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Tim Spiers comment: There are few better owners than Steve Morgan

We still don't know the full story behind Steve Morgan's departure but, whatever his reasons, this is a sad day for Wolves, writes Tim Spiers.

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There were 66 hours between the moment Wolves dropped the biggest of bombshells on Monday and the moment Jez Moxey fronted up to the press on Thursday morning, statement (or notes) in hand.

Wolves fans had waited patiently for answers to the many critical questions that Monday's announcement and vague statement posed.

Moxey spoke for 31 minutes and filled in some of those gaps.

But, perhaps inevitably, yet more questions were posed by what we heard. And whether the answers given were satisfactory is certainly open to debate.

A lack of 'time and energy' was the primary reason offered as to why Steve Morgan, a self-confessed workaholic who has invested so much in Wolves and Wolverhampton and who cares so passionately about this football club, wants to give it all up.

A man who couldn't be held back when storming onto the pitch after defeat to Bournemouth last season to remonstrate with the referee, such is his passion for the team, a man who kicked and headed every ball when watching his adopted, beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers.

In 2009, when somehow juggling his takeover of housebuilding firm Redrow and financing Wolves' promotion to the Premier League, time wasn't an issue. But it is now.

Morgan's personal issues – his divorce and life with a new partner - have undoubtedly played a part and must be respected.

But without hearing all this from the man himself, how can we be satisfied with a decision, and the suggested reasons behind it, that effects the jobs and lives of so many people? It is a decision that has thrown the club into limbo – a limbo that may last for years.

Moxey, unprompted, suggested in his statement that 'vitriol' from supporters could be one of many reasons, and that he would be 'disappointed' if that was the case.

Later he contradicted this with "at no point has he said to me that supporters have driven him out".

And then in a video interview with the club, he said it would be 'folly' not to suggest that criticism taken by Morgan wasn't a factor.

He had added in the press conference: "But I'm not sure I'd necessarily be want to be 'paying' for (receiving criticism), and I'm sure that's a factor in all of the owners who decide to move on."

Moxey isn't going to sit there and say that the supporters drove Morgan out.

Was it the sole reason? No. But was it an important part of his decision? Undoubtedly.

The chief executive also suggested that Saturday's 'stressful, difficult' game at Preston, when Wolves struggled so much to break down the home team despite them having one man, and then another, sent off, rendered it not a surprise when he took a call on Sunday night from Morgan summonsing him to a meeting the following morning.

Reading between the lines, it seems Morgan had simply had enough.

Enough of the abuse, enough of not running a profitable club, enough of throwing money at the long-term sustainability of Wolves by building solid foundations in the stadium and academy, only to be continuously told he should be spending millions more on players and wages instead.

Enough of giving his nervous system to a club and a team that continued to underachieve and looked further away from regular Premier League football than ever before.

Enough of not spending enough time with his loved ones. Enough of Wolves.

And who are we to blame him?

Let's face it, we've all had enough of Wolves at times over the years, but without spending our life-built millions at the same time.

It's just a shame that it's come to this, because there are few better football club owners than Steve Morgan.

What needs answering now is, well, for a start, what happens next?

There are three months until the January transfer window – will funds be made available?

What kind of owner are Wolves looking for? "There'll be no criteria that narrows the field," Moxey said.

Why was Moxey speaking at the press conference, and not the man who had prompted all of this, and whom every single question was about?

"He's stepped down as chairman and doesn't need to," came the unsatisfactory answer.

Too many unknowns have yet to be answered, and won't be until the man himself fronts up. But overall, you just can't help but think of this as a sad day for Wolves, as Moxey stressed on more than one occasion.

The end of a dream, a missed opportunity.

When pondering the ideal criteria for Morgan's successor, one thinks of a wealthy, successful, British businessman, a football man who always has the long-term in mind, who won't put the club at financial risk and who cares deeply and passionately about its wellbeing and its future.

What a shame that that man has just washed his hands of Wolves.

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