be happy to see the back of the 3Ms.’ And replace them with what? Again we have so many that want to see the back of Jeremy Peace and replace him with this mythical white knight who will ride in and give your club millions of pounds expecting nothing in return. They don’t exist. Be happy that you still have a club to support, you know who owns it and you know where the money comes from.
Remember that when Jack Hayward sold your club because it almost bled him dry (and he received little enough thanks from some quarters) he wasn’t exactly inundated with credible buyers.
Beware of what you ask for, you may get it. Portsmouth have.
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Don’t come on here saying “I think Steve Morgan promised the £30m investment in the infrastructure not for transfer money.” when you no absolutely nothing about our club. Your not even a Wolves fan!
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Nor are you, you purely exist on here to wind up true fans and moan until you turn your PC off.
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Well said Mr Hoo.
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well you obviously know nothing either saying the stadiums a mess..pot and kettle me thinks
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wolvesmod.
I didn’t mean to get you so angry, I was trying to explain something that you seemed to have no grasp of.
The fact that I read an article where Mr Morgan was quoted as saying this, would seem to indicate that if I know absolutely nothing about your club, I actually know more than you.
I don’t need to be a Wolves fan to have a point of view. Believe it or not I have a point of view on many things. You should try it.
I realise that you are quite unpopular on here and therefore very defensive but try to calm down a bit, people may find you less objectionable.
Hope this has helped you.
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Nice.
The transfer window is still open. Wanna come support Wolves ? :-)
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Some sense at last from a Baggies man. Will you please educate Terry.
On the subject of “PRUDENCE” you mention all the BIG boys but there is one “LITTLE” team down the road doing quite nicely with the Chinese take away took control.
It isn’t down to how much you have got but how you spend it and I am convinced that Wolves have not spent wisely. I rest my case.
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I like you,you’re welcome down the Golden Palace anytime :0)
Wolvesmod you are everything we don’t need in a fan,i don’t doubt u love the club but i wish you’d keep your opinions to yourself because if we go down negative people like you will be as much to blame as the 3 M’s or the players
UTW!!
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Agree with you 110 per cent John. Most of the 80s were sheer agony for Wolves fans. As you said this did not happen in the 30s when nobody living today remembers those years except for a small number.
Those who want the club to pay over the odds transfer fees and wages just have to look at clubs like Portsmouth, Hull, Southampton, Charlton etc to see where this theory leads to.
The big clubs are also staying cautious about their spending and that is what all clubs must do otherwise they will be in ruins.
They must bear in mind that you can’t spend what you don’t have otherwise you’re in debt. And we don’t want to pass from another 80s era.
If Wolves manage to stay in the Premier this season the players would have more experience of the top flight. So we must be grateful that the club is managed to stay debt free.
Regarding tonight’s match against Liverpool hope that Wolves get a positive result to claw their way up the table.
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Interesting – if polemic – opinion piece. And, away from the passions of being a supporter, there is a lot of sense in it.
But football club supporters, first and foremost, wish to see their team enjoy success on the field rather than off it (though I accept the latter is an ongoing neccesary).
As far as Wolverhampton Wanderers are concerned, the overwhelming majority of fans really do have the club in their blood.
We are not like a Liverpool or Manchester United or Arsenal or Chelsea – teams that acquire supporters from people who have never even visited the towns the clubs are based in, purely because of their on-the-field success.
Wolves fans, in the overwhelming main, are people born and bred in Wolverhampton, Bilston, Tettenhall, Wednesfield and so on.
The club represents, not just a bit of fun enjoying a favoured sport, but a big part of the individual supporter’s very identity – often traceable back through many generations.
That which the club represents to fans as a marker of self will always take dominance over interest in balance sheets.
A club like Wolves represents the self, family heritage and community. The expectation that all who serve the club do so accepting what the Wolves shirt represents tempers many a post on the E&S website – week in, week out.
Yes, citing the past financial nigtmares at Molineux are fair enough.
But those very same Wolves fans who witnessed that same nightmare have experienced the underdog status. They were there as Graham Turner and some unknown bloke called Steve Bull brought the club up from the lowest of the low, like a phoenix once more.
And we were skint, with half a stadium.
So, the bit of the history lesson and analysis that’s missing is the passion and pride that accompanied that Wolves resurrection.
“Out of darkness, cometh light”.
We’ve seen the light. It’s called the Premier League. And fans do not wish to see themselves and everything that the club represents to them plunged back into the darkness of the league below through *excessive* penny pinching – which is what a great many suspect is going on.
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Top quality mate, the best article ive seen wrote on here ever !!!
This is exactly the reason so many fans would be happy to see all three M’s go !.
starting with the biggest problem of all in
SACKING MUPPET MICK!!!.
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Good posting you hit the nail right on the head.We need inspirational signings like Bully.When we were going up in those days we believed any thing was possible.And it should have beeene with the benefit of Sir Jacks money. We have one final chance to fulfil that dream with Steve Morgan’s commitment.But we need inspirational signings just like those guys managed to do in Div 4 with Bully.
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So you’d like us to spend £65k on two players, one of whom will become the club’s all-time top goal-scorer and an England international, who will stay loyal to the club throughout ?
Damn. That’s such a simple solution. And I bet no-one at Molineux has thought of it.
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And you think Moxey is doing a good job signing Frankowski.I notice you have no comment to make about the wasted opportunties year after year due to poor decisions in the transfer market.We need a Director of Football who can identify the difference between a Bull and a Maierhofer.And I am not suggesting me or you.
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I agree with you on the stadium why, didn’t they sort those screens, they were pretty much out of use last season why not stick new ones up or replace with temp infills.
I’m not a negative and renewed well before we were promised big signings so I never brought my ticket because of what was said. But looking back at the start of the season it appears it was a bit of spin to sell tickets, missing out on Scott Dann for the reason of a few etc grand makes me think something needs to be done.
Apart from the odd game can anyone honestly say it has been really enjoyable, Tottenham, Everton, Bolton and Fulham are the only games I can think of where I really enjoyed going. Therefore next season I’m having a season away to watch Dudley Town save some money and pic and choose next seasons games..
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Don’t say too much pal. You might get shouted at for voicing your own opinion.
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The problem is your opinion WolvesMod is that of tunnel vision and you have already made your mind up on what you want and nothing else changes
I think the 3M’s could have done somethings different but overall we have improved 10 fold in the last few years since Hoddle…
I’m please with where we are just, disappointed that that extra step wasn’t made…
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Exactly.
As a club we’ve been heading in the right direction for the last 3 years – and it would be a shame if we don’t consolidate. But far better this than Hoddle.
Enjoy Dudley Town.
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Whats the answer then Mr Lally,we the fans do our bit 28000 pay our hard earned,we dont want to be debt ridden but we want to compete,are you saying the premiership is a step to far for us Wolves because iff we pay bigger wages for better players we are doomed to debt and destruction of our club..Iff this is the case we might as well resign our selfs to being a permanent lower league football club.And wouldnt it be better all round iff the management didnt promise us the world,only to let us down.
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Very good article. I have read that if Hull get relegated their players have no clause to reduce their wages. Players who cannot make the 15 are on 25k a week and playing in the reserves, they refuse to move clubs because they will lose financially. They are happy to sit in the stands on match-days knowing they have 25k coming to them at the end of the week!
Moxey has done a fantastic job. We are 1 of 4 clubs in the black in the whole country and we are in the Premier League. Fantastic. I would love to see us sign these top players but if some foreign billionaire lost interest and left (Man City) nobody can afford to take on that debt and they will go under. I think if we survive, we need to up the wage budget slightly with a relegation clause that their wages will be reduced and you watch them perform to keep earning Premier league money. The bottom line is players won’t do that, they will go to poorly run clubs like Hull and get their Premier League money whatever division they are in.
Lets get Kites and Matt Murray fit along with the return of Keogh and we will stay up. 4 points from the next two games. WE ARE WOLVES.
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Shadrag, that’s actually a well thought out and constructive post that makes sense!
Well done you!! Love you Shadrag xx
On another note, what has actually happened to Matt Murray recently? Is he likely to play again because that lad has had nothing but terrible luck with injuries / comebacks / injuries / comebacks etc.
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Ned.
Have to agree. When he can write stuff like this, how can he lower himself to trying to stir it up on our site while pretending to be an Albion fan.
On the Matt Murray subject. Clem has been forced into retirement and it always seems to happen to the good guys (Joey Barton should be playing til he picks up his pension.) Hope Murray can get back.
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What debt do Man City have?
Rhetorical question since the answer is none. Sheikh Mansour converted his loans into equity earlier this year.
If the current owner gets bored and wants to sell, any buyer would take future salary requirements into account when valuing the equity.
Chelsea were hugely in debt to Abramovich’s outside investment vehicles. In response to the Platini suggestions that clubs in debt shouldn’t compete in the Champions League, he converted all of this into equity. Hence, Chelsea is debt free. There’s an article in the Grauniad today commenting on Scunthorpe being debt free. So, that’s Wolves, Man City, Chelsea and Scunthorpe as the only debt-free clubs in the country????
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No, I think there are a few more – but only a very small number.
I believe there was a report listing 4 clubs (including us), but it came out before Chelsea and Man City did the equity swap.
Of course much depends on what you call a debt. If I understand correctly, Wolves were ‘in debt’ to Jack Hayward throughout the 90s…
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It also depends on who guarantees the debt.Sir Jack I believe capitalised the debt before the change in ownership.But I did read in the Times that Wolves were £18m in debt at a time after Steve Morgan took charge.
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Good bit of journalism and everything that is said is true, however there is no mention of the real root of the fan’s moans this season and that is Moxey’s false promises of signing experienced Premiership players and the now infamous “We won’t do an Albion” line. Yes we’ve signed a great player in Doyle and Hanneman looks the part in goal too, but apart from that we look a pretty poor side so far this season. Think back to the last time in the Premiership and although it was cocked up big time by SJH there were at least no false promises and I seem to remember the fans were alot more united in their support for the team. If we do get relegated (I hope we don’t) how can JM ever be believed again in anything that he promises to the fans. There is no getting away from the fact that the fans have been lied to and this is the root of the problem this season.
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Has the transfer window already closed; I missed that one!
Great article; the best people to make the decisions are those with all the factual information, the 3 M’s. Everything else is speculation!
Support the club until at least our destination is confirmed. If we go down and you don’t like it you don’t have to attend next season. I don’t want to go down but if we do I’ll be there next season as I have for the last 32 years. Not blind loyalty but support for my club.
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I’m sorry I do not agree with this article one bit! Why use Man City as an example?! Why not use Stoke as an example to counteract the argument?
Are they in serious financial difficulty or facing a relegation battle?
Answer no!
So why is it they are able to go out and invest in experienced premiership quality last season and this season and we are not?! Answers on a postcard please Morgan and Moxey!
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A very valid point about Stoke. There is a slight flaw in that they are in debt but to what extent I am not too sure.
As I said earlier we need to make those important signings but the January window is a desperate time and things go to the death. The two loan signings may prove to be inspired but are very much a gamble. We must get the experience in here now!!
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Sorry John, but the truth is Wolves are a club that clearly lack ambition and the owner (LIVERPOOL FAN!) is not prepared to put money where his mouth is. Having been a supporter for over 40 years now and experienced the highs and the lows at Wolves though various regimes, I find the current situation very depressing. What you are saying in effect is that it’s ok to get relegated providing the club stays in the black. The quality of players and quality of recent performances speaks volumes about the intentions of the owner, who should be embarrassed if he is used to being a fan of a club who he has experienced winning numerous trophies over the last thirty years. What a great shame that a wealthy local businessman or consortium had not got control as then we might have had the passion and investment to make Wolves a more competitive outfit.
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None of us want massive debts, overpaid prima donnas or mercenaries at our club.
BUT, I for one want a manager who buys and plays personnel that are fit for the purpose. Blues started recruiting Prem quality players LAST season (Bowyer, Carr etc.) and have continued to add to this quality without exactly breaking the bank, whilst poor old us have bought mainly Championship standard players whom our esteemed manager wrongly believes are good enough and EVEN asks them to play out of position.
I truly believe that a decent mangager who is not out of his depth at this level would have used the near £20m that MM has so far spent, FAR FAR more wisely and thus we would be in a better position than we are now.
To say that this season, the signings, the managers’ obvious lack of tactical knowledge has been a massive disappointment to me so far is an understatement, especially after taking 6 years to get back to this level and all the bullish talk at the end of last season.
As I said, we don’t want massive debts or the club to struggle financially, I too clearly remember the Bhatti era… but what I do expect for my 30 years a season ticket holder is money to be spent wisely by a manager who actually knows what he is doing.
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I’m a Baggie but take an interest in our great rivals. What you say about Blues may or may not be correct. I seem to remember a lot of fans on here at the time saying that Blues were bringing in a lot of has beens in Bowyer and Carr while Wolves young and hungry squad were ready for the PL. It was hard to argue at the time, as you finished well in front of Blues. Like I say, you might be right but it’s down to how you interpret it. Football fans are great at hindsight.
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Fair comment mate, but I have NEVER been convinced by the Moxey and McCarthy “young and hungry” (geeze, I’m sick of that phrase !!) direction. One of our most consistant performers since MM has been here has been Craddock (36) and last time round in the Prem Irwin, Ince and Rae were worth their weight in gold.
Nothing to do with hindsight on my part, believe me, my mates will testify to that having listen to me bang on about MM for the last 3 years.
If you look at how Blues have built over the last 12 months it shows us up as complete amateurs, which is what our manager is at this level…just check his record out.
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Why write about Man City, who cares about them or any other clubs finances for that matter. We know top players won’t come to Wolves but we were badly were let down with the close season signings. Unfortunately we have to accept we are not going to get any big signings so we need to get real. Biggest problem is MM who is like the captain of the Titanic boldy decalring it will be just fine. Ah well up the wolves and back to the fizzy pop league unless we start playing a settled team with players in their strongest position. For example Foley is a good full back, midfielder he most certainly isn’t.
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What a rubbish piece of one eyed jouranlism I thought when writing an article you should give a balanced view.I dont think any Fan would want us to do a”Leeds” but you have to balance that argument with competing in the Premier League.If we dont intend to compete in this league and the plan is to make money from being a yo yo club the Directors should be honest with the Fans.We were given false promises before the end of last season with Moxey saying we wont make the same mistakes as before and we will invest in proven prem players in retrospect this was said to sell tickets and con the fans.The money that was wasted in buying sub standard players could have bought at least two more quality players to compliment Doyle,why didnt we buy Hunt then its becase Wolves now is a money making exercise and that the focus is not on football.
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Its hard to disagree with this article if you were around, like I was, to witness the ups and downs of the past 40 years at Wolves. Football is in a very precarious financial position now and many clubs are on the brink of disappearing, and not just the smaller ones either. Most sensible Wolves fans would agree that the club is run very well by Moxey whether you like him or not. BUT, the frustrating thing for the fans is that we matched Man City with all their millions on the pitch for an hour and but for a little bit more quality in the side we could have got at least a point from that game and would certainly have got more points on the board from other games. Money has been spent on players who, with the odd exception have not been any better than the one’s we’ve got. That’s what people don’t understand.
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Points taken, John. But the question remains do we have the ambition to be a Premier League club for the long term. If so we need to steer a course between the extremes of breaking the bank (and the club) and trying to wing it – both extremes funnily enough guaranteeing a return to a lower division/s.
The real question is – do we want to be a Prem club, do we want to belong in the top flight? If yes, let’s do things to make it so. That will cost, that will require investment, but it’s not a gambler’s throw, and yes some pain – not everyone will be able to stay the couse. Otherwise we’re just struggling in waters way out of our depth.
Let 2010 be the year we commit to the Prem and get that core of playes we need to stay there. Playmaker, finisher and defender are required and let’s get going in the final third where it hurts the opposition.
Could it be worse? yeah, could it be better? you betcha.
coyw
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Sound management is what it takes to run a business and a Football Club is a business.
The day of reckoning is fast approaching for the “big” clubs. Burdened with massive debts they have yet to taste what Wolverhampton Wanderers experienced.
My money is on Wolves surviving while its old opponents are driven to the point of extinction. Mr. McCarthy has to fight to keep in the premiership because until he can establish he is staying there he will have difficulty attracting players. It is a vicious circle. He was very correct to make this (misrepresented) point recently.
I know little about football. I do know something of how to run a business.
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100% wolves – absolutley spot on mate
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John Lalley – dragging up the Bhattis is a cheap shot, it was 26 odd years ago and a hell of a lot of football has gone on since then.
Wolves fans do NOT want the club to break the bank, there has never been a call for that to happen BUT what is wanted is the club to flex its muscle in the transfer market, go for players who can take this club forward, keep us in the Premier League and make the club one which other players would sign for instead of ‘politely’ turning us down because we show no ambition nor pay the kind of wages that PL clubs MUST pay to attract the right sort of players.
Steve Morgan has emptied one pocket of cash but the back pocket is still full of big notes but he is reluctant to show them to the type of players that we need, so McCarthy has had to raid the piggy-bank again and hope he has enough pennies to convince foreign never-heard-of players to come to Molineux to play in the Premier League – which is too good to miss for them!
Moxey obviously keeps a very tight hand on finances but keeping the club in the black is one thing but only permitting McCarthy to bring in loan players and from outside of the UK to boot, is self-defeating, we need proven PL players, not in August BUT NOW!
Will we see any though? Not b….y likely by the looks of it for all players know how stingy Wolves are and other clubs will sign the better players whilst we will be signing what’s left – as usual!
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26 years ago, so what.
Many still believe we are the team from the 50′s and floodlight european games.
It is a very good reminder of where we could be.
So are Leeds, Portsmouth….
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All fans/supporters of football clubs want to see their teams compete at the very highest level.The big problem here in my opinion is that the spin doctors keep quoting Portsmouth,Leeds,Charlton etc clubs that have hit hard times through mis-management,yet nobody looks at Wigan,Fulham,Bolton,Blackburn,Stoke etc,clubs with smaller gates than ours yet have managed to stabilise in the Premiership.
Yes i hear people will reply But they have had more than one season,Because they took the gamble that we will not.Remember last season Stoke signed Beattie a gamble that payed off.Wigan apparently have agreed a fee of 7 million to buy a striker whilst we are still pussyfooting around.
RBH,What you are saying is very true but Morgan acquired a club that was financially stable,A reported profit of £15million in last 5 years(May or may not be true)
14000 Season ticket holders who purchase their tickets 5/6 months in advance therefore able to forward plan expenditure.
To sum it up No i do not want a return to the days of the Bhatti’s but yes i would love to see Wolves sustain and move forward in the greatest league in the world.
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Malta.
I take an interest in this debate because we regularly have the same one on our side. The fine points differ but the main ones are the same.
The PL is a bit of a Catch 22 for clubs of our size. Three of the ones you mention have enjoyed a massive cash injection from multi millionaire owners to become established. Bolton did it by good management from Sam but could well have gone down the drain as could Stoke.
Our clubs don’t belong to any one of us, they belong to all of us. Should we risk everything on the turn of a card. Portsmouth did and won the Cup, possibly at our cost, but are now staring down the gun barrel. I had to endure years in the wilderness, as did you and for me the last ten years of yoyoing have been a million times better.
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RBH,The problem as i see it is where do we draw the line,Nobody knows the real truth,How much money is in the bank how much is earmarked for buying players how much is set aside for a new Stadium.
What we do know however is Jez came out and said we would not do an Albion and Steve Morgan said we were not in the premiership to make up the numbers.
Problem is that is exactly what we are doing.
Perhaps it is the old head talking but following Wolves through the yo yo years of the sixties/seventies was exciting but you always felt that relegation would be followed by (quick 1/2 years) promotion.
Last time took 5 years to regain our place in the top flight and with this being one of the weakest top-flights in recent years then surely a concerted effort to stay there should be given a go.
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Malta.
I know exactly where you’re coming from and I think Morgan and Moxey may well have meant what they said at the time BUT… It’s not as easy as it seems from a distance. To get experienced Prem players in that have the right attitude means throwing lots of money at it and then there are no guarantees, except that failure can leave you with a crippling wage bill. These type of players won’t sign a contract that leads to a pay cut if relegated, they don’t need to.
Like I said before, we’ve had 10 years of yoyoing but it’s way better than the 15 years in the wilderness that went before it.
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It depends what you mean by ‘stabilise’. Most of those ‘stable’ teams you quote are serially involved in relegation dog-fights, just like we are this year.
Stoke are hardly ‘stable’ – this is only their second year.
In 2007, Wigan survived on goal difference.
In 2007, Fulham survived by one point, and in 2008, they survived on goal difference.
In 2003, Bolton ended 17th, in 2008 they survived by one point, and today they are ? (go look for yourself).
I’ll concede that Blackburn aren’t doing too badly, but they finish consistently in the bottom half and their ‘stability’ was originally purchased by Jack Walker.
So, by your logic, survival, even on goal difference, contributes to our Premiership stability and is therefore a reasonable finish ?
My point is that there’s no magic formula deployed by any of the clubs you cite, that we can somehow imitate.
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Greywolf,i am merely using these clubs a yardstick,whenever fans come on here querying our ambition we are constantly referred to Pompey Leeds Southampton etc and if we ask why we cant buy better players their financial situation is always being dragged up.Whatever way the clubs managed to stay up they did it and usually by addressing the situation before it became fatal.This season i would take survival even on goal difference yes because it would give us a platform to rebuild whilst remaining financially competitive.
Relegation might just see us back in the quagmire in football terms as the championship is getting harder to get out of.Whilst it may appear to you that i am posting negatively i care about this club and just want to see us compete in the premiership,is that to much to ask for?.
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Grey Wolf Football clubs like people are in different stages of development,perhaps we should tell young people to not bother living because other people are dying.We are in the now and surely even to a rugby and golf fan like Moxey it should make financial sense to spend money to stay in the Prem and earn the extra Sky revenue.Of course there is the other matter that is what most of the fans/customers want.
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Being prudent is vital and I think the club has made a better job of things than the last time we were promoted (but could it be any worse). The reality is we can only do things on a strict budget, which is a shame as we have to have one eye on next season, whatever that brings. But some of our signings seem bizarre and smack of desperation, particularly the stream of youtube signings recently. There is something shoddy about how Wolves operate, from the cheap marketing in the club shop upwards. There seems to be a basic lack of ambition or consideration of the history and aspirations that the fans have.
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I guess the real test of Mr Lalley’s opinion will be decided when we know what division we are playing in next season. It’s that simple.
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53 years of support i have seen it all,but morgan has put none of his money in. and should of sack Muppet month ago, even if you not a football fan,if you buy good but never uses them,and you change the people that work for
you every week you not going to have a good business, not rocket science.a good manager would of got 3/4 good players in stead of8/9
average which is what muppet did.
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it could be a lot worse lads, you could be your mates from walsall and believe me it as far far worse
still think you missed a trick not signin fox and dann from us, but give surman a chance, the lad always looked full of potential with us and he takes a great set piece!!
fair play to you all though, i hope you stay up, play well and all being well land on a bit of luck like the blues have, then it will all be fine
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Well said. At the end of the day we want our club to not only survive but to succeed – but in the cold light of day, and whether we like it or not, our club is a business so we must ensure the business is successful.
We are an English club, with an English Owner, an English Manager, we have our own ground and magnificent training facilities and no debts – how many ‘professional’ top flight football clubs/businesses can say that? We have a lot to be proud of and thankful for – especially when the world of football seems to be going mad.
Up the Wolves!
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Sorry John, can’t buy that blog. To compare the virtues of Moxey in comparison to the Bhattis is cheap. It’s like comparing Gordon Brown to Slobadon Milosevic.
Of course we don’t want us to buy a Carbone on £50,000 a week, or a Seth Johnson on similar to the detriment of the club.
We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about 3k a week more for Scott Dann than Birmingham offered. Yes, THAT Birmingham who we can no longer compete with.
What we do want, is a bit of ambition, and a bit of decency towards a set of loyal fans who have been here before.
* Don’t mention Premier League experience if we’re not going to get any
* Don’t tell fans that wage bills correlate directly to league positions
* And don’t make our S/T prices the 4th most expensive in the league
* Don’t promise to invest £30 million into WWFC and then expect to get no criticism when we sign Charloui’s two non-entities, having spent no money on wages in the summer.
You might be thanking Jez Moxey for our very existence, but I’m not!
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With regards tho the headline ‘it could be a lot worse’ yes of course it could if you compare now to the Bhatti era. This season however, we all expected to be a bit more comfortable than this though didn’t we? Forget our heavy losses against the ‘big boys’ but it is actually our poor record against fellow lower teams why we are in a mess. Home draw against Hull, home defeat against West Ham, comfortable loss against Blackburn, home defeats against Pompey, Wigan and Blues. Have I missed any others out, I’m sure I have? Yes of course we don’t want to go in debt and I don’t think there’s any chance of that happening so we need to at least two qaulity signings in the mold of Beckford, Adam Johnson both of whom would give us an instant lift in the attacking department. Here’s ever hopeful.
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I have read every blog on here! The very last one, Ben,52 got it spot on. MM says he wants the players to have a good cup run then puts out the reserves and a striker that has forgot where the goal is! If, and its a big if, we beat Palace do you think he will put out the reserves Against Villa? No he wont.I fear a good beating again tonight. I am losing faith with MM with every match that passes.Doyle should be playing every game – why spare your most potent force, get Foley to full back,take out SEB,and give Vokes his chance as MM says he is looking sharper than ever! See you all tonight – come on WOLVES!!!
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Could not disagree more.No Wolves fan wants to see the club go bust but we would like to see a bit of ambition. What is the point of trying to get promoted if you are not going to try and compete when you get there?It is very easy to run a tight ship when the owner has pumped in £30 million.The difficult part is to spend money on players who will do a job for you ,whichever division you are playing in.That is why I believe the people currently in charge are not up to the task of running a premiership club.If we get relegated I firmly believe it will be the beginning of a downward spiral as a substantial number of fans will turn their backs on the club,never to return.Do any of us want that? Quoting clubs such as Man City ,Leeds ,Portsmouth etc is a red herring.Clubs such as Stoke, Wigan, Bolton etc have shown you can compete at this level if the club is run correctly.
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So, if we had 3 more points (like Wigan), you’d be happy ? And we should aspire to the heights of Bolton ? Well, I suppose they do have a game in hand…
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I disagree with this article. OK, we aint in debt, which is great, but the whole point of this season is to compete, make fans feel good about themselves and see players who have the skill and ability to play in this league rather than the squad we currently have which IMO is not good enough. I think the transfer policy is totally wrong and has 2003 written all over it.
Anyway, lets see if we can get 7 wins ‘eh.
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I will state again…… 20 players @ 2 million each or 4 players @ 10 million each?????? MM would not be able to buy the right players at 10 million. That would go against everything he has ever done.. He has a ” buy from LIDL mentality….. buy cheap and lots of them.. We are not in a LIDL league. We are in a Harrods league ( Man Utd..Chelsea.. Man City etc )but should be competing at a Marks and Spencers level and leaving TESCO way behind. We do have the money but I am afraid Mr Morgan is saving for Liverpool and collecting plenty of bargain basement buys which he will be able to sell on at a later date for a profit ( they would have had some Premiership experience then and will attract a bigger transfer fee when they are sold to aspiring championship teams )
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Lincswolf, your argument re quality v quantity might be right. But you’ve no idea of the retail industry.
Suggest you look at the quality of the results from M&S versus Tesco for the last decade.
I’d prefer to be Tesco for sure, not the sandwell town version to be clear, but the Cheshunt/california/financial services/china/dotcom/top 3 in the world version.
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I was talking about the quality of food that they are selling… not the share prices and also the wages they pay
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Dear Fans,
Just been loooking threw the post and OMG Pms (premier Moaning Syndrome)has alot to answer for lets just look at our assets
1… Young Squad with tallent
2… Cash in the bank
3… a decent stadium
4… Premier ship status
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AND MOST OF ALL A FUTURE
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now if you havent got anything constructive to say keep your mouths shut Stop moaning and Go support the Albion they need the support anyway LOL
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But there’s a flipside to that coin. We go straight back down, we still have the cash in the bank, but we’d have more of that if we stayed up. We then don’t have Premiership status any more, and as such that young squad with talent is wide open to be strip -mined by other top-flight clubs – you think we’d hang on to Henry, Kightly, Doyle, Hennessey, Stearman…? So that leaves us with a decent stadium, which we had before we came up.
It’s a tightrope act, to be sure, but at the moment it seems like we’re padding out the safety net rather than trying to stay on the wire, in a season when survival seems much more achievable than it was the last time we were up – and remember, that technically went down to the final week.
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Future in the Championship!
Why bring Albion into the arguement?
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With Jones and Zuber scoring and playing ok last weekend, what’s the betting MM puts Foley in midfield AGAIN to no effect and leaves the afore mentioned on the bench?
MM Answer me this -
If your gas boiler breaks down, do you get a carpenter in to mend it?
If your TV breaks down do you get a plumber to repair it?
MM – SQUAREPEGS FOR SQUARE HOLES!!!
Funny but I think I heard that before somewhere.
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WoLvEsMaD – So why are you on here then ding bat????
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If you go for glory you’ll just end up in a hole.
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This “discussion” shows just how passionate Wolves supporters are. We all want the Wolves to succeed.
Big question is how do you do it. Well we’ve all got an opinion but I doubt if you: 1) have ever run a modern football club, 2) close to any of the financial/business plans Wolverhampton Wanderers have in place.
My opinion is that our job as supporters is to support the club.
So lets do that tonight – GIVE IT ALL WE’VE GOT to push our lads forward and the American club back
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Good artivle
The other point to make is why would any premiership player come to Wolves now.
If we stay up then maybe.
People keep on saying to get Keane.
Well he wouldn’t even come on loan.
The risk of him not scoring and wolves going down would mean his value would/could be wiped out!
I do rmember Dougan taking over out of Administration ( we were then in 4th division) and Wolves recovering and buying two unknown players from The baggies.
Two best buys ever and neither had played in the top flight!
The thought of us being relegated after overspending and then going into administartion is too painful a memeory to do again.
Well done Moxey for being a good CEO
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John Lalley
Spot on mate – what a great article – moaners take note -it’s not always better on the other side of a pile of cash!!
Excellent overview of our excellent club and why we are in very safe hands with SM and JM!
UTW
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In reading the comments of the fans, I sense that the right-thinking ones do not expect the Club to risk financial ruin to get the right players. They simply want players of sufficient experience to come in that can at least consolidate the team’s position in the lower half of the table.
The Club did not seem to have sleepless nights spending 6.5 million on Doyle. However, we have passed on a number of experienced players who would have cost similar sums. On the face of it, we have brought some dubious quality players either on loan or at very low cost. The lads from Belgium may be decent prospects but are they really going to make a big difference given their lack of experience at this level?
On another point, what about the quality of our play to date? It has been awful to say the least. There is little or no pattern of play in any of the games. Creativity is virtually non-existent and the lack of goalscoring is there for everyone to see. And there have been several games where the lack of true effort and desire was very evident.
What is the ultimate goal, one wonders? To hang on by our fingernails and then repeat the exercise next season?
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Keeping money in the bank will put wolves back in the fizzy pop league.lol. Signing nobodys from belgium.lol
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Couldn’t agree more mate!
The whole set up is a joke.
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Do either of you support Wolves…i dont think so some how…ALL TRUE FANS THAT ARE GOING TONIGHT GET BEHIND THE LADS AND ROAR US ON TO A WIN…ps GIVE THE BALD SPANIERD IN GOAL LOADS
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Lowest goalscorers and shipping goals regularly now! …….. DEJA VU I think!
Don’t you think Mr Moxey that SOMETHING would have been learnt from the last brief spell in the Premier?
Afraid to say that I like other Wolves fans have no confidence in the present regime – we are just one of the BIGGER clubs in the CHAMPIONSHIP who boost the home gates of the LESSER teams in that league and always will be until someone throws some real money into the club. Sounds pessimistic but that’s what it’s all about nowadays. ABOUT TIME MANY WOLVES FANS STOPPED LIVING ON PAST GLORIES.
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I notice with interest that some of the more supportive blogs on here are from fans who sign themselves as living out of the country. Well you are clearly out of touch with the true feelings and current thoughts of most local fans.
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Whilst I agree we have to work within a budget, I think all would agree that the players bought this season have not been up to scratch:
Halford: Not a premiership player and does not have the potential to be.
Maierhoffer: Has not been given a chance has scored as many goals as Blake with far less game time.
Doyle: Class act.
Miljas: Will develop into a good prem player but inconsistent.
Hahneman: Good signing.
Castillo: Looked ok to me but has disappeared.
Surman: One paced and appears to lack desire.
Mick McCarthy did a good job last year but surely a natural left back and two proven strikers was required.
3 quality signings would have been more beneficial to the club without breaking the bank than a long list of mediocrity.
People like friend etc. (if they are for the future) should be loaned out to save wages and provide more funds for the first team.
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What is the point in having a very rich owner if the team has to balance the budget? You may as well have one who is just slightly rich.
Unless Morgan throws some of his personal money into the club, I don’t see the difference.
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Basically, what is being said is that Wolves do not have the revenue stream to support a Premier league team stocked with Premier league quality players.
That is all I can take from this article.
So may as well go down a league if that is all we can afford.
Can someone tell me where my thinking is wrong on this?
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Blues have signed Craig Gardener. One of our “targets”. They’re bidding for Pavlichenko.
What the hell is going on??? How can a team like that be doing so much better than us??? Yes they had new owners but didn’t we a short while back???
This is a very risky game the 3M’s are playing. Pull it off, and they’ll be heroes. Fail, and they’ll be burned at the stake!
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P.S I hate Birmingham City!!!
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I am certainly not asking Morgan and Wolves “to break the bank” as you put it. But I am asking them to spend SOME money rather than none. It is quite obviously the worst quality premier league for years and we have a very real chance of staying in it, but that will depend on our ability to attract some genuine premier league quality and experience over the next 6 days. If we fail to do so then the sense of disappointment and betrayal will be palpable.There is time to put this right and give ourselves a far more relaxing second half of the season. To do this a winger, a creative midfielder and a quality striker are needed and in all honesty does anyone out there seriously think our two recent loan signings will be the ones that make the difference and keep us in the premier league,I would suggest not. So watch this space and lets hope we are not let down badly once again.
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I agree that it could be a lot worse and we are in a better position than a lot of other clubs, and I think some of the stick that the players/management get is way over the top. They did a great job in getting us to where we are now. Having said that I can see where the frustration is coming from. After our disaster in the Prem last time I think that most of the fans were just hoping we would put up a better fight this time. I do not the ins and outs of our transfer bids in the 2 windows but without breaking the bank I think we just wish we could have had another player or 2 like Doyle as he is clearly a class above the rest of the team. I want to be supportive and will always get behind the team but the fact is if we lose tonight then we will have exactly the same record as at the same stage last time we were in the prem and we all hoped for so much more. It does feel like Mick is getting desperate and losing it slightly, and I am starting to fear the worst – I just hope I am proved wrong and we can string a couple of wins together.
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I’ll say it again the route STOKE CITY have gone down and shown what can be done with realistic ambition after gaining promotion defeats the object of this article completely!
Sorry Mr Lalley!
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EAN-33,DONT you dare run SIR JACK HAYWARD down on this board you snivverling excuse for a rat.This club would have been no more years ago if it weren’t for him.You’ve realy wound me up so I’ll stop this post right here.
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Lower Penn Wolf Spot on We have to start fight fight wherever we may be. We can do this. We need to start having a go from outside the area. I keep saying Doyle and Vokes together please I think it would be a perfect partnership and we must have a go from outside the area Milias tried it scored, Zubar tried it scored. Dave Jones tried it scored. Mr Lally stop being negative. I don’t think the problem is buying the players it is the wages that some players expect to get which is wrong. Until something is done about the wages this problem will always be here.
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Am I alone in feeling physically sick at the idea of my club paying some guy £5,000 to £10,000 A DAY, day-in, day-out (plus whatever additional benefits) for him to represent my football dreams? (not including the transfer fee – eg: a good value servant like Jody cost £2m and has played 200 games for us – that’s £10,000 per match BEFORE his seven years of wages are factored in). Whether it’s Sky, ESPN or ticket prices WE PAY FOR IT ALL. Meanwhile I earned little more than 10 grand IN TOTAL last year, somehow spending much of it on watching Wolves. The crazies on message boards screaming ‘buy, pay, stop being careful’ must have all been senior bank workers in recent times, seemingly lost all sense of economic judgement, all wanting to stoke up the game and player wages beyond all reason, like house mortgages… If we should follow any recent model in terms of Premier progress surely Arsenal is nearer the one – generally buying younger, creating and developing a team (our under 18s just did the double over Liverpool, which is positive-ish), rather than buying a super-team in. Isn’t this something to be more proud of, rather than queasy about? Surely most true City supporters (a team and supporters in recent decades not disimilar to us in frustrations) must secretely loathe what they’re becoming, or will do once their understandable short-term need to gloat over United is sated. That said, I looked on Arsenal’s message board on Monday and found it filed with the same tripe as ours – so many calling for Wenger’s head, saying he’s clueless etc and blah… (this the team who were TOP OF THE PREM at that very moment). So many of the similarly bile-filed comments on here too just spit out the ‘spend-spend-spend’ mantra and cat-call ‘clueless’ at anyone to do with running the club. Like the bankers who’ve cost each and every one of us thousands of our money/taxes they seem oblivious to commercial reality, completely ignoring the evidence of virtually every other club around… Where’s the Money gone at United? At Liverpool? At Portsmouth? At West Ham? At Southampton? At Charton? At Hull? At… virtually everywhere in fact? Either into the pockets of foreign owners who’ve forced the fans to pay for their buy-outs plus the bank interest, or to players on preposterous wages (John Terry – heart of gold, taking £170,000 a week to remain at Chelsea, through loyalty, over a move to City… Tevez similarly wedged, plus 30 million to his mate who owned him)… who DO YOU THINK PAYS FOR ALL THIS? Every penny outside of Chelsea and City comes from the fans, no one else. While you scream at Morgan to ‘spend more’ remember that in 5 years of the Glaziers United’s net spend on players is £6m (less than Kevin Doyle cost us). Tonight Liverpool fans will no dount be baying ‘save us’ towards the Middle East, hoping for a City-like solution to their ills.
So City’s last dodgy owner sold their soul, Newcastle are down the swanee, Southampton and Charlton out of sight, Leeds finally coming back on the back of Bates screwing much of their own community so that he could get the club for free, Hull struggling because they’ve over-spent in order to try exactly what the morons are now demanding we do (one season later, where are they?).
We’re in danger of going down, yes, just like 12 of the 20 teams in the Prem – it’s tough isn’t it. But at least we’re trying to establish something long term. I may be in a minority, but that’s something I’m more proud of, Premier survival or not.
(I think I lost my point somewhere in all this muddle, but what the heck)
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45 – dragging up the Bhattis was not a bad thing to do, I remember sitting in my bedroom making BHATTIS OUT signs as a 9 year old. Granted I’m not happy with the way things are going but I will be happier if I don’t have to go through the turmoil that Portsmouth et al are going through. the financial side of football is about to hurt, let us be survivors.
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Good, interesting article – shame about a lot of the moaners though!! Now I don’t get up to Molineux very much so can’t say too much about the actual performances of the players we have got, but they certainly aren’t disgracing themselves – considering the age of many and not forgetting the experience.
Cracking result tonight and I think MM got the formation right AND who he played too. He couldn’t keep playing 4-4-2 when we are the league’s lowest scorers and although we didn’t score again, this point stops the rot. Big push though for 3 points on Saturday!!
C’mon everyone – get behind them!!
We are Wolves
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noone is saying spend big and bancrupt the club but we need to invest in players who are gonna improve the squad and i’m sorry 2 boys from the belgian league, a few average championship players and other total waste of money foreigners who are out of their depth aren’t the answer.WE NEED PREMIERSHIP EXPERIENCE j.roberts/beattie and hunt/o’hara danny wellbeck would of been good too on loan)we desperately need firepower no goals again not good!lowest scorers in the prem. COME ON WOLVES! WE NEED TO WIN SATURDAY AGAINST HULL.
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APPOLOGIES FOR LIFTING THIS WHOLESALE, BUT I THINK IT’S SOMETHING AS MANY AS POSSIBLE WHO THINK SIGNING HALF A TEAM OF 50 GRAND A WEEK PLAYERS IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD… FOUND IT AT http://clarkeonenil.co.uk
“The Original Grumpy Old Man: Where Palace lead dozens will follow.
Welcome to a new regular column from an old favourite. The Original Grumpy Old Man (OGOM). This week OGOM suggests Crystal Palace’s administration is but the first domino in a long line.
The news out of Selhurst Park yesterday can’t really be called a shock or even a surprise, when you have a date with HMRC in court, when you spend most of the January transfer window overhyping one of your academy products in the hope of maximising a transfer fee, when you don’t pay wages on time also it all adds up to the inevitable consequence, bring in the expensively paid administrators and wipe a minimum of 10 points off your seasons total.
Now if we were just worrying about one South London club down on its luck for the second time in a decade (am I the only person who doesn’t quite understand why their isn’t a massive South London club given there are two, potentially three North of the River?) we could just suggest that a combination of bad financial management, ground ownership issues and the idiocies of the modern game were what forced Simon Jordan to walk away from the constant bailing out of Crystal Palace, but that would be to ignore a serious reality, mainly that Palace are no exception but the first of many likely to be treading the same path over the next 6, 12, 18 months.
Even http://www.clarkeonenil.co.uk has to reign itself in occasionally, as does I and given that one club has already issued writs against a national Sunday newspaper for suggesting administration was imminent (Norwich City) clearly a small restraint is in order. This explains why any further reference to existing professional football clubs in this article will be in brackets. The brackets are to symbolise maybe (or should that be not beyond the bounds of possibility) thus if your club appears in them you may think it is reasonable to assume I am stating they are about to enter administration but the brackets mean I simply use them as a not unreasonable suggestion (I love libel laws me).
A lot more would have been written about the nature of Palace’s predicament if a few more high profile cases weren’t hogging the headlines. Take for example the PL team that has one issue or another day in, day out, ownership changes, transfer embargo’s, tax evasion cases, and a court case winding up order next month (Portsmouth) or maybe instead the CCC club battling HMRC in court next month also but also with other issues around ex owners, loans, new stadiums not filling up (Cardiff City). Don’t forget the PL club that has been told if it doesn’t sell half its squad relegation will make it insolvent and is presently suing its ex Chairman (Hull City). Further down the food chain lives one football club that hasn’t been solvent for 18 months and yet somehow manages to survive (Stockport County) and let us not forget the very small club that needed 350k to appease the taxman and could fall behind again at any time (Accrington Stanley). Even clubs just out of recent financial storms and with new owners struggle to keep the authorities happy (Bournemouth) or are subject to stories of impending disaster that they have to fervently deny (Luton Town).
Administration isn’t always a permanent disaster but does have short to medium term consequences. Sometimes the consequence is a drop from PL to L1 in just a few seasons (Southampton) or a refusal of anyone to invest, lead them money, help buy back training grounds (Leeds United). But other times the unexpected knock-on effects can be long term, like losing your ground and having to go to another city to play (Rotherham United) or been strangled to a slow death by a owner, who the FA don’t accept as fit to be an owner, who refuses to let go despite a thousand mistakes (Chester City). Administration is no longer an easy way to escape your debts or a panacea.
So, how to stop those clubs where the alarm bells are ringing but at the moment no one is listening? Well there is the obvious clues, as we have already referenced: not paying wages on time, owing monies to other clubs and incurring a consequential transfer ban and the dreaded HMRC winding up order. Other clues include owner’s failure to sell the club when trying very hard to (Tranmere Rovers) or even to give yourself away (Salisbury City).
Ground ownership is always an interesting clue that points to further issues, where your capacity to generate income is restrained, maybe by the local council (Barnet) or maybe by the limitations of your old ground (Brentford) or even where over ambitious relocation plans hit the buffers when you have to avoid winding up by a whisker (Southend United). Even with the big boys a combination of all 3 of those can suggest some underlying issues (Everton) and a £110m debt level combined with a plan to move to a legacy stadium always makes you think (West Ham United).
Some clubs seem to rely on a single benefactor which can either be a blessing or a curse, what happens if the benefactor hasn’t got the levels of resources they used to invest (Middlesbrough) or they find themselves in an alien environment that they take time to adapt to (Newcastle United). There is the question of age and mortality, how would the club cope if the benefactor wasn’t there (Wigan Athletic) or the trust set up to survive the original benefactor runs out of steam (Blackburn Rovers).
One of my favourite clues to impending problems is the constant whinging of owners, whether it’s trying to create non relegation monopolies (Bolton Wanderers) or claims that the it everyone else’s fault they need to sell the ground to the council than there’s (Peterborough United). I also like wind-up artists (Gillingham) and well intended new owners who can’t stop talking about how difficult it is to run the club (Sheffield Wednesday). Factor in also any internal strife (Histon) or unresolved historical legacies (Grays Athletic) and the always entertaining planning issues (Darlington) and you may find yourself constantly fire-fighting to the point where no-one is sure how you survived to this point (Swindon Town).
Sometimes the issues are caused by good intentions, fans taking on clubs and then struggling to cope (Ebbsflett United) or directors out of their depth and wanting others to take over (Port Vale). Some other clubs think financial paucity is part and parcel of their lives (Lincoln City) whilst others are shown the promised land of investment only for it to be a mirage (Notts County). Even in the land of endless money that mostly ends in players bank accounts some clubs survive on absentee owners (Sunderland) or the ultimate in the local grocer (Fulham).
This would be a good juncture to suggest so called “big clubs” shouldn’t feel immune from this footballing knockdown, some have debts that would humiliate a small country (Manchester United) or they are a accident on a personal jet away from serious problems (Chelsea) or have a combination of internal strife and high financial gearing (Liverpool). Can you make a case that oil based monies isn’t fully safe (Manchester City) or that American ownership makes the long-term a touch iffy (Aston Villa) or if China sneezes someone in the Midlands is going to catch a cold (Birmingham City)?
Just writing all this depresses, even though I haven’t really put my cynical hat on to make this case, I haven’t needed to. If I did I could suggest clubs that have gone up 3 divisions quickly should be aware (Doncaster Rovers) as should those with a limited population to survive in (Carlisle United). Never discount the possibility of new stadiums being a burden well beyond the first few years (Coventry City) or the tax man remembering which clubs took the piss the most previously (Leicester City). Clubs presently topping their division but constantly selling players might have to pause for thought (Rochdale) and those with dodgy grounds in dodgy parts of town might reflect on how different the early 90’s are to the early 10’s (Oldham Athletic). You can make a case for a lot of clubs, especially those suddenly talking to £100k a week strikers (Stoke City).
So what is the lesson of all this, other than if just 5% of the near 50 clubs mentioned (and it could have been more) go under its still a major problem? Well I’ll put it this way, if you’re a club on a historical low, with an owner who is secretive and dodgy, if you don’t own your ground or training complex, if you have previous in administration and financial meltdown and history of picking fights with the taxman, the football authorities and anyone you care to, if some of your players are heading for bosmans, if your league form is dipping to such an extent that the essential promotion is under threat and if you have a section of your support that can’t see the woods for the trees, be scared, be very scared!”
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It could be worse. How? We have a team which is nearly in the relegation zone, a manager who is given funds easily but won’t spend big money and can’t spend money at all wisely. A team every week which has got absolute rubbish e.g. SEB, Foley, Berra and many others. We have a manger that has spent a good 20 million but only puts 9 million of it on the pitch doyle and milijas and the other 11 million sometimes arent on the bench. We play like a championship side on top of that with no flair or creativity. Could be worse I doubt that one. Get Mick Mcarthy out and get Sean O’Driscoll. Morgan has to see sense now.
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