COMMENT: A £10.5m hole in Wolves' coffers

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers paints a concerning financial picture as the club's parachute payments run out.

In today's crazy football financial climate £10.5m is loose change for many clubs.

But for Wolves it represents a huge chunk of their yearly finances.

And going without the £10.5m parachute payment they received this season suggests even leaner times are ahead for, let's face it, a middle-of-the-road Championship club whose owner wants out.

Turnover for the club in 2014/15 was £26.4m.

In 2015/16 this figure should still be a healthy one, boosted by the £10m sale of star striker Benik Afobe.

But in 2016/17 the parachute payments run out.

And in the absence of A) a new owner willing to spend money and B) Premier League football, there will be even more belt-tightening to do.

Credit where it's due, Wolves have done quite a bit of that in the past three years, ruthlessly discarding most of their high earners upon relegation to League One in 2013.

Bjorn Sigurdarson represented the last of the old guard to depart and, so small is Wolves' wage bill now believed to be, it is thought they're in the bottom third of the Championship wage league.

That will help them prepare for the absence of parachute payments, as well as declining ticket sales, but the picture still isn't too rosy.

The club made a profit of £0.7m in 2014/15, as revealed in their annual accounts published in February.

But in that year, not only did they benefit from a huge parachute payment, they also used up £6.7m of what was essentially a 'rainy day' fund, put aside after relegation from the Premier League to help fund big-money contracts.

These are big holes to fill.

Their due diligence means they won't be 'doing a Bolton' – and the long-term finances of the club are still manageable.

But the relative frugality of Steve Morgan, even before he put Wolves on the market, means they simply cannot compete with the league's big-spending clubs.

That certainly means Villa, Newcastle and Norwich, who have all dropped down from the Premier League.

It also means Wolves can comfortably be outspent by Hull and Sheffield Wednesday (who contest the play-off final on Saturday) as well as Derby, QPR, Fulham, even Bristol City.

Without that spending power, their approach is to buy young and hungry players who will develop, either to the benefit of the club's league position, or their bank balance (witness Afobe being bought for £2m and sold for £10m).

It's also to lean heavily on their Category One status academy.

But with the Molineux coffers decreasing, is that well-funded status now at risk?

Or will Wolves instead have to sell of their prize assets? Dominic Iorfa, Kortney Hause and, when fit, Nouha Dicko and Jordan Graham will be first in line.

If investment isn't forthcoming and Wolves remain in the Championship, something will have to give, or they will simply become a selling club, if you don't class them as such already.

Is it worth taking a risk? Bournemouth were recently fined £7.6m for breaking Financial Fair Play rules en route to the Premier League.

And you can hardly see the Cherries' money men shedding too many tears as they hand over the cheque, seen as they were handed a whopping £70.8m by the Premier League this season.

Villa finished bottom of the pile and got £66m. Next year, when an £8bn TV contract begins, this figure rises to £97m.

They're eye-watering sums and in financial terms Wolves are about to be left behind like never before.

With Kenny Jackett hammering home the point Wolves need experience to complement their youth, the Wolves boss has sent out a clear message that money needs to be spent.

But whether he, Moxey and Morgan are on the same page is debatable.

Seen as Wolves have an owner worth £880m, it's all a rather sad state of affairs.

Especially for a club that, just five years ago when securing Premier League safety on that barmy May afternoon against Blackburn in 2011, should have been looking to kick on and cement their place at football's top table.

Instead, the opposite occurred.

Messrs Morgan and Moxey, you feel, have one last chance to put those wrongs right.

Patience with them is wearing thin. And for many it's already run out.

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