COMMENT: Steve Morgan's Wolves reign - success or failure?

The words of Steve Morgan in August 2007, after buying the club off the legendary Sir Jack Hayward for an iconic tenner, writes Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers.

At the time Wolves, under Mick McCarthy, had just overachieved to finish fifth in the Championship.

Hopes were high that, guided by Morgan's shrewd business sense and his hands-on, passionate approach to football, he could lead the club back to the Promised Land.

But it didn't quite go to plan.

Nine years later Morgan departs with the club having just finished 14th, with supporter apathy rife amid a lack of player investment.

There have been dizzying highs – by recent Wolves standards – but also devastating lows, yet Wolves are in the same division they were when Morgan filled Sir Jack's considerable shoes.

So how will the Redrow chief's reign be judged – by success or failure?

There's no doubt that Morgan oversaw the most successful period in the last 35 years of this great, historic club.

Promotion to the Premier League was achieved with a young, hungry and hugely popular bunch of players that fans could relate to.

Michael Kightly, Matt Jarvis, Karl Henry, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Kevin Foley, Wayne Hennessey, Richard Stearman...the list is endless.

After the overwhelming disappointment of instant relegation from the Premier League in 2004, this time around safety was secured relatively comfortably in 2010.

And the year after that Wolves gave their fans memories that still tingle the spine to this day – wins over Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and of course that heart-stopping last-day great escape against Blackburn at a delirious Molineux.

That was 2011. Wolves were two years a Premier League club, the stadium was being expanded, the academy being brought up to a top-class standard and a group of improving players formed the spine of the first team.

Early that year, inspired by Morgan's long-term vision for Wolves, Jez Moxey said he believed the club could aim as high as the top five in the country, challenging for Europe.

Everything was in place to take the club to the next level.

But then it all started to unravel. The rollercoaster reached its peak, and came hurtling down the other side at a terrifying speed.

A failure to seriously invest in quality, proven Premier League players that summer, and the two years previous, caught up with Wolves, and divisions in the previously tight-knit camp soon appeared.

Morgan's undoubted passion for Wolves – a strength when things were going well – began to become a negative.

A dressing room rant after defeat to his beloved Liverpool saw many fans turn against him.

With relegation looking likely Morgan could have sacked McCarthy early ahead of the January transfer window, or given him to the end of the season for one big galvansing push.

He did neither, and Wolves sank without a trace. There was no Plan B without McCarthy. Terry Connor was appointed as a last resort and didn't win a single game.

The botched appointment of McCarthy's long-term successor was a disaster. Steve Bruce was there for the taking. But Morgan chose the unproven, unhinged Stale Solbakken and gave him £10m to spend.

He failed spectacularly, and his replacement Dean Saunders couldn't arrest the alarming, destructive and almost unforgivable slide.

Two awful managerial appointments left Wolves outside the top two divisions for just the sixth time in their history.

Morgan had gone from prudent, long-term planning to rash decisions and belt-tightening.

It was a remarkable fall from grace.

Under Morgan's instructions Kenny Jackett came in and dispensed with the overpaid underachievers with remarkable efficiency and speed, returning the club to the Championship at the first attempt.

But for Morgan the signs of weariness were there. His dream of sustained Premier League success was further away than ever, the task seeming insurmountable.

The misplaced passion surfaced publicly again the following season (2014/15) when he bizarrely took to the Molineux turf to remonstrate furiously with a referee.

Not for the first time Morgan had left his heart rule his head.

Still, his decision to put the club up for sale in September 2015, announced 48 hours after an angry confrontation with supporters following a heated draw at Preston, was still a huge shock.

His reasons for doing so have never been confirmed, but a multitude of factors were at play, not least having run out of energy and willpower to lift the club to heights he so craved.

Ironically, when listing the ideal attributes of his replacement, the checklist of a wealthy, ambitious British businessman and football fan, and someone keen to keep the club on a stable financial footing while investing heavily in infrastructure and youth development saw Morgan tick all the boxes.

And perhaps that's why Morgan's reign will be tinged with regret. It should have been a match made in heaven. It shouldn't have turned so sour.

Still, the legacy he leaves, despite the league positions of the team which bookend his stewardship, is a positive one.

His long-term, bottom-up planning and investment has given Wolves secure and solid foundations on which the next incumbent can carry on the baton, as it was termed yesterday, and aim to succeed where Morgan went wrong.

His impact on the city of Wolverhampton, into which he has pumped millions, should never be forgotten.

His charitable work through the Morgan Foundation - for which he requests no thanks, praise or personal publicity - is deeply honourable. The unique and outstanding work carried out by Wolves Aid has helped improve the lives of thousands of people across the city.

Just last month he was awarded a CBE for his tireless charity endeavours. True to form, the bashful businessman barely told anyone he had received the honour. Wolves - and the media - were still unaware he had been named as a recipient hours after his name first appeared on the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

And the city's Youth Zone, a £6m project that Morgan spearheaded, is helping youngsters from a deprived city - high on unemployment and low on career prospects - to get off the streets and garner valuable social and real-life skills.

These are long-lasting, tangible impacts on a city that needs them.

Hearing Morgan speak to genuinely and passionately about the Youth Zone project at its launch some months ago was a privilege to witness.

He cared just as deeply about Wolverhampton Wanderers. Possibly too much.

And after placing the club in the hands of those he believes will preserve and enrich the club's future, his one final act in the name of Wolves will be to donate his substantial bonus, should Premier League promotion be achieved, to charity.

A decent, honourable, passionate, charitable, generous man, who Wolves were lucky to have, and of whom his friend Sir Jack would be proud.

Morgan the football fan will ultimately be judged to have come up short.

But Morgan the bighearted, benevolent businessman did Wolves proud. And its supporters should be forever grateful.