As a cantankerous old manager who divided opinion like no other once said: “Opinions are like arseholes.”
“We’ve all got one, but it’s not always wise to air it in public,” said Mick (or something to that effect).
There was no grey area around McCarthy back in the day, whose no-nonsense approach induced love and hate in equal measure – and very little in between.
Our modern-day Merlin is concocting miracles not seen at Molineux since the gruff Yorkshireman walked through the door with nine or 10 players to choose from.
While their approaches to the Beautiful Game couldn’t be more diametrically opposed, Gary O’Neil cuts the jib of his big-beaked predecessor precisely for his ability to fashion a silk purse from a complete pig’s ear.
I’m still not sure which achievement is the most laudable; Mick’s play-off miracle of 2007 or O’Neil’s mid-table masterclass of 2024? Neither had a pot to piddle in and neither can be understated through the annals of time.
What is up for conjecture is whose fault it is for today’s squad being in such a sorry mess. Do you blame Fosun for turning off the tap when we were just beginning to dream, or the Premier League’s FFP laws that spit upon aspiration?
Much like opinions on Mick McCarthy himself, it seems that no grey area is permitted on the subject, with only black-and-white responses allowed.
As a blogger who once heard Fosun’s plans from Kevin Thelwell’s mouth back in 2018 (a top-four finish and silverware was promised by now), something has drastically changed over the following six years, where we now find ourselves in the pitiful state of barely being able to field a senior side. Fosun Out!
But to blame Fosun unconditionally would be grossly unfair when they have given us some of the best players to admire along with some of the best times of our lives? Fosun In!
A point at Burnley with what O’Neil described as the weakest squad in the entire Football League is nothing to be sniffed at. The gaffer’s comments were a little more ominous though, assuming Lopetegui levels of foreboding as the strain of coaching with one arm tied behind his back finally took its toll. It’s a miracle it took this long for him to grimace, as Bruno and Lopetegui were wincing way sooner – and we all know what became of them.
I’m somewhere between the two stools, resenting the Premier League for perversely protecting the ‘Super League’ clubs who tried to bastardise it, by arming clubs like Wolves with a pair of scissors for a gunfight.
I also resent Jeff Shi for listening to Gary O’Neil’s pleas for reinforcement in January, promising them (apparently), and then moving the goalposts yet again to directly jeopardise the health of the very players we needed to protect. He has previous here, and like the regime before him, I sense he knows the cost of everything and the footballing value of nothing.
Surviving in the Premier League is one thing, but it’s quite another to do so while disempowering the very bloke who did so much to secure it in the first place. If trust has been broken, then I sense an apology won’t cut it come the close season. And then what?
As it is, we’re safe and I’m reminded it was a decade since 10k made their way to MK. Be careful what you wish for and all that…
…But it was nearly 50 years ago today since Bill McGarry taught the lads to play. At Wembley Stadium in a League Cup final.
Nuno taught us to dream, but can it be right that I’m hankering after Liam McAlinden in this post-imperial nightmare, who would probably walk into this team?
Irrespective of asterisks, accounts and amortisation that I can’t pretend to understand, the future should look brighter than this.
In my view Shi is to blame .
Bad decisions on too many players brought in especially Fabio , Sasa , Guedes made by a man who has very limited football knowledge . Not that we will ever get an apology from him .
The assumptions made regarding not signing a striker on loan were seriously pessimistic . Each PL place is worth £3 million and we were assumed to finish17 th which looked highly unlikley at end Jan plus we already had extra tv game money and a run in the cup .
I only hope GON will not decide to go to a club who do not fool him in to loaning out players to save wages (Fabio and Sasa ) then fail to pay a modest loan fee . I think he is referring to Broja here and his£4 million loan fee . I know he has not played much but I thought he looked good in his cameo at Molineux .
Anyway we can only hope the summer brings some investment .
I agree with your analysis Ben. I know there are those on this blog that hold the view that Fosun are the best owners we ever had. Fair enough if that’s their view but the competition for that prize is not very strong in my opinion. Do a comparison with the likes of Brighton and you see that Fosun’s investment has been no less admirable but the way we have spent on recruitment under Shi’s guidance compared to Brighton has been woeful. Whilst you can argue we have had our best run 8nthe top flight for many years, over the last 3 or 4 seasons it has been in spite of Jeff Shi not because of him.
It is clear to me,( and Fosun have stated such) that their direct investment into Wolves is over. They are desperate to find new investors and have been for c 2 years, otherwise we will have to be completely self financing, which means only one thing- we are a selling club in a holding pattern in terms of ambition.
My hope is that under Hobbs/O’ Neill’s leadership we can continue to unearth a few diamonds to keep us in the PL until other investors come in. However, O’Neill is rightfully ambitious and is no mug, so if Jeff Shi reneges on recruitment promises again in the summer I don’t think we will have to wait too long into the new season before another PL club lures GON away.
Ben, an exceptional piece. Thank you.
However this is wrapped up, the inescapable conclusion has to be that GON is in an impossible position. Fosun [ Shi] are expecting him to achieve results with a squad so weak as to he laughable. That he has done as well as he has is mindblowing.
Clearly GON is a coach having exceptional qualities, and it is apparent that he is now widely admired by clubs who seemingly have far more ambition than do we. His departure would be a massive blow for us — but who could blame him , given the abject lack competence and transparency from those running the club ?
If I was in GON`s position I would now be seeking precise detail of the club`s intent during the summer. Notably, will he be able to rely on retaining the quality members of his current squad on which to build, or are more major departures intended? Exactly what financial support will be forthcoming so that he will be able to work with a squad of a size and quality adequate for the purpose? No loose promises. Real detail sthat are cast in stone
If responses are not to his satisfaction he should walk away to work with a club where his abilities are fully recognized. But if answers from Mr Shi meet his requirements he would be well advised to get confirmation in writing. If past experiences are anything to go by, it would appear that verbal indications of intent mean very little !
That’s the Ben i remember!
welcome back!
I too, have pondered that question a few times!
The FFP certainly does protect some clubs from reckless expenditure risking their very existance, and causing untold misery to fans when a club folds! But it also protects the big six to remain the big six. Like VAR it is all about the enforcement and application of the rules. Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Leicester have felt the impact of FFP but not Man C. who have over 100 charges against them and some distant futuristic date for their errors to be assessed. Hope they get penalized like Rangers in the SPL and get relegated to League 2! But yes, FFP is a big part of our failure to progress and find us where we are, but not necessarily affecting all clubs equally!
But Jeff Shi has to shoulder more of the blame than FFP. I admit they have progressed Wolves to some of our best memories in recent times, but they have now moved the goal posts and are trying to run on self sufficiency, a very very difficult business plan that virtually always ends in disaster! Either Jeff Shi, Forsun or the Chinese government have concocted a major change — for the worse. There are minimum requirements to run a football club, and it cannot be a small squad, no purchases of new players, and even then, ones for the future. Nor the backdoor earnings by putting all sales through Mendes, whose company they part own. Wolves cannot be run as a balance sheet strictly looking at figures, and success cannot be a measurement of how little a player cost compared how much we sell them for.
And no communication with fans from Jeff Shi. This seems to be the Chinese way, — their way or no way!
Sorry, I have rambled on quite a bit and am too tired to make my points clearer!!!!
How she Shi even survived the Lopetegui saga last season is quite frankly a disgrace and they seem to have taken the mick out of us constantly for the last 3 years – ever rising ticket prices, lack of investment, ground rotting and seeing off manager after manager. It’s totally unacceptable and there’s no future under this lot. They have no plans or ambitions for the club so what’s the point them being here?
The whole thing is a mess and we’re in desperate need of a new approach. It’s in everyone’s best interests that Fosun sell before they inevitably take us down to the Championship.
In season 2022/2023 Wolves were in the top 8 clubs for net spend. £152 million. Including a heavy outlay in January 2023 to back Lopetigui in the successful fight against relegation . Ultimately the club just avoided a potential points deduction by some transfer manouvers last summer. I’m not sure why Jeff Shi/Fosun are to blame for staying within the rules. I can see an argument about spending substantial sums of money on some players who clearly didn’t come up to scratch or weren’t interested. I can see an argument about why we got ourselves in to relegation problems for a couple of seasons and some of you blokes on here have your reasons to be critical. So maybe mistakes made along the way but overall in the big picture I think the positives of the Fosun tenure outweigh the negatives. They took us from a club in perennial lower league struggle/premier league relegation battles and brought in some of the most exciting players I have ever seen on the Molineux turf. The peak years trips to Europe and Wembley. Turning over Man City in their own backyard. Wins at Old Trafford. Spurs. Things we could only dream of back in 2013 at MK Dons (yes Ben). And this season several Nuno esque wins under Gary have brought the smiles back. This is why I always back what Fosun have done for us. For me it’s the big picture.
Greetings, Cheers Ben.
Beat the Hammers and we’d be up to 7th possibly.
Recruitment? From what I remember we’ve had some good periods of investment under Shi & Fosun.
1/ When they came and lifted us up from the lower reaches of the Championship, Nuno, Jota, Jimi, Neves and all. There were rumblings we’d bought our way up, not fair, cheats, noodle millions etc. Cue Europe, 7th and glory, glory Nuno’s Army.
2/ After being ‘investigated’ and not allowed to spend anymore money, we sold some good players and bought some average ones.
3/ Bruno for Nuno, he got the war chest, dispensed with our Cody / identity and bought in people we didn’t know, a bit of a hash, injuries & crises.
4/ He got Lopitega in and he got 5 /6 of our current team in January to rescue us from relegation.
5/ Five of those 1st team pro’s are currently injured. Hark the calls of who is to blame?
I still blame David Luis
We’ll see what’s what after the summer. But weem still Wolves aye we.
Biryani’s & Banks’s all round.
1 lv & COYW.
There is one name missing that set us off in the Nuno era including Nuno..! MENDES..he was responsible for Neves Mountinio Jota Jiminez Troare…what’s happened to his connection?
Re FFP he could loan in too..
I’m sort of where you are on this Ben – a bit in the middle. Call me naïve but I feel the criticism of Fosun has been slightly harsh, if not completely without merit.
In my view we have been hit with a freak injury crisis. Our fully fit squad features forward options of: Neto, Cunha, Hwang, Sarabia, Bellagarde, and then kids for back up. In central midfield you have: Lemina, Gomes, Doyle, Traore. And we’re fully stocked at full back.
The point is if we didn’t have injuries we’d have the opposite problem of having too many players and a bloated squad. I’ve seen some claims that the small squad has put extra load on the players and caused the injuries. I’m not sure I buy into that personally. Most PL teams generally have a settled first XI and players are expected to be able to play a lot of games in a short space of time.
Sadly, we have seen that players like Neto (in particular) and Hwang just can’t stay fit for a prolonged period. It’s clear a couple of extra bodies will be needed in the summer but when we have a fully fit squad, it’s a more than capable one as we showed earlier in the season.
Good post my friend and timely, as we’ve now got a long stretch of open road heading towards what promises to be an interesting summer.
The problem with forming an opinion on Fosun’s performance is that we don’t know who is making the decisions.
Did O’Neil and Hobbs allow Sasa & Fabio to go out with no replacements incoming or did Fosun push them out the door to save some pennies? In terms of our current predicament, that is the clanger, arguably costing us a place in the cup semi-final and the realistic hope of pushing for Europe. I wasn’t Fabio’s biggest fan but he is clearly a step up from the kids just dipping their toes in the water. Sasa might still have been an injury waiting to happen himself, but either way, we didn’t cover ourselves. We do know Gary was very comfortable letting those players leave because he said it, so I do think it’s a bit rich him now saying we needed more bodies.
Our transfer strategy pivoted in January last year with Hobbs playing a more central role – and since then, we’ve had way more hits than misses. Lemina, Dawson, Gomes, Cunha, Sarabia, Doyle, Bellegarde and Santi Bueno have all proven to be OK to exceptional in my opinion – no obvious failures and all providing value for money. Credit to Fosun and Jeff for seeing there needed to be a shift in the organisation of the football club, because it clearly wasn’t working.
After that Europa League season right up to last January, we just continually got burned by our crappy transfer policy, either blowing loads of money on players that weren’t worth it or failing to fill obvious gaps in the squad with better value signings. Presumably that all has to fall at the feet of Jeff and Fosun, so I do hold them accountable for that. Equally though, not many people were moaning when we signed Nunes and Guedes for big bucks so it is easy in hindsight.
As Ben says, we were promised the world on their arrival at the club, but FFP and the true cost of bridging that gap has opened Fosun’s eyes to the gravity of the challenge. Even Newcastle, with unlimited funds at their disposal, can’t just buy their way to success anymore and may have to sell key players in the summer, which underlines the restrictions all of the clubs are working under. My feeling is that Fosun and Jeff aren’t intelligent football people, but are good commercially and responsible custodians of our club.
And as my old man said the other night as we eeked out that draw at Burnley, next season will be our seventh consecutive year in the top-flight, which is about as good as it’s got post-war and certainly the best period in my lifetime as a supporter, so I cannot bring myself to lambast the owners for some incorrect decisions along the way, when generally, we’ve upgraded as a club from top to bottom since they arrived and established ourselves in the Premier League.
PSR was designed with the intention of making clubs live within their means and grow organically to avoid the prospect of clubs going out of business. Look at sheffield United, sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff, Derby, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Blackpool et al for former premier league clubs that spent big only to lose out and then be at the mercy their owners and potential financial winding up orders. Some form of financial regulation was needed to protect our football clubs. But that said the problem was that PSR had to be agreed upon by the likes of Chelsea, Man City, liverpool, Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal all clubs that have befitted the most from the premier league and champions league money in the last 20 years. Apart from a couple of notable exceptions their success was bought by owners whose spending outstripped what would be allowed now under PSR many times over and of course they want to keep that advantage. A fairer system would have been a wage cap or the like.
So now we are left in the situation that clubs that want to break into Europe have to do it with a smaller squad than the big 6 or risk penalties in future seasons that could see them in a relegation fight. There really isn’t that much difference in first 11 quality between a big 6 side and anyone outside the 3 promoted clubs in anyone season ( just look at Chelsea) but there is a huge difference in squad depth. Wolves have shown the strength of their starting 11 all season but injuries are now seeing us regress back to the mean of where you’d expect us to be. Other teams have gone through similar issues. In in order to break that cycle you have to break the rules (look at Villa and Leicester ) and risk a penalty if you don’t get champions league. A few more teams will be struck by PSR before it gets better.
Very well balanced article by Ben and good posts above which sum up “the great divide”.
It’s become clear that we are now suffering from compounded factors in the post Nuno years till the present.
1. Stop go investment by Fosun.
2. Incompetent recruitment involving the Shi/Menes axis and Fosun’s share in Gestitute (conflict of interest?). Notable examples – Silva, Guedees, Cuitrone (not Mendes), plus several less high profile signings and numerous expensive unsuccessful loans.
3. Shi’s (on his own admission) lack of football knowledge and expertise.
4. Replacing Nuno with Lage.
5. Abandonment of promised ground redevelopment
6. Yes FFP . Not anyone’s fault other than the EPL transparent strategy to maintain the “big 6” cartel.
In summary – after a scintillating start it’s probably arguable that we have escaped relegation at least twice (last season and this) in spite of rather than because of Shi and Fosun. Given hindsight it;s hardly surprising Lopetegui threw in the towel and if Gary O’neil is treated as shoddily this summer then given his sterling performance I wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat performance sooner rather than later.
If Fosun can’t / won’t invest in increasing the the size of the squad to sufficient numbers to sustain a full season NOW then we are on a slippery slop back towards where we were when Fosun breezed into Wolverhampton promising a pot of gold and trophies which they have come nowhere near achieving.
.
Last para – slope..
Are you saying that we avoided relegation last year despite Fosun? Didn’t they go out and bring in JL and then spent heavily in January to support JL?
You can reasonably argue that it was down to Fosun / Shi that we were in that position to begin with but to give them no credit to rectify the position is somewhat disingenuous in my opinion.
In defence of Jeff Shi he did publish a public statement to fans at the end of the 2022/2023 season regarding recruitment and spending. He made clear it would be a difficult year (summer 2023/ winter 2024 windows) but there will be more flexibility in the finances for the summer 2024 window. Together with the noises from GON and Hobbs I do expect to see the squad bolstered with some similarly shrewd additions (to Jan 2023).
Looking at the composition of the squad at Turf Moor this summer window is critical to our immediate future COD. No more moving goalposts, shapeshifting, sidestepping by Shi. I’m with Lopetegui – in Jeff we don’t trust!
A great article Ben (so what’s new?) and it’s difficult to argue with you or any of the other posts I’ve read.
We just don’t know enough about what goes on behind those locked and barred Golden Gates to be able to point the finger at whomever is responsible for the position we are in.
And what position ARE we in?
Owned by a Chinese conglomerate who know about as much about football as I do about whipping up a Won Ton soup?
Struggling with a threadbare squad due to the squandering of funds on poor transfers?
Victims of a totally unfair FFP system entirely designed to keep the established pecking order?
Punching way above our weight with a rookie coach who was sacked by a lower mid table team?
Reaping the rewards of recent transfer activity during which we picked up a shedload of International players for bargain prices?
Not achieving our much trumpeted (when Fosun first bought the club) lofty ambitions of European glory and breaking into the top top tier of the Premier League?
Enjoying our longest period in the top division since I don’t know when?
The fact is, we are in ALL of these positions.
On balance, I’m accepting of this situation, as I’ve seen many clubs with equally lofty ambitions, do an Icarus and end up languishing in lower divisions.
It’s certainly not perfect, but if we can hang on to GON and let him have a major input into who stays, who goes and who comes in…
I think we’ll be OK.
Thanks Ben for the kick
Off post.
My thoughts….here
Most PL teams have dodgy owners
Most PL teams screw up big time when buying players
FFP rules help big revenue clubs… not us …but let’s not risk 4-6 points!
It’s a reality to recognize.
So … we have Fosun and have now stumbled upon another smart gaffer
FFP arithmetic dictates that we must sell big in order to buy this summer ( at least 6 of our top players are being cited in transfer gossip.. so we can raise spending funds)
Injury crises impact most PL squads
We have Reasons to Succeed and I see a bright era ahead so long as the key lessons from recent times have been learned
We could still
Finish top half by the time we thwart Liverpool
I love this football club… there’s so much to be proud of. There’s no need for so much whingeing here
OODCL
and it does
Yet another great write up Ben mate .. full of old and new comparisons and a reminder of your infamous meeting with Thelwell …
As with most, if not all, there are two sides to arguments.. and you’ve cleverly played devils advocate.
Me personally , I consider most arguments with perspective.. and I’m of the opinion that Fosun have been far more generous and giving than our previous owners .. and having 7 consecutive PL seasons is a lot to be thankful for … how thankful is proportional to expectation.
Mine has been to dream of Europe, cup success and build a team year on year to compete with the best .. and unfortunately that hasn’t quite happened during their tenure… why .. must be down to many factors, including PSR.. operating within its means and being self sufficient.. and not many PL Clubs do all of these things ..
We haven’t been good at recruiting players and have wasted an inordinate amount of money on duffers… ok .. we’ve signed some talent .. but are they still here or at some future point being lined up for sale … and it’s this that I can’t cope with …
If the mantra is survival .. then the club have no ambition.. and sadly the Thelwell bullshit becomes just that ..
For now.. let’s see what happens before the expiry of the next transfer window.. when we’ll have a better idea…
LT
Think we’re close to being on the same page. Maybe my only reservation is that I don;t see Fosun as the heroes that some do. But neither do I see them as villains. They rescued us from anonymity and then blew it.
Geo political issues – probably.
Incompetence definitely.
Lack of consistency definitely.
FFP restrictions scandalous / possibly illegal.
But sadly I think the Fosun Wolves project may well be on it’s last legs unless they play a very canny game and pull rabbits out of hats this summer. Hope they can pull it off because they certainly aren’t the worst owners we’ve ever had. But shame about the broken promises.
Cheers PJB … we do have slightly different takes on what’s going on in WV1 .. there’s some categories we haven’t done too bad at but others we’ve been extremely wasteful ..
As for our future aspirations and plans .. it could go either way .. Lopetegui I thought was going to be good for us.. especially after Lunatic Lage , who left us up the creek and paddle less … as for Galactico Gary .. well he’s doing a good job with a bad hand but will he get dealt a better set of cards come the end of August.. I hope so .. otherwise we’re still on the road to nowhere ..
All I’m going to say is that we are a premiership team and have been for seven seasons.
We were always fed up with always being labelled a ‘championship’ team (and worse for a while), going up and down all the divisions like a whore’s drawers (can I really say that ?!?).
So I, for one, will enjoy our present situation without too much speculation…
COYW
See there looking to scrap the ffp punishments for direct fines , I wonder who could afford the punitive slap on the risk, oh yeah the top six big boys and no doubt it will be brought in just in time for city and Chelsea’s ffp punishment, I’ve seen dried up puddles deeper than this lot
Brilliant read.