Managing director Laurie Dalrymple: Wolves 'need to make a profit on players'

Dalrymple believes the need for clubs to comply with revised Financial Fair Play regulations means several in the second tier will have to alter a spending strategy which has seen transfer fees and wages soar while broadcasting levels have remained low when compared to the Premier League.

At Wolves, that will mean maximising commercial revenue and generating income from player trading.

"Just as for everyone else in this league, it is going to get harder for us," said Dalrymple, addressing a recent meeting of the Wolves Fans' Parliament.

"Key income sources over the past three or four years have now ceased to exist, so we are wholly reliant on maximising all of our commercial opportunities.

"A massive part of how we generate income will inevitably come from player activity, whether that is players coming in but crucially players leaving the club as well."

The league's profit and sustainability rules allow club's in the Championship to lose up to £39million over a three season period.

In the past Wolves have always passed FFP comfortably but, crucially, no longer receive the benefit of parachute payments. That, coupled with a big outlay on players by new owners Fosun which has seen the club twice break their transfer record in the last two windows with the signings of Ivan Cavaleiro and Helder Costa, means they will have to cut their cloth accordingly.

"We have invested quite heavily in the squad over the last ten months, so it will be challenging," Rita Purewal, the club's chief finance officer, told the Parliament.

"It is something that a lot of other Championship clubs are facing at the same time, certainly those without parachutes."

Costa initially arrived on loan from Benfica last summer before joining permanently in a £13million deal during the January window. That took Wolves outlay on players over the past two windows to £27million.

The 23-year-old's performances have attracted interest from some Premier League big-hitters but Dalrymple, who has previously described his signing as a "statement of intent", would not be drawn on the winger's future.

"I wouldn't want to be drawn on any particular player," he said. "I could say: 'He's going nowhere' but, as with all players at all clubs, I don't know what is coming down the line in four months. Just as Liverpool may not have known what was coming down the line when they had Luis Suarez.

"Their initial stance was, "he's going nowhere" then lo and behold 12 months later he left.

He continued: "Players going out is going to be part of our trading activity going forward, no question.

"If we want to get the players that we want, and if market forces are dictating that the value of players are going up and up all the time, then we are going to have to make some player sales if we want to compete."

Dalrymple believes the Football League will soon have to take a "long, hard look" at the broadcasting revenue received by Championship clubs, after branding it "unsustainable". Clubs in the second tier currently receive annual payments of between £4.5million to £5million.

And Dalrymple said: "TV income is vital but whilst there is such a huge chasm between what the Premier League retain in terms of broadcasting rights and what the Championship retain, it makes it very hard for Championship clubs to be sustainable and competitive.

"Add to this, the value and market conditions of player trading is that top strikers are not going for less than £10m-£12m, and three years ago they were going for £3m-£4m, yet we are still being managed under the same rigid parameters of financial management… I can't see how that is ultimately sustainable."

He continued: "For a number of clubs in this league it is about to get extremely challenging.

"Clubs will be aiming to operate within those financial models and still compete financially against each other to get the best players into the squad and try and generate the right levels of income and to comfortably stay within those (FFP) margins.

"We all follow the Football League, we all know which other clubs are going substantially aggressive in terms of their player activity in the transfer market.

"It is an all-out risk strategy and some teams won't get out of the league this year that have gone hell for leather with expenditure and at some point clubs will have to start altering their approach under the current rules.

"The transfer fees that they paid and together with the wages won't be sustainable and it will be hurtful."