Thomas: At the end of last week Craig asked if he could send me a guest post in defence of Steve Morgan. Suffice to say I was curious. Having read it myself and offered Craig my feedback (which I’ll paste below in a comment), I deemed it only fair to share his alternative opinion. Over to Craig…
I’m going to initially touch on the manager appointments and dismissals over the last 18 or so months.
The dismissal of Mick
There’s been a lot of talk that Morgan fired the bullet too late, however, if you look at the facts there is a very valid reason why he kept him after the Blackburn game and also why we only made the signings of Roger Johnson and Jamie O’Hara.
Jamie O’Hara was signed on loan on the 30th January 2011, from that point until the end of the season we played 15 games and in that period we amassed 19 points, which was the 12 th best in the league for the same period. In that 15 game period the only teams to concede more goals than Wolves were West Ham, Blackpool and Birmingham, the three teams that got relegated from the Premier League.
So, we move on to the summer, we have a team that theoretically can accumulate 48 points over the season, however, we add to this team a player that was widely recognised as a very good defender and was previously tipped to earn an England cap, which should mean that the 4th worst defence in the league should now become a lot stronger.
If you had that information sitting in front of you would you have got rid of Mick after the Blackburn game? And would you have brought in anymore players?
Now we get to the point when he was finally dismissed, maybe in hindsight (or not), it was too late and the time that he should have been dismissed was after the Swansea game, however, at this point we were still sitting outside of the relegation zone with a manager that over the past two seasons had managed to turn our fortunes around, so you can understand why Morgan kept faith in him.
At the point of the West Brom game a lot of people have said it was too late to get rid of him, which I agree, however, on that disastrous day I was in the sponsors lounge where the seats are situated next to the directors box and although Steve Morgan wasn’t present on that day, the vile that was aimed directly at Jez, whilst present with his daughter and wife, a change needed to be made for the good of the club.
The search for a new manager and the appointment of Terry Connor
Within a few days we all knew that there were three candidates for the vacant manager’s job at the club, Alan Curbishley, Steve Bruce and Neil Warnock. The decision had been made that the job was going to be offered to Curbishley, which was also the favourite choice of the majority of Wolves fans. Morgan then made an offer to Curbishley, who shook hands on the deal and went away with contract in hand. After having a night to browse over the offer, he decided the job wasn’t for him, so turned the job down.
The only person then that was left on the shortlist was Steve Bruce, as Warnock had already accepted the manager’s job at Leeds United. So, Wolves invited Bruce to have a further interview, however, the message boards and social media sites exploded, Bruce wasn’t the man that Wolves fans wanted to see as manager of the club, and the management took note and decided it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the club to appoint Bruce as the manager
With the shortlist now exhausted, the list of managers that would be available being very poor and the chances of us going down to the Championship being almost close to certainty, the decision was made to put TC in charge for the rest of the season and begin the search again when the season has come to an end, and in my opinion, the only answer that was left to them.
Ståle Solbakken
For most of the time that Wolves had applied their trade in the top flight of the English leagues most of the talk by the fans was about them wanting to see attractive football, the days had now passed when all the fans wanted to see was players that ‘put a shift in’. So, the board took the brave decision to appoint a guy from the continent, who was highly recommended by Roy Hodgson, can you have a higher endorsement than from a man who ahs the top job in English football?
This was an appointment that got the majority of Wolves fans very excited – the lift that a relegated team needed.
So, with a team that had just been applying their trade in the top flight, minus Jarvis, Fletcher and Kightly, and with 6 additions totaling more in fees than any other Championship club had spent on players, why would a chairman think it would fail?
The dismissal of Ståle and the appointment of Dean Saunders
Following the cup exit to the hands of Luton Town, a non league side, the board made the decision to relieve Ståle of his employment, which in my opinion, was too early, however with all that went on before it you can understand why the board already had a replacement lined up and acted quickly. Did they want the fans complaining that we had held on to our manager too long again? Did they want the fans and the press going on about another new appointment shambles?
I’m certainly a long way from thinking that Dean Saunders is the right man for the job, but I can certainly understand why the club took the decision to have someone appointed virtually before we had removed the old guard.
So, why wasn’t the new man backed in January? History tells us that January is always a poor time to purchase new players. The player that are available are no longer wanted by clubs because, generally, they are not good enough, or you have to pay an over inflated price to be able to pries them away from their current club.
When I’ve mentioned this to people previously they’ve come back with “What about Ebanks-Blake?” Well, Ebanks- Blake was a different ball game because he had a release clause in his contract, which meant that Plymouth had no choice but to sell him.
The other point to note is that we are now in the Championship and we have a loan window open until March that will allow us to bring in far better players than we would have had the chance to purchase in January.
So, what has Steve brought to the club?
Firstly – The Academy – if we forget what we want today and look to 5 -10 years in the future, we should, by rights, be seeing a future generation of Wolves players starting to appear in the first team, theses won’t just be players that are in a 60 mile catchment area, but players from all around the world. I know that people have moaned about the Academy being done, but don’t just think of today think of 5 years time.
Secondly – The North Bank – Forget where we are right now and think of when we get promoted back up to the PL, we will be in a position to fill the 30k plus ground on a weekly basis, which will allow us to bring in better players due to the extra income that is coming into the club.
Thirdly – Hierarchy – There has been a lot of people moaning over the years about Jez being clueless about football, which is understandable, but one thing no-one can argue with is Jez is a good finance man. This appears to be something that Steve has also noticed as he has now brought in a man to plug the footballing gap in Kevin Thelwall, whether he is the right man is another question, but only time will tell us that.
Taking everything above into account I struggle to understand why so many of our fans are against Steve Morgan, I personally think most of what he has done to date is for the best of the club and not just to fill his own pockets, however, I do expect us to spend big in the summer to get rid of Mick’s old and trusted players and bring in a new looking team to start next season.
Thanks for the post Craig. I always appreciate a variety of views on the blog.
I did originally add all my notes, but realised how ridiculously long they were.
I suppose I can summarise my feedback as thus:
My gut feeling is that Morgan does want what’s best for the club, but is just getting his decisions completely wrong.
Building the north bank, not giving Mick enough cash in the summer of 2011, not sacking Mick and giving a new manager cash to spend in January 2012, not giving Mick cash to spend in January 2012, sacking Mick in February, hiring Terry Connor, hiring Solbakken and then sacking him instead of backing him in January with cash, hiring Saunders to save us but not giving him serious cash to bring in players.
The list goes on.
But above all, poor communication with supporters.
He can hopefully address this final problem tomorrow. I just hope the Fans’ Parliament ask the right questions.
Agood comment from craig – you should send this to the E&S for an even wider wolves fan base, I belive the building of the SC was not needed, but it’s done so why keep on about it, my other thoughts on this is that Steve made the mistake of NOT starting on the SB first, thats were the problem lies, because they think they are the club and bigger than the club and the rest of us are not true fans! you might not agree but reading other blogs/papers this comes over very, very large, + their singing at matches they come over on what they think of the SC for instanse.
I also read a lot of nasty comments regarding Steve being from Liverpool! what the hell thats got to do with it I don’t know, I agree totally with Craig, the problem with money spent is the size of it! diablo wolf made a very good comment on the finances of the club in the E&S a few days ago that made very good sense, to prove my point just look at the comment by ooga booga below, it’s idiots like this that are dragging us down, the same has those at Barnsley who thought it ok to insult the players the way they did, all it did was show everyone just what sort of fans we have, we are all concerned about the club, but if you stick up for the club you are an happy clapper, if you renew your ticket you are an idiot and not a real fan, me I am both because I have been supporting my club for 60 years this March and am a very,very proud Wolves fan, has for Morgan he will come good – he has to because I can’t see them lining up outside the club waiting to buy us, Moxey he does the job that any decent CEO would do and if we brought in another one do you really believe they would do it any other way? I just hope and prey the players do their job!
What are you on about, start with the south bank. The stadium was accomidating all the fans fine Wolves were hardly having lockouts every week even in Premier League there was no imitate need to up the capacity so that’s bollocks. I sit in the stan cullis and I stood in the old south bank in the 70’s there has always been banter between north and south bank so that’s bollocks too. Your right about one thing though Moxey is good a finance getting it in that is, but he’s going to have his work cut out in League One. As for your faith in Morgan coming good, the only way he can come good for me is by fucking off. I’ll leave you with this thought Moxey was CO at Stoke City they were in championship when Moxey was CO, where are they now!
deluded…passionate maybe but cant wait for it to come good..in league 2? hope you are right but cant see it.
First of all McCarthy should have gone after the secound season the fact we just managed to stay up by narrowly winning the last game against Blackburn it was clear to most Wolves fans McCarthy had taken us as far as he could. Secondly and this is in defence of McCarthy his transfer budget for that summer considering we had just stoped up by the skin of our teeth was pitiful, and I know McCarthy came out and said he was happy with what he had this was either true which in that case is another reason why he had to go because it was clear to most fans we desperately needed quality signings or he was toeing the Morgan line I suspect the later. As for putting a shift in this was the trouble with McCarthy’s time at Wolves hard work will only get you so far, McCarthy had no back up plan to that he was 1 diementional. Thirdly I personally believe Morgan was not convinced himself about McCarthy ie his Transfers the lad from Hull £2.5 million I don’t think he played a full game Hunt injury prone Johnson disruptive so if I am right Morgan should have got rid but I’ll tell you why he didn’t in my option because McCarthy had just got us another season of Pemier League football and all Morgan could see was £££££££ notes. As for Curbishly I suspect he read the smal print by that I mean what budget he would have to work with . We are both guessing about this but the only 3 people who really know is Morgan, Moxey and Curbishly and I suspect when Curbs finally retires he will let us know the real reason he turn the job down. As for Bruce I carnt believe this was down to fan pressure since when has Moxey Morgan listened to the fans again I suspect Morgan and Moxey knew any established name in football would want real money to sort the team out which was still mainly the side that got us promoted 2 years prior and to progress from survival battle to mid table ie Stoke City the team needed major surgery and cash. TC cheap would not make big demands and would keep us up. As for Stale after giving him some of the funds from player sales again I believe once he relished the extent of things he went back to Morgan and Moxey for more cash and was told you’ve got to work with what you’ve got, Morgan and Moxey didnt like this hense the sack. Saunders well what can you say, inexperienced, if he asking big Ron for advice well that says it all seem like a decent bloke way way out of his depth and not the sort to demand funds. As for Premier Acadamy and the new stand we needed neither what we needed was major investment in the time you only have to look at clubs like Stoke they established thenselves in Prem first it’s no good having Prem Acad in League One also it’s no good have Prem Acad if you then don’t play the players that come through you leave them to rot on the bench and yes I’m talking about Cassidy. Do you think Stoke are worrying about Prem Acad status it might be something they want to achieve but I’m sure staying in the Premier league is there first priority not Acad incidentally Stoke have applied for planning permission to extent one of there stands 7 years after gaining Prem Status, that’s how you do it Steve.
I was really hoping that you and Ben would have been invited to the forum to air our concerns
from supporters of our blog,any reason why you are not at the forum???
Parliment is just a cover why doesn’t Morgan address the crowd on Friday before game and as for ” what as Steve done for us” the guy who wrote it must be on Morgans pay roll sufficient budget for transfers, yeah ok how much mate when we are in League One , £ 50,000 , £500,0000, £5,000,0000, £10,000,000. I’ll tell what Steve has done for us made us the laughing stock of football and set us back 20 years. Idiot
Too right. Morgan should go to his office drawer and give the author of this garbage his biggest medal in there!!
Never have I read such total plums, we all know what has gone on in the last few seasons and trying to defend the orchestator of our demise is cowardice of the highest degree.
You have let our club down for the sake of a more comfy seat
Wolves supporter??? I dont think so..
Not sure John. I haven’t been nearly pro-active enough in contacting the club to get an invite, so it is partly my fault for not pushing the issue. I would like nothing more than to be there, get my shorthand out and get some answers!! I will make contact this week and see how it goes. I honestly don’t know how the parliament is made-up TBH
The thing is Ben, if they knew you were one of the original authors of our blog you wouldn’t get a sniff.but thanks for the reply.UTW…PS WATCHING THE EVERTON V OLDHAM GAME,OLDHAM ARE REALLY GIVING IT A GO ,EVENTHOUGH LOSING.GIVING IT MORE THAN WE DO.
I suspect they might be aware who we are John, but with tens of thousands of visitors on here a month (Thomas can verify, being the stats man!) I’ve long thought there could be an opportunity to have an interview with them. It’s a request I need to make.
I guess I’ll know what the answer will be, but I need to make a bigger effort.
There’s only so many times you can keep saying the same things over and over…Maybe the Parliament will help address this in the shorter term.
Hi Ben,
To become a rep on the fans parliament you have to apply at the start of the season with at least one person nominating you. The Wolves forum, Molineux Mix and the Wolf all have a representative, so I’d see no reason why they’d object to you standing next season.
I doubt it, it will be stage managed knowing Moxey questions submitted weeks ago any they don’t like they won’t have time to answer calls me cynical but I’ve never seen it as anything other than a PR tool for Morgan, Moxey to say they are talking to the fans what about the other 20,000 odd thousands other Wolves fans the word quango springs to mind.
Thanks for getting someone to do a guest post on this. I mostly agree with Craig. Morgan’s made some bad decisions and his gambles haven’t worked out, but I certainly think he’s got the club’s best interests at heart. The continuous conspiracy theories and rhetoric about Moxey get tedious and this article is refreshing.
Interesting point of view.
I think you make a strong case for Morgan being neither mental nor malevolent.
But just about every major decision has still been proven to be wrong.
Sadly, unlike the managers, he cannot be sacked for his incompetence.
Indeed. The results of his actions have panned out very badly and he has a lot to answer for, and should be telling us what his plans are for the future. What I’ve tried to portray is that there was some sense in the decisions he made at the time.
Wolves will have a good bank balance but won’t be anywhere near the Premier with Mr Morgan owning the club.
No Morgan will have a good bank balance.
Did Steve Morgan write this?
Any team, other than the big 5, who constantly manage to make a profit year in year out, are not running the club for football reasons. In the current climate it should be near impossible to turn a profit unless you are successful. Wolves are far from being successful yet continue to make a profit which basically means incomings are higher than outgoings. The only reason this is happening is lack of investment in footballing matters – so is it any wonder we are plummeting like a stone!
Who to blame, only one person – the owner Morgan.
sorry but this is a load of cobblers, we have invested in the club/players the only problem is not to the scale that some fans want, if we brought in Messi, fans would want more! if we made a loss then how could we afford the players you crave – then Morgan and Moxey would really be the villians, bloody hell the club is being run the right way and look at the trouble it is causing, imagine if we were like pompy – protest! nah it would be an hanging!
You are being absurd! All we want is stability both in footballing and financial terms. We certainly do not have the former and the latter is at risk. Messi would be nice not messy which is what we have!
Sorry, but yr ‘we’ have invested in players is a bit of a cheap statement. Sure the club have paid good money for some players but equally they have trawled the lower divs / hard up club to eek out some nuggets. NOT very successfully when what was needed was quality NOT quantity. Just reassess our recent acquisitions .. Tank from Walsall .. Midfielder from Newport County. They maybe ones for the future but it’s today when it was needed! Talking of Messi and Wolves .. well yr head is in the stratasphere not the clouds .. and NO don’t compare us to Portsmouth or Rangers. I wish I had the time to analyse all the players we’ve bought to those that are currently playing or who have left .. we’ve wasted millions in our player investment policy!!
Well if its being run the right way why are we nose diving into League One. Your a plant mate by Morgan and Moxey. Yes Morgans invested but what a bout the war chest money Premier money, no where near the level required to stay in Premier League and i not talking £20,000,000 on one player even now half the current team came up from the championship 3 years ago it is plain to see they had over achieved the first 2 years in the Premier just managing to stay up on the last day. What Wolves fans want more than anything is transparenty.
The thing is that so many of these supposed ‘mistakes’ were well received at the time and seen as good moves.
The stadium rebuild was universally praised – I don’t remember hearing a bad thing about it. Until the team started losing. Then we get the rather tired stand v players argument.
Summer 2011 – people wanted fewer signings, but the signings needed should be proven PL players. So we brought in O’Hara and Johnson, commanding PL wages. Both signings were applauded by supporters.
It’s nice to read a point of view that doesn’t change history and gives the point of view from someone without a vendetta. Steve Morgan has made some big mistakes which have had serious consequences for the club, but he’s not the antichrist as many of our supporters would make him out to be.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going – or in Morgans case he disappears
good point Ian, how many of our signings – present squad, did you hear the fans saying we don’t want him, who he’s crap, etc,etc, Jed youv’e got that wrong – when the going gets tough, some of our fans run, they turn like sour milk, tell me when was the mol rocking like it was when we were losing 6.0 to Southampton? now we go 1 down and it’s like a morgue – true or false! so how do you think the players feel? it’s no good with recriminations, now is not the time – protests on friday will/could have an adverse effect on the team and what good will it do – more bad headlines about the club/fans.
The stadium build was not surpossed to affect the transfer budget according to Morgan at the time, but it’s clear to us all now it did and what happened to the war chest , no I’m sorry but your argument does not stack up.
I agree with a lot of points made in this article and a lot of comments above but I cant help thinking that the ethos to try and get value out of each situation and that is the reason we didnt re-enforce this January.
DJ Campbell, Fraser Campbell, Conor Wickham, Sammy Ameobi – and that’s just strikers who have moved since January. Dean has been saying virtually since he arrived that we need a striker yet we aren’t seeing any arrive while our rivals and teams in our league are strengthening.
We may have an excessive wage bill at the moment but it will look even worse if we get relegated and the gates fall again.
I think we should be ignoring the finances for once and just concentrating on our league position – even if that means bringing in players at inflated prices and on wages that may be above our self set limit
Craig makes some excellent comments. It is easy to be right with the benefit of hindsight.
I have seen Wolves beat Albion 7-0 and Man City 8-1. I have witnessed Wolves in the 4th division and Albion and Villa in the third division.
The decisions that are made need to be for the medium and long term. The Academy and the new stand are correct decisions for the long term.
The second half against Cardiff looked good, with two attacking wingers providing service to two forwards. We were undone by two silly defensive mistakes, but the formation and team in the second half gives us cause for optimism.
Protests before the Watford game are pointless in my opinion. Jez is an excellent Financial man and Steve Morgan is a proven business man, so I think we should be more patient and not drive good people away from the club, as they will get it right eventually.
The game against Watford will be very difficult, but I think we should survive. If not it can only be onwards and upwards. When we were in the 4th division, we picked up some great players – Steve Bull, Andy Mutch, Robby Dennison and Andy Thompson.
So all is not lost!
and if we hadn’t picked up Bull (mutch was there already) ?
Jez isn’t a great financial man. He hasn’t planned for premiership wages in league 1. You can’t pay the wages.
And we will beat watford because the deadlegs are in the TV sale room.
We’re not paying premiership wages, we weren’t paying premiership wages when we were in the prem… which is one of the main problems. Then nearly every player had a 50% wage cut.
Is is for sure that all the players had a 50% wage cut ? I don’t see how we are supposed to have such a big wage bill if so.
The players certainly started playing at 50% under Solbakken – a sort of go slow in protest ?
We have the makings of a good team now though and maybe won’t beat Watford’s highly skilled team, but may just pick up enough points after. UTW
Is that the reason wolves only play for 45 mins.
For me Thomas wins the argument.
I think Morgan is a decent man with genuine ambitions for Wolves to be in the top half of the Premiership but he has placed too much reliance on Jez Moxey (misplaced I should have said).
Also, where he has poked his nose in such as sacking and appointing managers he has made disastrous decisions. I also feel that it hasn’t dawned on him yet that Wolves are a football club. Sure, we are a business but football clubs are not like the normal businesses he deals with. The be all and end all is not to make a profit. What happens on the field should also mean something to him.
I have always felt that the main problem during our time in the Premiership was not the amount of money spent on transfers (though it undoubtedly was a problem at certain times as Thomas says) but the far too rigid wage structure which meant we could only sign players of a certain ability from certain clubs (usually relegated clubs). The fact that we made a profit each season shows that we could have eased the wage structure for two or even three new players and still made a profit.
I blame Jez as CEO for this and Morgan for not doing something about it.
It’s a point of view but something doesn’t feel right about the author.
You were in the sponsors box so are you linked to them ?
It’s telling to me that the guy who owns the club is not present at the biggest game of the season ? So does he really care ? Where the hell was he ? He couldn’t judge the feeling at all. The implication is that we sacked MM because Jez’s wife got a hard time. Not much of a football reason then ?
You ask me to look five years (or 10 if you like) to see results from the Academy. Well unless someone does something in the next 12 games,in 5 -10 years time Wolves will be in the conference. Don’t you think 50 or so other teams will have these academies by then? Don’t you think that any decent players will be with the top 10 premier clubs by the age of 16 regardless of where they start ?
And as for the North Bank, you say we will fill it when we are back in the premiership – I say get real. We are NEVER going back to the premiership. Money – REAL money the kind Morgan could only dream about- calls all the shots in the premiership. It is rapidly filling with very rich clubs who will remain there for ever. There will be a set of 23 rich teams who will fill the premier and the top 3 places in the championship continually. To join that set you need to be in the premiership next year when the finances of the premiership change.
I think your logic has been applied in retrospect where there was no logic.
My question for Wednesday would be : are we bankrupt by players wages (ie have not enough cashflow) if we are relegated. (profit is not cashflow).
My message to Wolves fans would be – prepare for death and resurrection (a la Wimbledon) not salvation.
you forget..we werent playing liverpool. yeah great accademy great stand great decision making great moxey great morgan! itll all be in place for what exactly? division 4? im sick to the back teeth with ALL thats happened to the wolves. i do feel for the man-sort of. it must be a lonely place when its not going well but all that points to is that he isnt the RIGHT man for the job and i agree pfe mate that the premier league from where we are right now looks like australia from where i am! do us a favour and speak openly to a group of real fans..working man fans who have shelled out bucketloads to watch utter tripe for so long….the fans parliament is like an old boys club to me.
if you think that then change it – put your name down the next time they ask for members!
just dont think the fans parliament is seperate enough from the club..like someone posted a meeting at the civic hall would be a more neutral venue . i just think its a peacemeal attempt to keep fans happy in a comfortable enviroment.!
I totally agree with this blog. Just about the only sensible, balance opinion I have heard.
Yes the club has made mistakes, but if the club were run by the cyber-warriors, we would have made even worse mistakes.
Any of the Steve Bruce haters wish we were in Hull’s position now?
Our problems stem from Mick not moving players on who, despite getting us promoted, clearly couldn’t move us forward. We then became stuck with players who had gone stale and were on long contracts. The errors in appointing Mick’s replacement are clearly, and factually stated above, yet many will choose to ignore this.
Having said this, I am not happy at all with our current position but it has been a collective cock-up. Many of our player have simply under-performed. I don’t believe that they don’t care, they do. They are simply no longer good enough. Next Summer, more of them are out of contract and will be shipped out leaving space for new signings. Unfortunately the club has gambled (again) that we will not get relegated.
A protest at this stage will do nothing. If anything, we should all attend the U21 games and show our support to the future.
I’d like a set of wolves accounts for the last 5 years – does anyone know the exact company name so that I can order them from companies house ?
would be like stealing a four person meat pie from under the nose of moxey..worth a try though cos wed all love to know the truth for once
Try Bridgemeregroup mate, WWFC owners! Not Morgan. By the way Redrow announced 50%
increase in pre-tax profit today!
Yes Bridgemeregroup is the holding company, I saw it once and remembered it as Brentwood… It is the holding company for WWFC AND Redrow, also probably, it is registered in the Cayman Isles for tax purposes….
Just a thought (and with the benefit of no financial nous or even numeracy) but is it at all possible, the declared profits notwithstanding, that Morgan is doing an ‘Amazon/Google’ and our club to its cost is part of a cunnig plan to avoid taxation?
Yes and No…
The “Holding Company” owns both Redrow and Wolves.
Look at it this way; the ‘property’ is Wolves, the ‘builder’ is Redrow.
The builder buys the house contents, plus building, for a £10, but the ‘property’ is worth much more, so the ‘cost’ for ‘developing’ , both the ‘property’ and ‘building’, falls under the same ‘Holding Company’, registered in a country where development, building, tax, swapping monies between companies is simple, and not subject to UK Law.
Redrow just announced a huge increase in profit!
How did they do this in a terrible building recession?
To me, the only way Redrow could post such a profit was by the “Holding Company’ juggling money –
Maybe Fletcher and Jarvis monies, or part of a ‘parachute payment’?
Such fiscal movement is perfectly legal business in tax havens.
Massive conglomerates along with Redrow consider it good business sense.
I really hope I am wrong, but I increasingly suspect Wolves is a ‘scam’ to both Morgan and Moxey.
They can take any ‘vile abuse’, for Redrow is ‘expanding’ at the expense of Wolves.
The ‘property’ is being stripped of its assets, so the ‘builder’ can take the money and run, faster than most of our team……
None of this is correct. Firstly, a transfer of cash wouldn’t effect your P&L, it’s a balance sheet entry and secondly, Wolves couldn’t transfer cash to Redrow as they are different entities and not related companies. Thirdly, all of the major building companies have recorded big profits this year, not just Redrow, I’d guess and without looking can’t be sure, it’s down to revaluing their land banks.
its wolves cash that paid for the stand though. Built by Redrow ? I’m very concerned that we are asset rich and cash poor
Yes, Wolves cash paid for the NB. Built by Buckingham Group, which is not owned or has any involvement with Morgan.
My issue is that we don’t have any borrowings, if we did we could release the profit, but as we don’t we can only use cashflow. The bank balance in the last accounts sat at £10m down from £20m the year before.
Just a question or two Craig…
You are asking us to believe Morgan had no involvement with the Buckingham group who made the NB?
After our £50 million in the summer, now down to £10m, or were we down to £20m, at the start of the season, and now down to £10m?
Perhaps Jarvis & Fletcher money plus parachute money is a dream?
The facts and figures cannot possibly add up…
Highly probable Craig.
My apologies if I might have misled anyone….
So we are most definitely cash rich, but we don’t invest in the team?
OK
We had an income of £30 million on transfers and say £20 million parachute payment, (not sure exact figure), in August 2012 = £50 million.
Six months later, we are bottom of the championship, & spent hardly any of that £50 million avoiding getting there…
Sound business I guess?
You can’t have it both ways Craig….
Either Morgan is a crook, or an extremely useless business man, in every department, concerning Wolves as a football team, (not Bridgemere Holdings), nor Redrow, as accounts show…
To me it doesn’t add up!
To state that ‘Wolves and Redrow … and not related companies’ is disingenuous as they are both owned by the same holding company (Bridgemere Group).
I have audited accounts of related companies in the past and there are no lengths to which the accountants and F.D.s will not go to to ensure that everything appears ‘normal’.
Sorry Jack, but that is incorrect.
Wolves is owned by Bridgemere Group, which in return is fully owned by Morgan.
Redrow plc floats on the stock exchange and is public limited company, so is owned by the share holders, which if you wanted you could buy into today. I believe Morgan owns about 29% of the shares, which isn’t a controlling share, you need over 30% to have a controlling share, but then you have to buy the remaining shares. I know that Morgan tried to do this recently, but failed, which meant he had to sell shares to get back below 30%. And although it has been suggested that he used Wolves money to do this he was actually in a cash positive position from the transactions.
I stand corrected, but I am now more confused than ever about who owns what.
I notice that Bridgemere Group together with Toscafund Asset Management LLP and Penta Capital LLP recently tried to buy a controlling stake in Redrow. Toscafund is apparently run by some guy who had dealings with Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland and AIG , so not the best track record in history. Similarly 4 of the 6 Penta partners have worked for RBS. Makes you wonder…
Wolfman I agree with you completely.
Morgan and such spend millions, on corporate lawyers/accountants etc to make it appear that all is as it should be.
But the actual practicality, defies the way these companies are supposed to be practising.
For instance, Morgan can only own 30% of Redrow.
On paper he has 29% but he could easily get someone to buy 5% in his name.
As Craig points out to us both it is a public company and “we could buy into it today'” for ourselves, for Wolves, for Moxey, for whomsoever.
Yes, it is all above board and separate, which means Morgan, as far as being a football chairman, is absolute crap and he is personally losing money as I write……
You can believe that if you wish, but to me Craig you could throw legality and accountancy at me all day long.
I do not believe Morgan to be a useless business man but a crook.
The other 2 companies were the companies that were financing the take over.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with a lot of what pferdepferde says.
If we go down we won’t use our muscle to come make sure we come back up. We may possibly have more money than all the other League one clubs put together but Moxey will make sure (and Morgan won’t stop him) that we get rid of virtually all our players (the good as well as the bad) based on their wages rather than ability and will replace them with third division class players on crap wages. Money is the game we play not football,
An intelligent and well written article however, Nick Griffin can tell a convincing story when he presents his version of the facts.
I am convinced of the need for dialogue. I can understand that Morgan distanced himself frommaking a comment everytime one has been requested as it could be seen as underming the incumbent manager. I am clear on it and I said it at the time, I have never in my life seen somebody more out of his depth than watching Terry Connor get interviewed on patch of the day. All of our problems started there. If we had stayed up, everyone would have thought the new stand, new museum and redevelopment of compton and the house building were master-strokes! New, ever should Terry have been given that responsibility. That is the only part of the argument above that is weak.
As a complete sidebar, FourFourTwo have asked me to cast a vote from a Wolves perspective on the top three Championship players this season. These can’t be Wolves players (not that they would make it anyway).
They also can’t be players that were sold in January to Premiership clubs e.g. Butland at Birmingham or Zaha at Palace.
Any ideas?
I’m thinking along the lines of:
Peter Whittingham (Cardiff)
Tom Ince (Blackpool)
Charlie Austin (Burnley)
Thoughts?
Definitely agree with Ince and Austin but would Chris Wood be in with a shout?
The lad at Watford – Vydra? Looks like a player we’ve been crying out for.
Glenn Murray has to be included.
Depressingly, I thought Mark Davies was the best midfielder I’ve seen at Molineux this season. I won’t go there, but he’s another example of Moxey not having requisite footballing knowledge to ask what the hell Mick was playing at.
Moxeys role way too influential for a man who simply doesn’t understand the game. had he have done so, he wouldn’t have been so cosy with Mick. IIRC Morgan would have sacked Mick way before he eventually did. So to respond to the blog, I believe he has been let down massively by a man who is paid more than £1m a year. There simply can not be any mistakes on that wage. I can’t think of a decision Moxey has ever got right.
Back to the best players in the Championship…
The East Mids clubs have got some talent too. I haven’t seen these with my own eyes, but…
Davies at Derby sounds like he’s had a good season?
Then there’s Majewski at Forest.
Our nearly ever present left back has been Mr Consistency for 4 years…………………all of them consistently fuckin’ crap!!!
@robc306: 22/5/11 #wolves 2 Blackburn 3 Can any #wolvesfamily help me. What were Morgans exact words on the pitch after that game??? #wwfc
There are always two sides to consider. Craigs comments are well founded important and stated in the best interests of the club. Wolves are a proud club, one that I was lucky to have been watching and following since 1940 when we once were “The Pride Of The Midlands”
Management have got some decisions wrong, nothing unusual about that, there have been other significant failures but Mr. Morgan a business man didn’t buy and rescue the club with closed eyes.
He should be allowed with the support of genuine fans to come through this Baptism Of Fire
in what way did Morgan rescue the club ? They weren’t queueing up to buy it but it was a perfectly good going concern.
If my memory serves me right it was Steve Bull and Jack Hayward Who rescued this club. What i’d give to swap our present players for the squad under Dave Jones, for example.
Steve Morgan is overseeing a probable relegation to the third tier. He’s doing the disaster; somebody else will have to do the rescue. Again.
I tend to agree that Morgan’s decisions have been poor not malevolent. The sacking of McCarthy was very poorly done both in terms of timing and available replacements and was a clear panic reaction to an absurdly bad result/performance and not the sort of reaction one would imagine Morgan making in his building business. But football isn’t like the building trade. You don’t have 30,000 people shrieking the place down around your ears and calling for a manager’s head if a housing development doesn’t quite work out as planned. I know he wasn’t there that day but the feedback must have been damning. Losing 1-5 at home is bad enough but to concede such a score to your hated local rivals (and with such an abject performance. I couldn’t watch) must have sent alarm bells ringing throughout the entire Morgan empire. The man then panicked.
We will probably never know why Curbs didn’t want the job. We know damn well why Bruce didn’t get the job. I am more than happy that Warnock didn’t get the job. Who else was there at the time? Really. Who else? I got the impression from the Connor appointment that they knew the game was up. PL status was gone why, therefore, rush into a permanent unwanted appointment only to repent at leisure.
I was intrigued by the left-field appointment of Solbakken. I had some hopes of him given his Copenhagen CV. I liked the idea of the sea change in styles from robust, aggressive and hard working towards a more cerebral approach. From Kevin Doyle’s recent comments it seems clear notable members of the playing staff simply didn’t, or couldn’t, get it. But Solbakken was supported in the transfer market and I, for one, thought: good, fewer Irish lad plucked from obscurity, more continental and more skillful players instead. Injuries upset that hope and, by holding out for the best price, Moxey perhaps did a dis-service by leaving too little time to get the new players bedded in and familiar with their new colleagues. But would we have been pleased if Fletcher, Jarvis and Kightly had been sold quickly and, relatively, cheaply? Decisions, decisions.
What worried me about Solbakken, though, from the very beginning was that the players he brought in were, almost entirely, midfield/attacking ones. No rebuilding of a notoriously and perennially porous defence which, through its failings, had put pressure on the rest of the team every year we were in the PL. I may be boring but I am convinced that, as a starting point, not conceding goals is the best way to build a team in the PL. Sometimes, in the Championship, you can work on the principle of scoring more goals than the opposition. Not in the PL. Not with our resources. So, when we stopped scoring goals but continued to concede them we were always going to be in trouble. Saunders has, at least, done something to change the back four. Not very successfully but he has given it a go – which is more than his three predecessors tried to do. Let’s give him credit for that.
Where’s the money from player sales? I don’t know. But neither do I know the position on the current balance sheet of employee costs, stadium costs, etc., against sharply reduced income from both TV and gate money, sponsorship, etc. Morgan runs a successful building business which, apparently, has bucked the trend in construction by recording profits throughout these tough economic times. Why would he want another part of his business empire to fail? He did invest in the team at the beginning of the season, presumably on the advice of his new manager. Were they the players we wanted? Who knows. But they were probably the players we could get. We are not in the top division. Top players, even if affordable, don’t want to play in the Championship. Players in the lower divisions are notoriously over-priced in England especially when it is known that buying club has dosh. Options are always limited.
Why aren’t the existing players performing? Lack of confidence, lack of form, lack of motivation (those with a contract running down who intend to move on), fear – especially when playing at home. Have any of us had 25,000 baying for your blood when you make a mistake at work? Until we have I suggest none of us are in a position to understand the effect it can have on a player’s self-belief. I would guess that the last thing you want at that moment is the ball played to you. Players ‘hide’ on the pitch. The stop running into space because to run into space means making yourself available to receive the ball again when you are liable to be booed or jeered. You don’t chase the player with the ball in case you might win it and again open yourself to the harsh judgement of the crowd. Do something right and all you get are ironic cheers. I don’t think these guys are the right ones for the club but why would Ward want to go on the pitch when he knows all too well what a large section of the crowd thinks of him. The same for SEB, and Berra and now Foley and Henry and Doyle…. We all like to think we would die for the shirt given half a chance. How long would that feeling last if you were booed every time you touched the ball?
There’s a lot we don’t know about the club from the money side to the psychological state of the players. I don’t think Morgan is trying to screw the club. I don’t think the players are playing badly deliberately. The next few weeks are going to be a test of everyone’s resilience and resolve. In some respects fans have the easy job. All they have to do is turn up and encourage their team. Perhaps that is all that is needed. A home crowd that cheers rather than boos. A home crowd that understands times are tough and who, like when your children make a mistake, pick them up, give them some words of (hopefully) useful advice and encourage them to try again. The fear of future failure may be as debilitating as the fact of current failure for the team.
I dunno. I’ve supported the Wolves since the mid-50s, remotely, all the way from South London. Perhaps now, I feel we need to find ways of supporting the club, and that’s everyone in it, at a time of crisis. The hard talking about the way forward can start when the team stays up.
In defence of Stale’s defence he had noted the gaping hole at the back but the club refused to pay the money for his two chief targets Geromel and Demidov in the transfer window and Margerietta has never been fit.
Now I’d say that would be another case of the board picking the cheap rather than best option.
I don’t dispute this but I note that both players are currently out on loan – Geromel at Mallorca and Demidov at Celta Vigo. Demidov went there on 2.1.13 having only moved to Frankfurt the previous summer, Demidov doesn’t seem to have played much in the past 20 months. I know nothing about Geromel but the track record looks good. Demidov has had major ups and downs and is either deemed not quite good enough or is injury prone. He couldn’t hold down a first team place at Frankfurt. Perhaps there were more than cost explanations for the reluctance to sign him. But, as they are both currently out on loan why was that option not followed up?
Geromel’s loan is part of a cost cutting exercise by his parent club which were in financial trouble when they signed. Imagine that us not even being able to match the wages of a club that are on the verge of financial collapse!
As for Demidov he’s a solid defender and international for Norway. No offence to the championship but the Bundesliege is a massive step up in level from our league so yes he may not get into the Frankfurt set up but he’s a damn site better than Berra and Johnson.
I for one am livid that we sacked a man with decent vision for players (Sako, Sigurdarsson, Pezsko, Boukari and Doumbia have all had their moments this season) and replaced him with an idiot that thought our current squad was good enough in the transfer window and continues to play our from player out of position and leave our talented form youngster on the bench.
HERE, HERE, 100% AGREE.
Sorry wrong answer to comment – I meant to agree with Bill 5.08 comment.
That is bang on the truth Sir, thanks for taking the trouble to post. We should unite on Friday and if we go 5 down we should sing all the more. Its our only hope!!
I wish (and hope) you are right but I think the players are not performing through lack of ability and lack of motivation.
Whereas we would die for the shirt because we are fans, they won’t die for the shirt because they are mercenaries. Robinson came to Wolves to further his career. He will try but it ain’t the end of his world if Wolves go down. Doyle performs well for Ireland where he thinks he might get noticed for a transfer but goes down again when back at Wolves. And so on through the squad.
You can sing all you like from the terrace and certainly booing doesn’t help but it won’t make any of them better players.
My guess is that we will beat Watford because it is on TV and suddenly they will be all motivated. Blackpool was on TV and thats the last time we won.
There are some good points made but I would suggest that relegation was by no means certain when TC was appointed. There were still 13(?) games to go and we weren’t even bottom.
The Staale / long term plan / knee jerk fiasco has conveniently been glossed over. The 6 additions totalling more in fees than any other championship side???????? Sadly Boukari, Pzesko, Margreitter, Doumbia and the Sig all suffered injuries at one time or another. Had they been fit who knows what would have happened. Sako and the Sig have been our best players this season and will prove to be an investment for the club.
“I do expect us to spend big in the summer to get rid of Mick’s old and trusted players and bring in a new looking team to start next season”.
Are we talking the mythical treasure chest again?
Isn’t that what Staale wanted to do?
The talk about getting rid of Mick’s trusted players indicates, once again, that they are to blame, ( KDs bit in the E&S earlier today supports this), so why the hell did we sack the manager before he could get rid of them? Morgan was responsible for that decision and from what I can gather from the article it was made before we lost to Luton.
I don’t think Morgan is a monster and I doubt he is siphoning money out of the club. I do think he made a big mistake in sacking Staale and our wage structure remains a real issue. This possibly stopped Staales two, first choice centre backs joining us in the summer. Is the paying of lower wages, which has resulted in us teetering on the brink of successive relegations actually saving us money – when we will be in division 1 rather than the premiership?
If we go down Sako and Sig will, I am afraid, be sold. Jez will want to reduce the wage bill.
Apart from the fact that McCarthy should have gone after he bottled at OT in our first Prem season, for me, the problems ALL started after the end of season Blackburn game.
McCarthy should have gone the instant that match finished.
Anyone with an ounce of a footballing brain could see how out of his depth he was.
The first season in the Prem, we struggled, and Mccarthy saw this, changed tactics and we eventually finished relatively comfortably.
Beginning of season 2, he reverted to his original tactics and never deviated.
Result? Skin of teeth survival.
If he had gone right then, we could have got a good manager in, brought in more players than just Johnson, (forget O’Hara, he played on loan for a contract, and has done bugger all since) and who knows how we would have fared?
There is no one in higher management, ie Moxey and Morgan, who has that ounce of a footballing brain, and THAT is the problem.
People who buy football clubs should know football, or appoint someone who does.
Morgan has neither, and that is why we are where we are.
Forget redeveloping the stadium, we would stand in 6 feet of shit to see a winning, succesful team, just get the football right and everything else falls into place.
Get it wrong, as he has, and the falling is of a different nature.
It would appear Morgan is not the wonderful businessman he would have us believe.
Couldn’t agree more Clive.
Agree with some of what you have written Craig.
But there have been so many wrong decisions made over the past couple of seasons that, when viewed together, smack of total incompetence .
Forgetting all the others, the one which really makes no sense at all is the hiring and then firing of Ståle.
Why appoint a manager with the intention of completely changing the ethos of the Club over the long term and then not give him the time, the chance, and the backing, to make it happen?
It was obvious to anyone with a brain cell that the present squad were not able or willing to play that way and the only solution would be to rip the team up and start again.
I would like to hear Steve Morgan’s reason for suddenly changing a long term plan for a ‘quick fix’ .
It is plain to see that the players that stand out in the present side are Ståle’s signings and some of the young lads.
Wrong decisions – possibly made for the right reasons – at the wrong time.
It sums up the way Wolves have been run and I, for one, am not happy about it!
Read the posts above as well as the article and some very good points made. It seems the common theme running through them all is not only the passion we have for Wolves but how things have turned out. It seems to stem back to Moxey in a funny way, ‘won’t do an Albion’
not a job for a novice’ etc Look at Albion now. Why did we not appoint a director of Football when Staale was employed? Albion have one and i bet there ain’t many that wish we were where they are now!
Look at other teams who are now doing well, Swansea, Stoke etc Why are teams like that doing well? Because they have footballing people, they plan, they invest properly.
That new stand is what we all thought it would be……..half full and the gates are falling.
Jez may have balanced the books but his ‘wage policy’ has strangled this club. Proven track record now yet will his employment suffer and lose his vast salary plus benefits for driving us indirectly if you like, to where we are now? I don’t think so and That is grossly annoying, forget how long he has been ‘in’ football remember this Stokeys where glad to see the back of him!
Not asking for £100k a week players etc but more quality bought in which has definately not happened. Okay Sako and Siggy, Peszko and Boukari are decent players but even Staale said he wanted three or four more now DS has a list but one of the questions on fans minds is will Morgan/ Moxey fund them? You get what you pay for and they are guilty of not bringing in better players the second year in the prem. The new stand…..arse about face!
The big issue for me is WHERE’S THE SUMMER TRANSFER MONEY GONE? £30 odd Mill with the add on’s plus SKY money. When asked at the so called fans parliament all Moxey would say was, ‘It’s Commercially sensitive’ what a cop out!
Even if DS gets another striker it’s looking too little too late!
What ever Morgans built fine but through out his and Moxey’s tenure we have suffered and that’s a fact!
iT READS WE a a valid case for Morgan but he did promise to spend big after the last Prem season when we survived yet did not so why pomise and then not spend? Why has Moxey been allowed to take out £20 million out of the club in wages and bonuses in 12 years he aint that good millions of people could have done his job for a tenth of the cost. If Morgan wants to get the fans on side he can start by sacking Moxey he is hated by Wolves and Stoke fans alike and that attitude will never change
Stuff Stoke fans who cares – but is he hated by the Stoke board? we all know why you hate him! albion match-seats- not his fault blame the authorities, oh and a message to the SB stop breaking the law, sticking two fingers up to the club you are supposed to support and SIT DOWN!
There’s one reason Morgan won’t sack Moxey and that’s because he knows to much its a simple as that. Moxey knows the finaces where the money’s gone and Moxeys the sort of person to squeal like a pig.
I disagree Craig.
Respecting your point of view but, for instance, you say Morgan offered Curbishley a contract, they shook hands on it.
Curbisley went home and in 24 hours had changed his mind.
This, in your portrayal implies it ‘threw’ the managerial appointment into disarray….
It had nothing to do with the contract then?
Nor do I agree that Morgan was ‘logical’ to invest in a new stand, before strengthening the team.
Wolves and Redrow are both owned by the same Holding Company, I think it is called ‘Brentwood Holdings’, so they are mutually reliant.
Enough respect for your argument but to me, both Morgan and Moxey are cheap con men.
I note in your article that you say Moxey, in front of his daughter was subjected to vile comments, but he is paid millions to be the CEO of a failing football team, surely those who pay him, have a right to express their view?
Should we, because we support Wolves, support failure?
In a way, that is what we are being asked to do.
Bridgemeregroup not Brentwood are the holding company.
Just to clear up a point. Bridgemere’s the holding company of Wolves, but not Redrow. Redrow is a floated company and has share holders like Barclays, Next, etc. Morgan is only an employee of Redrow with a shareholding.
Bridgemere ok! – Finally we got the right name.
Thanks..
I expected someone to question this possibility, of their being a cross over, between Wolves & Redrow.
Of course, Morgan’s position is all above board and correct.
There is no inter relation between the companies…
Hmmm…
So Morgan doesn’t benefit, personally or business wise, in his status at Bridgemere and Redrow, if say a new Stand is built?
And who owns Bridgemere Holdings?
Why do Wolves need a ‘Holding Company’ to own them?
Morgan is a little bit more of an ’employee’ to Redrow, his shareholding I imagine substantial, maybe even a majority shareholding?
By ’employee’, do you mean to the other Shareholders?
Does Redrow have a ‘Holding Company’, like ‘Next’ do, and Wolves?
I am sure you are right, it is all good for Wolves, and my suspicions of financial ‘jugglings’ are slightly paranoid…..
I shall await our next win, with faith in the ‘Business Enterprise’ scheme, a la Morgan and Moxey…..
Robin, I’ve posted this here in answer to your question because It won’t allow me to reply direct for some reason.
He benefits fully from anything and everything that happens from Bridgemere, but not at Redrow.
Bridgemere is fully owned by Morgan.
Holding companies are usually set up to dilute you risk, so if one of its subsidiaries go bust you don’t lose the lot. For example WWFC (1986) is the footballing side and Wolves Property is the stadium, training ground, etc. so if WWFC went bust it wouldn’t take the property side with it.
He is the major shareholder, but doesn’t have a controlling share, so has to answer to the shareholders in the same way as Bob Diamond did at Barclays.
Redrow Plc is the holding company with subsidiaries underneath it.
I’ve read the accounts that were released and up to date everything is above board and no cash juggling has been going on. At the end of the day I am firstly a fan, but one that understands accountancy and if there was something underhand going on then I would be the first to shout about it.
As I’ve mentioned many times on a forum I frequent, one thing that annoys me is that Wolves keep announcing the profit based on the holding company WW (1990), which is wrong because the footballing side is making more profit than what the holding companies because they are depreciating the property. For example: The footballing side has made £16m over the last two seasons where the club is reporting £5m over the last two seasons.
If i understand that right then – if Morgan sends the footballing side to the wall he still keeps and owns the properties ? It might be sensible accounting/business but it’s also very tempting when your footballing side is in free fall.
Now I’m confused. If Redrow is the holding company, why does the Bridgemere web-site state that ‘The leisure sector is underpinned by major assets including Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club’ ?
Why has Bridgemere been trying to buy Redrow if Morgan owns Bridgemere and has the major shareholding in Redrow ?
Wolves plc and the land i.e Compton and the stadium should have been a ring fenced entity; Morgan paid £10 for the club and promised £30 million investment and he should have kept it out of his other business holdings – I don’t see what possible good it can do Wolves to be part of Bridgemere – but I can see how it could benefit Bridgemere !
Morgan never actually put any of his own money in. Apart from the tenner.
Bridgemere put up the 30 million.
Morgan is not an owner who has actually put money into the club, his companies have, there lies a big difference.
Look at Fulham. Look at how much debt their owner has just written off.
That’s because he’s a true fan who wants to see his team compete at the top table.
Will never happen to Wolves.
We are doing a Portsmouth without actually getting ourselves in debt and sustaining ourselves in the PL.
That’s no mean feat.
I am still waiting for Micks replacement.
When we sacked him we should only have done so if we were going to replace him with a proven PL manager who was better.
Neither Curbishley Bruce or Warnock were any better than Mick..
The 3 since are worse…
The man is out of his depth and he admits he relies on Moxey.
The man who did to Stoke what he’s doing to us,
He fleeced them for as much as he could before leaving to come here.
They haven’t looked back since he left.
He will continue to fleece us for as much as he can if he is allowed to.
Morgan OUT!!! Moxey OUT!!! Saunders OUT!!!
The truth about Steve Morgan is quite clear, over the last two years he (alongside) The Fat Controller have made the perfect definition of the reverse Midas effect. There seems to be an inability to get any decision right, which obviously is a problem, but far more importantly is the deafening silence. At times it is hard to believe that Morgan is a successful businessman, certainly Redrow would have gone west had a similar approach adopted for the club been persued by Redrow. The lack of communication with his customers (the fans) is nothing short of disasterous, it leaves him looking arrogant and lacking interest in the club.
Having worked for over thirty years in customer service roles, I know full well the value of good communication, people will accept most things if they are informed and if this does not happen then rumours will fill the vacuum.
The Fans Parliament is not the ideal forum to communicate with the majority of the fans, most of us (rightly or wrongly) view it as an official mouthpiece for the club. A much better idea would be an open meeting at the Civic Hall, a meeting where questions could be asked without the need to submit them in advance. It would be a rough ride for Morgan, but I am sure that if handled properly it could help to build bridges and answer the questions that need answering. I would certainly have more respect for the man if he put himself in front of the fans with no restrictions. Perhaps Steve should talk to his PR man, assuming of course that it isn’t Mr Moxey.
Here are my comments and answers to this post.
1. You ask: “If you had that information sitting in front of you would you have got rid of Mick after the Blackburn game?”
Answer: Yes. This is critical to understand. Only reason to get rid of Mick was to progress in the Premier League, which Morgan said he wanted to do. Mick had shown that he did not have the football knowledge or the managerial skills to compete at a higher level. You won’t motivate skilled European players in the top half of the EPL by telling them to put a shift in! If all we wanted, however, was to hang out in the bottom 4 of the EPL, and occasionally bounce back up from the Championship, then there probably was no better manager than Mick and may as well have kept him.
2. You ask: “And would you have brought in anymore players?”
Answer: YES! Is this a serious question? It was glaringly obvious to anyone with any objectivity that a) we had no natural left back suitable for the EPL, b) Berra was not cutting it and we needed another skilled center half, and c) Henry was a liability and lacked creativity, who we needed to replace with better. Frimpong in fact was brought in for this last reason but got injured, so I think even MM saw the need.
3. Yes, it was too late to sack Mick after the West Brom game UNLESS a more skilled manager was secured. Tarzan never let go of his rope until he caught the next. Basic rule. Think about it, if we were going to get relegated, may as well have kept McCarthy. So unless there was someone better lined up, this was a completely mistimed action.
4. Appt of Connor – sorry, what you point out is just excuses. Again, this should have been done before sacking MM. Btw, if you really know what you say for facts, then you must either be on the board or on the inside with Morgan. Otherwise, none of us really know what happened with Curbishley. Appointing Connor was still a MORON idea. No other excuse holds.
5. Stale Solbakken. Another MORON idea. How can you justify this? This is not a calculated risk. It is a wild gamble. Putting it all on black without any calculation of odds. There was no evidence at all showing he had any experience for the challenge ahead, and there was the huge elephant on the table that nobody brings up which is how he was booted and failed in Germany! Also, losing your 3 best players is HUGE!!!! How can you diminish that? Remember how we struggled in the championship ahead of promotion when Kightly was injured? Just one player! Also without Craddock? 2-3 key players make all the difference!
6. Getting rid of Solbakken ahead of Jan window. – Only right decision Morgan made. Not too early at all. But again he repeated the mistake of not replacing with class, appointed a clown with again no experience who cannot motivate players. And he failed to hire in Jan window.
I am sorry, but the timing of your article, and the feeble and mistaken arguments you put forward, have to be that you are put up to do this, or are close to, Mr Morgan, who is still trying to excuse his mistakes. This worries me more than anything else because I do not see accountability and responsibility by Morgan. He still looks to justify his actions.
Morgan is a proud man, I can understand, but he cannot afford to be stubborn and defensive here or he will destroy this club.
He needs to do 2 things now:
a) Do whatever it takes to prevent relegation. Where are the rest of the loanees? WHat is he waiting for?
b) Appoint a director of football who know what to do to get things back on track and delegate to him.
Well said GoWolves your post stands up 100% better than Craig whatshisname.
You’ve saved me a hell of a lot of time posting my opinion on what for me is a misguided and misleading post in defence of the mismanagement of our football club by two mischievous miserable misbegotten miscreants,MOXEY MORGAN.
UTW.
well said go wolves
Excellent response to Craig’s article.. You have (like most of us) rumbled his agenda and torn his rationale to bits .. MOREOVER YOU HAD THE BALLS TO SAY IT .. I might just trawl the past blogs to see if his views are consistent, if there are any!
Your conclusion .. “i am sorry” sums it up perfectly..
Talk all you like but everything really stems from before Morgan’s ownership.
The money has been spent on the field & off it by Morgan.
The problem is that all aspects of the club has been & is being run in a very amateur way from the top with no clear ethos or modern strategy. The money has been wasted, not taken or withheld.
Morgan came in blind with no clear vision, stuck with the existing amateur set-up and we are now reaping years of neglect. It was only a matter of time & he still hasn’t addressed it.
No amount of rash snap decisions by an essentially part-time chairman, managerial changes or tweaks in back room set up will work. They’re only a sticking plaster.
Our football was never truly Premiership standard yet VAST sums of money went into buildings and the bank and not the football . Mick and Terry went to a club at the bottom of this league . That decision by Morgan to put up with the second rate and save money is the most important fact and we all know it. It has made Morgan much richer. You decide how much sympathy or respect to give him.
Agree Matthew papering over the cracks.
Does anybody really know Morgans intentions?
There has never been a plan A….
Basically tried to run a Premiership team as a Championship team.
Defence crying out for some quality and we got Johnson.
A decent left-back and we get Ward.
Tough decisions avoided.
F*** the team and build a stand, and a restaurant and then have the
audacity to open a Museum and charge fans.
SS in my opinion told him straight what was required and he goes.
Complete debacle that’s why we are at this point.
Parliament? Do me a Cavour it’s a PR stunt.
The day Dean took over he is flogging houses at Compton.
Says it all.
I don’t think Morgan has ever understood that financing a football club is a constant process needing real input from himself. He agreed to put £30mill after buying the club and we have to assume that he did it and we got promoted. Since then the club finances have been self-financing hence the continual profits but no inward investment from Morgan or Bridgemere. Result was almost the lowest wage structure in the Prem and as they say you pay peanuts you get monkeys (Halford, Hunt, Jonsson, Stearman, Ward, Berra etc) and you will get relegated. To win the Champions League Abramovich is reckoned to have spent around £1 billion net on top of normal cash flow to acheive this, in other words the owner has to keep ploughing money into the club if you want to try to get real success. I think Morgan does not have the real money to to this. My question to him would be would you consider investing the same £30 mill you originally put in the club now to get us back into the Prem (even from League 1) and would you consistently put min 10-20 mill in each season out of your own money once we got there like the Coates family have done with Sroke City? Problem is that Bridgemere is not Bet365 – I don’t think Morgan has the real money. Morgan’s leagacy will be the new stand, the training ground and the Academy but not an established Prem club as we should have been.
Excellent post Eric .. highlighting even further the net financial waste that has occurred in player purchases and sales. You are also spot on with the never ending funding theory. Which is where WWFC will fall down. We aren’t BET365 and Bridgemere won’t be throwing money at us. I well remember Sir Jack announcing he was looking for a buyer after the first game in the Prem at Blackburn. (2004?). We lost 5-1 and he must have seen the daylight after that..
Thomas i couldn’t have put it better myself…..nice post by Craig but that’s all it is….nice, Why didnt we give the job to O’Driscoll or Atkins?
Thomas i couldn’t have put it better myself…..nice post by Craig but that’s all it is….nice, Why didnt we give the job to O’Driscoll or Atkins?
Saunders looks like a rabbit in the headlights……..
Nice to think plans in place to build a team next season. But that sums up the leaders of this club, the rebuilding should have took place last year. That’s rebuilding the team by the way as bob the builder has already started the other building programme
Mogan biggest mistake was not giving Moxey his cards and bringing in his own C.E., Director of Finance and a Director of football. This would also probably have been cheaper than keeping Moxey.He would have had to have a big pay off as I am sure Sir Jack had a clause in his dealings with Morgan that he kept Moxey.
Mogan is no mug with his own finances im quite sure.
He was also shrewd in his dealings with the Council,appearing to have them along with the express and star and dare i say even Bully in his pocket.
Don’t EVER, for one minute, think Bully is in his pocket.
If ever there was someone who is his own man, it is Bully.
I spent a whole day with him a couple of years ago, and apart from being our leading all time scorer, a hero to thousands upon thousands, he is one very shrewd cookie, and one of the nicest blokes it has been my pleasure to meet and spend time with.
Dont ever suggest that again, or you will have me and a bunch of others to contend with!
Sure you’re correct Clive the guy is untouchable . Although having suffered his weekly column in the E&S it would be easy to conclude that his ghostwriter is from the PR department.
I’m saying nothing against Bully (he and The Doog are footballing Gods to me) but Neville Chamberlain once spent a whole day with Hitler and came back with a piece of paper which said “Peace in our time”.
Also in a recent phone in Bully said:-
“There were a lot of fans clearly questioning the chairman’s commitment to the club. But trust me – I have spent time with Steve and like to think I know him.
“I can absolutely assure them that he is totally committed to making Wolves a Premier League force again with a stadium to match.”
So someone is pulling some wool over some people’s eyes…
I can’t work out who it is – can you?
I don’t think for one minute Steve morgan does not care , but the fact is he is the man making the decisions and he as got most of them wrong. I can aplaud the new acadamy the vision of a new molineux but all this was based on prem football. There was always a chance of a return to the championship but I’m guessing there was no plan for the armageddon of league 1.
The way I see it Mick did a superb job in getting us up but the lack of prem quality signings or the money for them meant we were sure to struggle, lucky for us other teams like portsmouth were even worse run and made our job easier. The second season and still not enough quality and a freak amount of points to avoid relegation meant we stayed up on goal difference , This was the time to say thanks Mick it’s time to move on.
Sadly we only really add Johnson ( O’Hara was alreasy here) Why did anyone expect us not to struggle again. Then we finaly see sense at the wrong time with no plan and no transfer window , Connor through no fault of his own gets stuck with a job way beyond him. Relegation assured with 15 games to go.
New season new idea lets play football , we sell our best players bring in an unknown and leave it late to get replacements. Unfortunately Solbakken was the right idea wrong man . If he had tried to evolve a team he may have had a chance instead it was like Arsene Wenger trying to manage Stoke and telling them to play like Arsenal It was never going to happen and just got more boring by the week to the stage we cheered if we had a shot usually just the one.
This time Morgan as a plan another novice with no cv who now looks out of his depth and again there is no money.
The one constant is all the bad decisions and the money decisions are Morgans and he has to accept he as screwed up our club. Moxey is an employee and does as hes told but should of had enough expierence to tell Morgan he was wrong so I’m guessing he is just happy keeping his job, one thing for sure he won’t get his 1m plus in league 1
I look forward to him answering questions , mine would be how do you feel that your lack of judgement will put half the staff at molineux out of work next season and made us fans a laughing stock.
I’m quite surprised Craig suggests that the social media and networks deluge was the reason Steve Bruce wasn’t’appointed. If that logic applies Moxey should have gone well before we this..
Last week Matt Murray pretty much confirmed this to be the case.
Matt Murray – why exactly is he on the payroll ? He made a grand total of 87 appearances for Wolves and has contributed nothing else. He’s an awful presenter too – can’t understand why Sky use him.
He definitely a moxey/morgan man being paid to say the right things.
HI Clive, He might well be his own man.Did you see the big photo of him in the express and star helping Morgan to publicise his houses ? Have you read his column in the express and star ? certainly appears in my opinion to be toeing the party line. I suspect as you say Bully is
very very shrewd. Please dont put your gang on me .I love you as well as Bully.
They wont deliver the E & S to me here in Houston, and I have far better things to do than troll the internet reading what Morgan/greasel want it to say, so no, I aint seen or read any of Bully’s columns.
Being as you have grovelled and begged for mercy I will spare you the “gang bang”
FOwb
Craig says “forget where we are right now and think of when we get promoted back up to the PL”. I am trying desperately to forget where we are right now, and the Premier League is a deluded fantasy. Graham Turner stayed as manager despite major setbacks and eventually rebuilt our fortunes. Solbakken wasn’t afforded the same privilege. I am proud to be a Wolves supporter, but despite the current regime, not because of them. There have been far too many mistakes, and we have been made a laughing stock. The one area where there is hope is our young players, they are the future and in the years to come I hope they succeed where their senior counterparts have failed and
get us winning again.
Ah Graham Turner. Thats a lovely waft of Nostalgia I can feel. Great Manager – Lovely Man. Really glad he’s doing well at Shrewsbury. A man who has always loved the clubs he’s worked for. I wish we had never parted with him. He could still be our manager now.
He might not have made it to the promised land but he sure made the tour of the wilderness interesting.
I’d settle for guaranteed top half of Championship like he gave us.
Think about it Morgan attends Fans Parliament. Two days before a demonstration.
He will say anything to abate the fury.
Backed by Moxey with all the facts and figures.
Don’t fall for it.
Dead Chief Waking.
Craig, who do you blame for our current situation?
There’s a surprise .. AKA Craig has gone quiet !!
I like to hear other points of views even if i disagree with it. If morgan is not to blame -who is?
First and foremost I blame the players – There is no way we should be in this predicament with the players we have.
Secondly, I blame Morgan for trying to appease the fans – I strongly believe that a lot of the decisions that Morgan has made over the last 12 months have been based on the reaction of fans over the previous 12 months.
Morgan has a lot to answer for, for the position we are currently in, but most of the fingers that are pointed at him are with the benefit of hindsight, which obviously, Morgan didn’t have, when he made those decisions and if he did he would have made totally different decisions.
I’m also in agreement with Thomas, that Morgan should be interacting with the fans more and not at a fans parliament because the fans parliament is too controlled with too many people in attendance.
The answer for me is for Morgan to hold his hands up and say he’s got it wrong and he needs help, which then should be removing Moxey from his position, and I don’t have problem with Moxey per se, but after 13 years as CEO change is needed. Using Moxey’s salary, I’d then bring in a Financial Director to look after the purse strings and a Director of Football to run everything on the footballing side.
Hope some of the more sceptical posters above have read this Craig. You don’t sound like a Morgan plant to me on the basis of this. While there’s a good deal of your initial blog that I don’t agree with, you’ve stimulated a good debate here. It troubles me that a lot of the questions raised aren’t ging to be put to M and M as noone here seems to be involved in the “fan’s parliament”. How is this august body constituted? Ben says that he hasn’t been proactive in seeking an invite, surely he and Thomas should have been invited by the club, or whoever runs the “parliament”…it’s them that need to be proactive in seeking to hear the legitimate concerns of the fans as expressed here.
I bet you are a really nice man Craig. You don’t really want to blame anyone. Nice general ‘the players’ (no one person named); followed by an indirect dig at the supporters who Morgan has followed; followed by a blame Morgan but not really cause he only followed the supporters wishes; followed by remove Moxey even though you don’t blame him either.
Fact is there is no one person to blame. Modern culture seems to want one person to blame but most events are never that simple.
Running a football club is very different to building houses. You watch a bricky lay bricks – if he’s good and quick, you employ him and mostof the time he lays bricks great for you. When he doesn’t you can see that he’s cocked it up cause the bricks are there not laid properly and you sack him.
Footballers aren’t like that. It’s much more difficult to see how and why a team is failing. It’s much more difficult to find a good footballer. A good player in one side isn’t a good player in another. And there is much more psychology – you need to know the players. Probably that is the real issue at the moment.
Solbakken couldn’t read the players because of cultural differences. Saunders hasn’t had time to get under their skin yet either. Terry Conner had no man management skills at all.
There should never be any doubt really that the main issue is with the players. Currently many feel these players are too good to keep losing at this level. I’m not convinced. But they need to be fully motivated and they are not.
It is very hard for us to know how individuals are feeling – whats really in their minds- but sometimes their actions betray them.
The one man I’ve really got it in for is Roger Johnson. Arriving at Training drunk is unforgivable. Pratting about on the pitch 3 minutes before a game when the manager is in the dressing room stoking the team up is unforgivable. He just doesn’t show any team spirit. And the fact that Dean Saunders let him get away with it is revealing too.
Yes for me at the end of the day, it’s the players and the failure to get a well motivated skilled team out on the park
pferdepferde agree completely with your analysis.
Spot on.
John davies – who do you blame for our current situation
Good to hear another point of view, Craig. Well done for posting it.
I confess that I did find myself nodding in quiet agreement at one or two individual paragraphs. And of course your general thrust is fine: all individual actions have to be placed into the proper context in which they were taken.
But, even so, SM just keeps on getting things totally wrong when they are viewed objectively. Just look at where we are now. Saying, as you do: “Forget where we are right now and think of when we get promoted back up to the PL” is to gloss over changes which we desperately need, starting with change at the very top, in order to get that promotion (or, as likely, promotions in the plural).
Q: How on earth did Redrow become a successful business with you at the helm? Please apply same principles at Wolves or leave!
Q: Would you promote a first year graduate accountant to be the CFO of Redrow? If not, why did you appoint a rookie as the manager of one of English football’s greatest clubs, at a time when they are teetering on the brink of footballing disaster – because relegation to DIVISION 3 will be a DISASTER. We know we’ve been there before and it took us over 20 years to get back to the top division! TWENTY YEARS!!
Q: What was in the small print of Alan Curb’s contract?
Q: Do you appoint managers on the basis of how servile they will be to you?
Q: What were are the terms of your purchase of Wolves? Or in other words, if someone wanted to take-over from you, what would be the required asking price and conditions of sale?
Q: Do you or Jez Moxey have a say in team selection? For example are you more keen that under-performing players are “put in the shop window” rather than dropped?
Q: When will instruct the club to be less patronising to the fans?
Q: Does Jez Moxey ever ask you if his bottom looks big in whatever he is wearing at the time of your very deep conversations on ways to extract as much money as possible fans? OK this last question is just an attempt at humour – which believe me at these times is very hard to do!
Great questions
Ray wilkins was on the radio saying that he had spoke to morgan about the wolves job and he really wanted the job. So its bullshit to say it was just warnock, bruce and curbishley. With or without hindsight, i would take ray wilkins over clipboard.
Ray Wilkins recently did an after dinner speaking season at Molineux and someone I know asked him directly whether he was interested in the Wolves job and he categorically stated that he had no interest in the Wolves job.
well he wouldn’t have now would he ? Question is who would ? Clearly no one which is how Dean Saunders got it
I heard ray wilkins on talksport, with my own ears, nobody elses ears, saying that he had spoken to morgan and it was something that really interested him. Other bloggers heard him say this as well. I see you blame, the players, morgan and moxey for our current situation. Same as me. You want moxey sacked. Same as me. The players are a disgrace. Same thoughts. We are kindred spirits apart from me thinking morgan is a sneeky scouser. The alternative to morgan could not be any worse. We are facing successive relegation. Something only the bhattis achieved. Good on you steve. Craig, my kindred spirit, tge buck stops with morgan. He hires and fires who he wants. Are you really naive enough to think that if pieman wanted to hire someone and morgan didnt, pieman would win. He who pays the piper calls the tunes.
Question to ask:
There is for the time being a gap in percieved sufficient player investment level between fans and corporate management.
If at a point later this season, the relegation threat are considered likely and by the management – and the management recognise that further investment is only way to stay in the Championship – Will the current owner be able to provide additional funds indepenand of selling any of the excisting players or is this tighted together?
Question to ask:
There is for the time being a gap in percieved sufficient player investment level between fans and corporate management.
If at a point later this season, the relegation threat are considered likely and real also by the management – and the management recognise that further investment is only way to stay in the Championship – Will the current owner be able to provide additional funds indepenand of selling any of the excisting players or is this tighted together?
I commend you for writing this blog, a bold move!
Of course, I disagree with most of what you are saying! 😉
About the team – I doubt many will agree that the signings of O’Hara and Johnson ‘should’ have been enough. I think most of us could see that a whole new spine was needed. Especially full backs. After the second season where we were as good as down until the Blues did us a massive favour, can you honestly say that you thought 2 players was enough? It was clear fairly early in that season that the heroics of the debut season weren’t going to be repeated and major surgery was needed to make us competitive.
I can’t deny that Jez has steered the club to be in a healthy financial position, but he has also presided over us plummeting out of the Premiership and towards, whisper it, League 1!
Yes, he has made sure that we have been solvent and indeed profitable, but has ENOUGH money been re-invested into the club where it matters? Not a chance. This would suggest that he has the nous to make money, but not to spend it wisely in footballing terms.
I also disagree that at the point where Curbishley said no there were no other decent managers available. If you mean that there were no other decent ‘out of work’ managers available then I would agree, but let’s be honest, Wolves did and do have the money to pay compensation to a different club to hire their manager. Why couldn’t we approach Dougie Freedman? Bolton did. What was wrong with O’Driscoll? Surely a better option than Saunders.
Also, if they were so into Curbs, why didn’t they say to him when he said no, “Is there anything we can do to change your mind?” Was there a commitment to bring in their top managerial target? I’m dubious.
I remember at the time that many on this blog were up in arms about the prospect of Bruce or Warnock, and in comparison to Curbs I’d have to agree, they’re not as tantalising. But I wonder if Saunders was thrown into the mix with those two if everyone would still say the same, especially looking at Leeds and Hull’s performances this season (although I don’t hold Saunders responsible for ours necessarily)?
I agree that SM wasn’t to know that SS would be a failure – sadly things just didn’t work for him. I DO think though that not enough dead wood was moved on, meaning that SS probably had a hell of a job trying to win the dressing room.
Regarding the loan window, yes, we do have the chance to bring in players until March, but are you happy with the business done so far? I think that getting defenders is a great move, but what about other positions? We should be busting a gut to bring in new faces. It’s not like we don’t have the money to pay them, and it’s not urgent…
The academy? Perhaps a good point for SM, BUT how often over the past few years have we seen our academy products getting anywhere near the first team? It’s all very well producing good players, but where are they? Morgan can’t be blamed for them not getting a game, but his managerial appointments can.
The stand? A joke. You say it’ll be good for when we get promoted to the Premiership…errr.
I don’t think SM wants to tank Wolves, but the fact is that it IS tanking. Poor decisions that anyone could see were ridiculous are a damning indictment of his time at Wolves. he may be a big shot in the business world, but he and now Wolves are a footballing joke.
Even Venky’s have got it less wrong than dear old Steve…says it all really.
Agree Ade. I think what Craig’s blog lacks (good on you for doing this BTW Craig) is a level of intuition that Morgan has failed to show at any stage.
If you look at cold facts on face value, you can argue that Morgan isn’t as culpable as many believe, but that would discount a feel/steer/ level of intuiton for doing the right thing.
I’ll give you an example: When walking from the Hawthorns with Thomas for charity on that fateful BCD day in February, we got talking to David Instone.
He told us that the club readily believed that Norwich and Swansea would go straight back down and that O’Hara would yield more points over the course of the season. Job done.
Call me a numpty, but I said from the beginning of that season that Norwich and Swansea would not go down (ask Thomas, he’ll confirm).
To go along with such a passive ‘strategy’ based on such little footballing knowledge/intuition – after staying up by three minutes and saying it will never happen again the previous season – was inept. Totally and utterly inept.
Did Morgan see that Swansea played with Dyer and Sinclair out wide, boasting more pace than most of our team put together? Did they note how they kept the ball for minutes on end?
I did, because I know a bit about football.
This is why I was worried as hell when we appeared to be doing nothing at the very time Swansea were buying Danny Graham.
It was those alarm bells at the back of my mind that made strengthening so, so vital.
We didn’t.
And as for this ‘Moxey being a great businessman, gets us in the black etc etc etc’ I just don’t buy it.
What he has is a flawed strategy, which has been replicated by no other club. If making profit year on year to the detriment of on-field improvements was an attractive, sustainable proposition, don’t you think every club in the land would be adopting it?
Pompey analogies become increasingly spurious when West Brom can afford Shane Long (for example) when we offered £2 million quid for him!
The fact that Moxey appears to stand by the whole business model scares me even more.
The same Jez Moxey who has tied down all of these flogged, washed-up players on long term deals like he was protection gold bullion, only to state a year or two later that our squad is too big and we can’t move players on. He gave Elokobi a contract extension too! Contradiction or what?!
Again, a Director of Football, who was autonomous and free to question Mick McCarthy (instead of wax lyrical about ‘preparation meeting opportunity’ etc etc) would have held him to account over so many transfers which didn’t make sense. Eggert Jonsson? One for the future Jez said?
Between them, they just keep getting it wrong.
Steve Morgan has said he needs footballing guidance as his speciality is building homes.
One thing I tried to do was write the blog from Morgan’s perspective and not using the benefit of hindsight, if I had it would have read very differently.
On the basis that the previous season only one of the promoted teams got relegated, I’d be surprised if they relied solely on Swansea and Norwich getting relegated. I must admit, I did expect Norwich to be relegated.
I also think they staying up with 3 minutes to go, although true, is a red herring. Yes, we did only just stay up, but we stayed up with 40 points and only West Ham in the last 15 years have been relegated on 40 points. People wanted us to push on to a mid table side, but from about 8th down it is a very fine line between a mid table team and a relegation candidate.
I strongly disagree that their hasn’t been enough money pumped into the club, what I do believe is that Mick decided to spend it on transfers rather than wages and also looked at quantity rather than quality.
I agree that the sales of the likes of Camara, Akinbiyi, Big George has also been Moxey’s downfall because he thought he could do it with every player, hence why he tied them up on long contracts, but it’s now biting him on the arse.
I don’t think we’re a million miles away in viewpoint Craig.
However, you say that Mick decided to spend on transfers rather than wages… Don’t agree there. Wouldn’t be his decision to make.
Mick outlined a number of players to improve his squad but they wouldn’t come because of a prohibitive wage structure. Not Mick’s decision. That is the club’s policy – it was flawed.
(Craig Gardner, Scott Dann, David Vaughan, Richard Dunne off the top of my head – I did get to a whole team once, which I blogged about once!)
Less on transfer fees and more on wages would have actually been more sensible, not to mention more prudent.
And most baffling of all…Jez Moxey’s ‘We won’t do a WBA’ statement was founded on the premise of NOT paying low wages?! Again – contradiction Jez.
EG: Eggert Jonnson on a 600k fee (+ a load of wages every week thereafter) OR Robbie Keane on a 2 month loan deal from the US for the same fee.
We didn’t even approach him and Moxey even used Keane’s name to say he wasn’t bothered about coming – v v cynical.
The upshot? Our prodigal son is revered by our arch bloody rivals and his 2 goals at our place cost us 3 points in one game!
Re the 40pt mark: Again, it gets back to some sort of intuition / strongly held feeling in your bones about the state of the on-field affairs. Morgan himself felt it, as he said it wouldn’t happen again.
Jez Moxey then said that we would establish ourselves as a top 5/6 club that summer, challenging for Europe.
Yet we only bought one new player?! For all the bluster about us beating MUFC, Liverpool et al, we were getting pumped by Wigan, West Ham, Blackburn and Blackpool in that same season. Johnson wasn’t going to change that! Johnson actually told a fan he signed under the impression he was one of 4 new signings that summer.
I guess Morgan MUST have changed his outlook mid-summer, judging by Moxey’s ill fated Europe pledge.
And I’m not even using hindsight…I’m using footballing based intuition that I applied at the time. That’s the most galling part of it. There was no hindsight needed!
I think you’re both right, and well done on raising another viewpoint Craig. The problem is that hindsight is, in effect, all we have. It’s a simple fact that we’re heading for league one, and by whatever standard you measure it that cannot be seen as a success. It’s hackneyed but football’s a results business – I’m sure most of us that read this blog wouldn’t expect to hold on to our jobs if we were demonstrably bad at them.
The club is not being run well, you can tell by the fact we’re in the process of being relegated twice in two seasons. Yes, there might be long-term infrastructure there for an improvement but will the academy and ground even be sustainable if we remain a lower division club, might we end up being forced to sell both if we have no revenue stream? League one won’t be easy to get out of, the Premier league is an awful long way away.
It is obvious that Steve Morgan will want the team to progress, its in his interests. I agree that in principle you could state a claim that without hindsite we “should” have had enough to stay up and or bounce back. However, the fundamental facts remain that Moxey has made several major errors of judgment when advising how to run the club and as a result his competance in running the club must now be questioned. A “good finance man” does not let players contracts run down to 1 year so they are demotivated OR thinking of their next move, Wolves will lose millions due to this one recurring problem he creates alone. I am astonished you can back him and say he has a home in Wolves future.. How you can split the role of running the club and making sensible football decisions I can not understand. If this role is split and the football Director is to be the guiding hand of the club, then why on earth would we pay literaly millions to Moxey who then becomes a finance Director and or glorified administrator ? His flair for off field deals is legendary in its absence..get a sales Director for Commercial activities and a good accountant and with the million pound saving buy a player
Sack the fat man
I think me and you posted pretty much the same points as eachother in the space of the same minute Lickey! Just pressed the like button!
yep but your was more eloquantly put, the question is how do we get this enept CEO to go ? for me total support for team during 90 minutes but we should encourage Morgan to make a move Friday night.
sack the fat man
Questions to Steve Morgan do you still think you are the man to lead us back to the promised land and beyond? And what do you intend to do from this moment in time to achieve it. If there were other interested parties in providing finance and backing for the club would he consider having them on board?
morgans idea of promised land patta baby is a plot of the afformentioned with planning permission to build millionaire mansions on it
Craig,
Of course Wilkins doesnt want the Wolves job now.Not many would.The question is ,Would he have taken it when Mick was sacked.
Sack the FATMAN and storm the Parliament!
lets start a revolution alf..i could wear my tutu !
Oghsfd don’t think we have go THAT far!
This WP what a load of BS.
Will Morgan cry and say I want the best for the club.
Best he goes and takes The Fat Dumb One with him.
the pr crew will have been all over this one alf and it wouldnt suprise me to hear that hes seen all the questions already…shame he didnt speak to us earlier instead of panickstations
i know how to get rid of moxey ..make a contract saying hes got to join weightwatchers!
lets face it, morgan has admitted he aint no football man and takes his lead of people he employs, so in my book that must mean moxey has advised him in every decision that has been made, moxey is the cancer that needs to be cut away, until then wolves are doomed to failure, morgan i think is gonna get a right royal roasting from the fans, but to do it he needs to appear, the fans parliment aint the place, come out and face us morgan if you have the balls!!! bet moxey is sittin there rubbin his hands coz no matter what league we are in he will still pick up his 1 million plus wages and bonus…….pathetic, CUT THE CANCER OUT AND GET RID OF MOXEY!!!
Does anybody know when each of our players contracts are up ? Just wondering how much the wage bill can be cut by wastage.
I’d also like to put all staff (esp Moxey and Saunders) on performance related pay. The players would never agree but I don’t see why the CEO and manager should be paid as we go down. I’m sure there are capable people who would do the job on a ‘commission’ only basis. I’d happily pay them both 10 million a year if we were promoted. How about 20K for every point gained, 8 million bonus for promotion, 1M deduction if relegated. (yes that means you pay us if we go down).
I bet we’d get a good manager on that basis
My question for Morgan.
So Steve is this right. We have paid Moxey £1.19 m to give long term contracts to
players that we can’t offload and bring us to the edge of financial meltdown?
Someone recently said – of course it is in morgans interest to be in the premier league, but he does not want to pay the exhorbiant membership fee. He wants to dine at the top table, dont we all, but unfortunately it costs a lot of money. Money we have, but he does want to spend. Geromel was identified by stale as one of his key central defender signings in the summer. He is brilliant. Watch him play for mallorca. Stale said the club need to push the boat out, and they didnt. Saunders has said he wants a striker. Will the club support him as relegation becomes a certainty.
It has been said many times on this blog that one of Steve Morgan’s failings was not to appoint a Directof Football. Well the right candidaye is about to appear – John Rudge. Rudgie is going to retire as DOF at Stoke City (reported in the Sentinel paper in the Potteries about 2 weeks ago), and apart from his superb record in that position plus his record as Port Vale’s most successful manager by far, he comes from Wolverhampton and grew up as a Wolves fan. How about it Steve?
been watching the parliament meeting on wolves site but its just left me feeling so dishartened. ive had enough of all this……
Didn’t watch it. Don’t expect anything but flannel, disingenuous flannel.
Any news from the FP. Are morgan and moxey still defending their decisions and actions and saying everything they do is in the best interest of the club?
Steve Morgan.
I am a Wolves fan born and bred in Wolverhampton. Most people hate Wolverhampton but I love it. Mild, scratchins, the old factories, the canals, it’s all good. I live in London now but still love Wolverhampton and The Wolves….The club of Stan Cullis, Billy Wright, Broadbent and Mullen way before my time. And even further back of Westcott and The Major. Wolves! Dougan, Richards, Waggy and Hibbitt! Bailey and his barrel chest! Captain fantastic of the team I fell in love with! 1973 my first match against of all teams your lot, League Cup quarter final, 3 day week, match played on a school DAY, me and my two brothers, all funded by £1.63 from schools National Savings account. 1-0 to the OLD GOLD AND BLACK. Jaffa cakes at half time!!! The OLD GOLD AND BLACK at Molineux. That great ground, so many memories. The tingle stepping onto the old North Bank, Then the same on the old South Bank. Wow, I can still feel it now just thinking about it. Wolves. Ups and downs, big downs. Wolves. But out of darkness cameth Steve Bull. Bully Bully! And Sir Jack. I wish I could thank him personally. Mr Morgan, you might think we are only Wolves, nothing compared to your Liverpool. But you are wrong. To us Wolves is everything. Bigger than Real Madrid never mind Liverpool, United, Arsenal and the rest of the so called big teams today. Wolves were big BACK IN THE DAY. We call it heritage. That’s why most of us stick with The Wolves and why our children (lucky for me) also are Wolves mad. The history is all we have! You have been given an opportunity to be part of that proud history. Believe it or not, Wolves is a very special club. Liverpool, United, etc. do not have a Cullis, a Wright, a Bull, floodlit friendlies, Molineux, and the OLD GOLD AND BLACK. They have their own heritage but not the aforementioned. Please, please do not abuse the position that Sir Jack entrusted you with. If you do, you will regret for the rest of your life. That much I do know. If you pull your finger out NOW you just might get your own very special place in that wonderful history of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Do it. Be brave and above be honest, just like the good people of Wolverhampton!
would have loved it if you could have read that to him last night…poetry …wolves till i die!!
Amen to that!!!!!!!
well said , you have just spoke the thought,s of many a wolves surporter. thks Q.F.M
Pity you don’t mention John Bird, the leader of Wolverhampton council. But for him Wolves would have folded in 1986. Sir Jack was nowhere to be seen. He bought the club in 1990, two promotions and a Leyland Daf Cup later.
Yes a massive oversight. Apols. And Jack Harris too. How he worked with the council to get us off our knees, which we well and truly were at the time. Oh god such bad days!! I submitted the post latish last night straight from the heart, so i am sure I have missed many ‘saviours of the Wanderers’. Apols to all of them. But you get the gist of my post surely?
By the way it was the Sherpa Van Trophy!
I agree with every word of your passionate and articulate comment. It’s just that it really annoys me that John Bird seems to have been airbrushed from Wolves history. His saving of the club barely now even a footnote. And of course you are correct. It was the Sherpa Van. But in my defence they seemed to change the name of the trophy pretty often. That’s my excuse anyway !
Rafa Benitez IN!!
So we’ve got the best and most accomplished CEO. God help the others.
Errr….look at the league table Morgan.
We are now losing £6.5 million pounds a year. Mmmm…new stand £18m+.
You don’t have to be Einstein to work out where problems lie.
Gross incompetence at an enormous scale.
Vote of confidence for Moxey….
Just blame the supporters who all knew where this was heading.
We may have an excessive wage bill at the moment but it will look even worse if we get relegated and the gates fall again.
If we lose on Friday this will almost certainly happen. Shiny new stands with 4000 or so in them. Then what follows it took 20 years to get back to the top last time, in reality I most likely don’t have another 20 years, you have to understand how that makes me feel.
somebloke- I’m in the same time frame as you.
Long ago I resigned myself to the fact that having seen Wolves win 2 League Cups, have 2 top 5 finishes in Div I and lose a UEFA cup final I was highly unlikely to see the club scale such heights again in my lifetime. Despite that, I still care. Doesn’t make sense does it ?
oh dear.. so moxey can only eat half the pies! pukka shares will plumet ! i really struggle to see that moxey is the best in this league-it winds me up that players demand so much thus draining clubs but its the same for every club .. its just that wolves seem so badly set up to cope with it! ….. it puzzles me as to why the rot has been allowed to set in….could it be the man advising you ?
Reality is starting to kick in. The End of Season Beano has been cancelled.
Johnson looking for somewhere else for free booze.
Could never understand the thought of eating in the same room as players and
upper management who deliver failure.
Moxey is bereft as he has to cancel the pie order-whilst you are doing that
just write your resignation.
So, Morgan is now saying he may walk away. Undoubtedly some here will cheer at the thought. But, as Roy Hodgson said last year after the WBA fiasco. ‘Be careful what you wish for’. The club may have made small profits in the PL but appears to be heading towards a substantial loss this year (£6.5 m according to Morgan) which would be even bigger in Div 1 should the worst happen. Morgan says Moxey took a 50% pay cut when the team was relegated. You may still think he is paid too much but the cut was, at least, a recognition of the club’s failure to progress and his part in that. Did the players lose out in the same way I wonder?
Would the club benefit from new investors: probably. Would the club benefit from new owners: I doubt it. However wealthy they are that can go horribly wrong as often as it benefits a club. e.g. Blackburn, Birmingham, Portsmouth, QPR, even Aston Villa. I hate to think what QPR’s balance sheet will look like if they get relegated.
There is a danger here that fan activism will end up throwing the baby out with the bath water. I seriously wonder whether WWFC needs a highly experienced and senior Director of Football to oversee appointments (e.g. manager, coaching staff) and transfers. I have often wondered what they do at other clubs but can see their use here given that, left to themselves. M&M’s purely football decision making clearly is not up to scratch. M&M have, however, overseen a club that didn’t get hideously into debt getting into or staying in the PL. If they set the financial parameters let someone with real football knowledge apply the resources to the coaching and playing side of things.
Just a thought.
As i have said before the saviors of Wolves in the eighties were Jack Harris,Councillor Bird,Graham Turner and Bully.
Agree with your comments David, The club was moving in the the right direction when Sir Jack came in. He then gave it more momentment. All proper gentlemen.
We could with getting Graham Tuner back into some football position in the club.
Would the club benefit from new investors: probably. Would the club benefit from new owners: I doubt it. However wealthy they are that can go horribly wrong as often as it benefits a club. e.g. Blackburn, Birmingham, Portsmouth, QPR, even Aston Villa. I hate to think what QPR’s balance sheet will look like if they get relegated.
Bill, What we need is football people and people with management skills and man managers, I have said this before:: I will give Steve Morgan £100.00 of my own money for him to walk away and take Poxey with him. All this after I have seen the books, I can have a team together in 48 hours to get us going and sort out the rest as we go, sound fanciful, Well how about all contracts are up for renegotiation with the new owner, me. All existing contracts not with me are null and void as of now. That should get their attention. What do you think shall we give it a go?
Morgan will sell you the football team company… but not the one that owns all the assets.
That’s fine as long as all the money is where it should be, including the mysterious 30 million of his OWN money.
For those that think the North Bank affected player trading or think that Morgan hasn’t put any of his own money into the club, he put in £24m to pay for the North Bank in 2011. The evidence of this is here http://www.wolvesforum.co.uk/showthread.php?20114-Steve-Morgan/page15
As per twitter Craig – thanks very much for providing the sort of information the club have (save for publishing the obligatory accounts) done nothing to enlighten us about.
In the absence of facts, conspiracy theories abound and thats silly when transparency blows unsupported allegations out of the water.
Just a couple of queeries;-
1) The link you’ve provided shows wwfc1986ltd had liabilities of £32.55m in 2012 and £32.2m in 2011 for “Group Undertakings”. Do you know what thats all about?
2) Do you know whether there have been and what the amount would have been for any other “Group Undertakings” since SM took ownership?
3) Is there anywhere we can find what all wwfcs companies (1986,1990,Properties) cash assets currently stand at?
4) Is it possible to identify when SM’s £30m investment appeared on wwfcs balance sheet? I think it was in year ending 2011 but not sure. Is there any way of seeing whether that £30m was in cash or shares/share rights/other securities?
Any help you can offer would be much appreciated and help to reassure so many fans.
Cheers.
No, problem. I’m trying to get people to see that Morgan is good for the club, although he has been advised very badly, he has the best interests of Wolves at heart.
1. The are balance sheet entries and are accumulative figures and not reset every year. So, the balance has increased by £350k across the 2 years, however in 2010 the balance was £8m, so he has put in £24m sometime in 2011, which was then lent to the property company, which will have been used for the North Bank build. There are 4 different links on twitter showing all the different changes.
2. In total there has been £32.55m, but this is on top of the initial £30m that went into the club as this went in as a reserve rather than a group loan.
3. The cash position across the group is £12.8m down from £25.5 the previous year. We have to be careful not to take too much notice of the cash balances because it is a snap shot at the 31/05 and could in theory go up or down by £10m on the 01/06.
4. The £30m will have been given in cash as it was a loan.
Cheers Craig.
You’ve been extremely helpful and many thanks for sharing your knowledge like this. As I said on twitter, I’m a ‘numpty’ as far as accounts are concerned and getting my head around all this has been quite a learning curve.
It really hasn’t helped to be greeted by a wall of silence by officialwolves where financial matters and the club’s relationship with Bridgemere is concerned. With regard to our cash position – you’ve been able to clarify what Jez refused to at the Jan Fans Parliament because he claimed such information “is commercially sensitive”
And it really doesn’t surprise me (nor should it Jez) if wild conjecture, conspiracy theories and blind panic set in as a consequence of a perceived lack of candour by the fans.
I completely agree with you that Steve Morgan has been ill advised in the sequence of catastrophic decision making that we’re suffering for now. Although he didn’t enlighten us about a vision for the future or a strategy about getting there, he nevertheless did himself a lot of good by attending the last FP and speaking as passionately as he did.
He’s bought himself some time but, if we get relegated, that’s all it will amount to. As far as I’m concerned he needs to rip it up and start again.
I’m sure most fans would buy into a Steve Morgan rennaisance plan for our great club if it were to be dynamic, bold, measurable, achievable, properly resourced with a time scale and with accountability.
If SM unveiled such an agenda and simultaneously severed all links with our hapless CEO, appointed a Niall Quinn or Graham Taylor for e.g. as Director Of Football to manage the vision, all our recent woes could yet prove to be just a ‘blip’ in a new golden age.
Steady as she goes however just won’t cut it.
Thanks again for your insight Craig. Maybe you should be the clubs accountant and I can spend all the money:)