With all three Wolves bloggers soaking in the rays at Molineux yesterday, I proposed we each put together a concise summary of the afternoon and some views on the new arrivals.
Ben (Smallman)
After watching Wolves put an extremely competitive La Liga side to the sword at the Molineux pre-season curtain raiser, it dawned on me that obsessing about transfer incomings before deadline day was probably missing the point. Rather than being seduced by thoughts of Adama Traore and co, my mind should have been contemplating the prospect of a full pre-season under Nuno and what effect it would have on our current squad men.
On Villareal evidence, it has to be a way more potent force to be reckoned with than the powers of any new players to sign before 5pm on Thursday. Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota looked as good as I can ever remember them playing last season, which is clearly saying something – the latter most definitely with that spark back from the first half of last season.
And in a snapshot summary of the game itself and our prospects in the Premier League, I’d say we’ll be absolutely fine. Were this team to play for the bulk of 38 games, I’d be staggered if it wasn’t amassing in excess of the 40pts required to stay in it. For an unapologetically conservative fan who is usually fearing the worst, that will do for me. For Nuno and Fosun, I’m sure such an outlook won’t for them, hence more likely arrivals in an attempt to improve us further.
Player watch
Patricio
Two wonderful saves and a definite presence about him. It was nice to see bonds being built between him and his new teammates as the game went on, with lots of encouragement for them throughout. Clearly, he’s a player.
Jonny
For all of the heartache caused by Douglas’s departure, Jonny’s Molineux outing was an ideal pain relief. Stocky build, strong on the ball and a turn of pace to get up and down the pitch regularly. While it would be fickle to proclaim him as an upgrade on Barry after one game, you can see the thinking behind the signing on yesterday’s evidence and what Nuno is looking for from his new defender.
Moutinho
Undoubtedly class on the ball and rarely wasted possession. Occupied more advanced positions on the pitch than I thought and his qualities are clearly there for all to drool over. He definitely grew into the game and by the end was pulling the strings, in much the same manner as Nuno will want from his possession-based side this season.
Being hyper-critical, I just felt that we’d have been as effective with Saiss alongside Neves in the first half, as Villareal picked us off on the counter by exploiting the space between midfield and attack. On occasions, Neves and Moutinho were ahead of the ball as we were picked off. You would worry a tad with Everton’s penchant for no10 players like Sigurdsson. But by the end of the game, we seemed to have fixed this issue, thanks in part to the solidity offered when Bennett came on at the back.
Jimenez
The biggest plus of the afternoon for me. His energy levels had me harping back to Bully, as he chased down lost cause after lost cause and put himself about. Way more mobile than I thought, making him a threat in behind as well as with his back to goal. I arrived with low expectations of him, but left with a real sense of excitement. A brilliant game.
Whether or not all these signings work out remains to be seen, but the nice thing was the common sense behind each one having seen them. You can see what Nuno is thinking with each and what he wants his team to achieve. He clearly thinks that these players will help his achieve his objectives and you can see why.
Big battering rams like N’Diaye, who came on for Villareal, probably misses the point these days, who hauled down Jota by his neck in the second half, in a microcosm of where we are hopefully heading in future.
Ben (Rasmin)
I dislike queuing as much as anyone, but there was something perversely enjoyable about waiting to get hold of my home shirt today. Premier League fever has come to Molineux and, as enjoyable as the win over a talented Villarreal side was, it was hard not to spend the game dreaming of next week’s curtain raiser against Everton. The atmosphere is sure to be electric and, if today’s second half was anything to go by, the football should be too. The defensive frailty shown in the first half is a concern, but not enough to make me question the quality of this team nor its suitability for top flight football. Play with this level of conviction every week and we should take to it like a duck to water.
Player watch
Patricio
Very little to do in general but stood up and made himself counted when he needed to. Still can’t quite get used to the sight of him in a Wolves kit!
Jonny
Looks a good recruit and certainly not a downgrade on the departed Douglas. Solid defensively and confident going forward, he should fit in nicely.
Moutinho
Quiet in the first half but really imposed himself in the second. Looks a class act, though it’ll be interesting to see how he copes with the pace of the Premier League.
Jimenèz
Solid performance capped by a winning goal, what more can you ask from your new number nine? Can see why he appeals to Nuno and is a definite upgrade on Bonatini and Afobe.
Thomas
The team is more important than any individual. You soon forget that over the summer when all you’ve got to while away hours of procrastination at work is baseless transfer speculation. But once you actually sit down to watch a game of football again you quickly remember. Thankfully, the Nuno machine still looks well oiled even with four new integrated parts. This was a Villarreal side that finished 5th in La Liga last season don’t forget (although admittedly I don’t have the immediate knowledge to comment on the strength of the eleven they put out) and Wolves more or less dominated the game. The Spaniards played on the break and occasionally caught us out in possession, but it was gold shirts dictating the play. Hard to know how seamlessly this performance will transfer to the Premier League but I’m quietly confident ahead of the kick-off.
The golden moment…Ruben poked his penalty wide. pic.twitter.com/NYYXkorPP4
— Wolves Blog (@wolvesblog) August 4, 2018
Player watch
Patricio
Nothing to see here really. Did everything you’d expect including rushing off his line for their goal, which was expertly finished. Made one good save late in the first half to keep the deficit at one but was generally calm and assuring throughout.
Jonny
Buzzed up and down the wing all afternoon, darting in behind and using his pace to make important recovery tackles. Definitely covers the ground quicker than Douglas and will pin opposition wingers back at times. Destined to change the dynamic of the team, but whether he’s equally effective as his predecessor only time will tell. I like what I saw though.
Moutinho
I suspect this chap will make ten squillion passes a game, often go unnoticed but somehow become integral to everything we’re doing. Midfielders that never give the ball away are a priceless commodity and we’ve got one of the best. Pinch me.
Jimenèz
The consummate number 9 performance from the Mexican. Looks like a sort of Afobe-Bonatini hybrid, so can see why Nuno was interested. Got his goal which was just-reward for putting in the miles on a sweltering afternoon. Will surely start next weekend.
Thanks for the input chaps. I was only able to listen via the Wolves website and the commentary only started around the 40 min mark!
Jota will be THE key player for us this season, I can feel it in my water!
Onwards and Upwards
🙂
Am unfortunately working in South Africa. So missed this game and the next 3. As I season ticket holder for over 31 years gutted! Having watched dross for years, am relying onyou guys to keep me informed!
Big thank you to the blog for a concise and informative blog, as ever.
Hi Steve will give the lads a cheer from you, same seat for 31 years top man, see you when you are back.
Wolves Aye We
Firstly, it was obvious that Vilareal didn’t turn up to be cannon fodder like some of our championship opponents last season. They oozed quality in the first half and showed time and again the guile to slip through our rather porous defence.
Second half though, it was all change and we slipped neatly and smoothly through the gears, scored two well deserved goals and showed some real class both on and off the ball. It should be noted that we scored our two before the Spaniards made most of their changes.
Our regulars performed well, but special mention goes to Diogo (on fire) Ruben (electric) and Helder (sparkling). Also Matt Doherty continues to improve and his close control and work rate was terrific.
Of the newbies, Patricio was composed and effective, making a couple of good saves along the way. I was really impressed with Jonny who seemed quick, decisive and not afraid to ‘get stuck in’. Moutinho was steady Eddy and I can see his calm efficiency will be vital when things get rough in the Premier League. Senor Jiminez was great and everything one would look for from a big No9. Worked his socks off and dovetailing well with Diogo and Helder, he’ll prove, I’m sure, to be a vital cog as the season progresses.
Lastly, our defensive solidity greatly improved after Bennett replaced Saiss at half time. Ryan was unfussy but very, very reassuring. Just what you want in the back three.
Overall, very encouraging. Bring on the Toffees. We’ll chew ’em up and spit ’em out.
Some quick thoughts;
Moutinho for Saiss in midfield is no weaker defensively, as the former reads the game so well, and a plus offensively as his possession retention is better.
Saiss is a quality centre-back but not yet comfortable at RCB.
Castro is solid, indeed an upgrade on BD defensively, but has yet to identify the latters attacking positional sense.
Jimenez does not come as deep as Bonatini maybe because Nuno wants to use his pace to get in behind. But in his taking a higher position, we lose the link-up aspect that Bonatini brings to the team. Will be interesting to see how Jimenez’s game develops the more he plays with the team.
Patricio, not 100% convincing. One superb stop in amongst a scramble and some indifferent distribution. Much more to come from him, I think.
From what I’ve seen, I’d say Castro isn’t the complete wing back Douglas was with his impressive crossing and shooting skills. It is too early to say how he’ll perform compared to Douglas yet, but he has clearly improved since last game and showed off some impressive workrate. However I rate Vinagre higher than Castro and hope he’ll get his chances to prove he’s the best wing back we’ve got.
For me, the big picture here is that finally we have the opportunity we have all been hoping and praying for all these years. After all those years of languish, under M&M, and the fake impostors for managers they appointed, with all the basement “2nd rate” goods they bought for players, we finally have everything we wished for: ambitious investment, EPL opportunity, top-class manager and a quality team. We have it all!
I can barely contain my excitement for the forthcoming season; a feeling I haven’t had in a very long time. Just look at that star-studded team. Sure, there are going to be a few teething problems which Nuno will have to fix as we start, just like we witnessed in the first half yesterday (at least, from what I could make out from the E&S online commentary by our amiable Laurel and Hardy impersonator reporters :-)). But this is par for the course. New players will need some time to bed in, get used to the EPL and gel with the team. But to beat a team like Villa Real, even in a friendly, tells me we cannot be far off.
For a long time under M&M I had given up on the idea that Wolves were a sleeping giant and believed I supported a Dodo. I was wrong. The arrival of Fosun and Nuno have well awakened that giant, and now we are ready for competing with the best.
I cannot think of a more appropriate slogan for our club, that out of all those years of darkness, light has truly come out and is shining so bright.
Bring on Everton and the most exciting of seasons to look forward to!
Go Wolves!!!
Thanks for the three reports really good & I totally agree with the assessments, Wolves looked very much in the groove, it was a pleasing afternoon.
New guys all confident & look as if they’ve been in the side for ages let alone it being their home debuts. We look like a real team, and all the way through at ease & confident. But next week will be a different matter.
I won’t be as relaxed! But hope the team are. Thought Coady delivered some great through balls first half, Jimenez on this showing looks to be a real good buy. He chases down brilliantly & has great feet. Definitely an upgrade on this showing.
Well here’s to a great season in the Prem. I’m sure there will be many twists and turns on the way. However the way we’re set up you’d think that this team is better equipped, than the teams of the last two forays into the land of plenty, to make it less of a trauma for us fans.
I agree with most of the above in general. I thought we started off quite poorly at the back as a unit. Saiss is a good player and complements Neves in midfield beautifully, but the balance of the team suffers greatly, I feel, when he plays on the right of the back three. Playing left sided might be a different kettle of fish but Boly is there, and Hause? Bennett’s inclusion had an immediate stabilising effect, I feel. Otto was quick, mobile and can leap high for a tiddler and was brave and hard in the tackle. Moutino grew into the game and his touch and weight of pass were a joy to behold. I too was pleased by the work rate and attitude of Jimenez, who I previously was a little worried about. Patricio had little to do but I shall be looking at how he copes with big strikers in crowded areas; just something I picked up over the friendlies where a couple of flaps had my attention. Hopefully I worried unduly…
Everton lost yesterday and we won so we know how that usually works out! We are still a few players short, in my view, so the next four or so days could prove interesting.
I still think Benik should have been retained, but that’s old news now.
Wishing the days away now. My brother-in-law is looking for a lift from and back to Torbay next Saturday if anyone can help someone who attends all home and away games religeously.
Hi Debenham,
Would love to help but l am a bit further up the road in Dorset.
Thanks for the response. Have family in Christchurch…
Are they Wolves fans, l hear Wolves fans in the Bournemouth area are trying to get a supporters club going.
Wanderers All Over The World!!!
Thank you everyone for your insights. They were generally positive and new players approved. So I am doubly excited ahead my trip to The Molineux on Saturday.
I hope I don’t get slagged for being a negative Nelly but remember, Villarreal are one week behind us in training and this game meant as much to them as last week’s game against Derby meant to us.
I’m sure Saiss will form a better understanding with Coady with more time together as previously, I think, Nuno was giving the younger players a lot of game time.
Anyway, nice to see how quickly Jimenez has become a fan favourite.
I think his performance puts Wolves in the driver’s seat when it come to any negotiations for bringing in another striker as they don’t seem to need one as much now.
BTW, how were the fans yesterday? Did they show the new players how loud they could be or will they have to wait till next week for that?
They’ll have to wait for next week Tim. It was just a lovely day out in the sun. 🙂
19,000 there just over. Villareal were no pushovers & while I agree maybe the extra week/weeks could tell against them this was a really good outing from Wolves. Promise is there, just hope we can get some confidence boosting points on the board early in the season.
Barry two assists already………..missing you ….Bazza….!
Just get over it FFS Paul. It’s happened. Look forward not back.
I think you need to get over it and what’s with the FFS did I swear in my original Blogg no I didn’t, are we now living in a dictatorship.
I was just pointing out a fact what this Blogg coming to,………….FFS..!
My apologies Paul, I didn’t mean to offend.
I had been to the Derby game last week and thought that the introduction of Otto and Moutinho were a plus, in their short 45 minute slots they were confident and calm and impressed me.
I was shot down by my neighbour and others who thought they both played pretty average.
Well, both those players with a little more fitness,a better understanding of their new colleagues and under Nuno’s tutoring they were really well drilled, economic with their undoubted talents and shone again. I was delighted that they justified my exhuberance and belief in both of them yesterday.
On another note, I do believe we have unearthed a diamond in Jiminez, his flying scissors kick goal past a stunned Patricio in the warm up at Derby, drew the biggest cheer Iv’e heard outsid Molineux. I was talking to someone today who said, “ the players love him and really enjoy playing with him” I had already heard this from the Molineux last week whilst at a meeting. He looks a lot leaner and honed than when he first arrived, his comparrison to Bully may well be a reality if he shows the talent that our scouting team obviously think he has.
It’s funny how less than 90 minutes has silenced the doubters and made him into a fan favorite.
Barry two assists already…….missing you Bazza…!
Unless you have Rose tinted glasses on do NOT comment on this Blogg unless you agree with everthing Fosun and Nuno do and say don’t comment on this Bloog…….care of Happy Wanderer…….FFS
I really got to you Paul I can tell so my apologies again. However this blog is intended to be a place different views can be expressed. I will be less assertive when next I feel inclined to offer my opinion . And it is only an opinion.
I have watched the Leeds v Stoke highlights and his corner was a beaut’. The kind we saw many times last season. Good to see him doing well.
Wolf, mate be careful what you Blogg mate the ” you cannot have an opinion on this Bogg Police ” will be after you mate……..I dearnt Blogg I’m against moving away from Molinuex………FFS……..I have……shit………here they come below…….!
Well, I’m against moving from Molineux………there, I’ve said it.
Seriously though, it’s a symptom of the internet that people overreact to stuff. You’re obviously sore about Happy Wanderer who, I feel, overreacted to what you said. Then, and I hope you don’t overreact, I think you overreacted to his overreaction. Follow my train here???
In my experience, limited as it is, the internet is full of people overreacting because we are mainly just names on a page. I enjoy this blog immensely for many reasons. Mainly because there is less of it here than almost anywhere I’ve been.
Just shrug your shoulders and move on. I agree Bazza was great for us and it’s a shame to see him go. Jonny looked good too though, and that’s football. Nothing is forever.
Paul this is getting boring.
By the way agree with you entirely. Leaving The Molineux would be a great shame and Jeff Shi will I hope avoid this option.
Thought Jonny was defencesively sound but didn’t get forward like Doc did. Jiminez was immense.. Moutinho was class. To put a top five La Liga side to the sword for 60 mins was highly encouraging. Enjoyed the afternoon and looking forward to the season. And stop all the fuckin squabbling on here. Ay wuth it. Tek it easy chaps. Wolves ay we.
OK, here is a blurred YouTube screenshot of the goal by Villarreal.
Please explain to me why Coady could not have intercepted that ball? It is about 2 feet from him. Looks like he may have turned the wrong way.
It is at the 2 minute mark of this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2SYCELdqrc&app=desktop
I think if he could have, he would have.
I think maybe, like Zoolander, he can’t turn left.
Girls, girls, girls!!
Put your handbags down!
Lets put the Barry debate aside, and concentrate on next weekend.
If we swap places with Leeds at the end of the season, then some of us were wrong and some right, maybe.
To me it is the IF question, which will probably never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction, much like “ if me auntie had bollocks, she would be me uncle”
Look what we have to look forward to, and look what they have down the road, a fuckin’ boiler!
You couldn’t make this stuff up!
Now is not the time for “I told you so” now is time for the Molineux roar, and get the also rans in the Prem shitting themselves.
Bloggers Ay We!!
Trust you to get to the very nub of the issues Clive. 🙂
Watched on Telly thx to
ESPN3
Choosing Villareal as final warm up was a good decision as they are real quality and showed that with great possession game and inside passing that cut us apart a few times
On a plus side loved seeing Moutino skills .. a carbon copy of Santi Cazorla.. how good to
See him
Back again after horrendous injury
Patricio fine Jonny fine Jimenez fine
Less sure how Neves and Moutino split their duties .. Neves seemed to miss being chief playmaker .. gave possession away too often for a wonder kid from Porto and .. well, he needs to practice penalties
Boly immense Jota likewise and if we get the best from Costa and Cav we have a top 10 team
Everton will not play dead and if we get 4 points from first three matches I’ll be happy… but we have a team and the supporting cast to thrive in the years ahead
Happy days
You saw it just about the same as I, Marin. Only a friendly, but some lovely stuff on view from both sides and good to get the win against real quality opposition.
It’s a funny old game eh …
don’t seem like 5 minuets since I was staggering back to some Liverpool boozer after we’d won there in the cup
I remember thinking that I hope we can keep hold of Helder Costa, I thought we’d be f##<led without him
Now I’m wandering if he can make the first team
Lol
I am looking forward to nine points from the first three games.
At the start of the season we are going to be thought of as an inferior, know your place upstart from the second division.
They are not going to know what hits them.
Everton sold their best player and Shrek has run off to America.
Leicester have sold THEIR best player and have McGuire carthorsing around at the back, with scurrying rat Vardy only able to watch razor sharp finishing from the other end of the pitch.
And them Citeh.
I fuckin’ hate Sterling.
What an overblown sense of self importance that useless twat has.
It will be the reigning champion’s first taste of defeat, as they start to get used to looking up at us, proudly sitting atop the Prem pile.
I have NEVER had such a feeling of confidence going into a new season as I have today.
All the paper talk about “ the big six” is just that, talk.
We are gonna give them summat to talk about!
Cor weight!
FOwb
Tell me something I don’t know.
I’m just trying to figure out which top 6 team will have to live without Europe to make room for us.
Arsenal maybe Man U preferably
I don’t know if anyone else has already posted this but here are extended highlights of the game together with commentary in some language that certainly ain’t from my neck of the woods.
I believe we won by two gooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllls to one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2SYCELdqrc
Just read a few comments back and somebody HAS already posted it.
Sorry about that Tim.
No problemo, man.
It was a Mexican vid’, I believe DG. So Espanyol then.
Looks like Traore is in the bag ……..downside being veela have a 20 per cent sell on clause and are set to cream off approx 4 mil.
Just hope we keep Cav if only to keep Mrs Lowves smileing, she will not be a happy bunny if we sell him, especially after Barry went to Leeds
Carmen.
Spotted in London 17 hrs ago. Just saying……….
Sorry, forgot the evidence.
Just about 3 miles from the Fulham ground strangely enough.
🙁
Don’t wind her up!
It’s alright for you, I have to live with her!
By the way Thomas if you read this it’s not holding my name and email address again, not a big problem just thought you should know.
Never mind a Cav … look at who Mrs Twix and I bumped into …
It’s only Donchez Dacres of BGT fame … yo corr whack it ….
Is he the new winger for Sandwell town? I heard they had got a new name….Baggies Going Titsup
Who ever dislikes a photo of Donchez … you are fucking sad… !!!
Who are you.. have yougot the balls to say … you sad disliker… !!!!
Or do you want to hide away you sad little fucker…
By the way an analogy was made some time ago about where we shopped, saying we are now shopping in Waitrose not Aldi. I beg to differ we used to shop in Poundland, now we shop in Aldi, where we get good quality products for a bargain price. At Waitrose where the rest of the premier shop, they get mediocre goods for inflated prices……or so Mrs Lowves tells me.
Traore to Fulham? Why go there to be next to the dead whale infested water of the Thames? Where posh Toby and Carrissa share a picnic hamper and some posh Tory MP called Felix Bollocks – Twat is in the stands with his floppy fucking hair and rattle. When he could be in Wolverhampton where when you are told to piss off it is meant. Where there is raw passion. Massive potential. A speedway team. Oss racing. The Mon on the Oss. Magnificent ring road and parks. Art gallery. Only a fool could turn that down. If he wants Fulham. Bollocks to him. He will regret it.
Cheesie,
You also missed:
The Stile – Bonks’s – Bantock Park – Tattenhul Pool – the cut – whitmore teams – the Lunt & the manda centre.
There! That’ll do it. Lmro
Forgot all that Rick rack. Wolves ay we.! Good lad.
Maybe you can create a new article where we all predict who will finish in front of us this season.
I will start by listing all of the teams I think will.
I was looking at the results of the 2010-11 season and during that season, we beat Man City, Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool. We got 1 point from Arsenal and 0 from Spurs.
Not bad. I think we did better against the top teams than the bottom half of the table teams.
This year should be a breeze.
Neva know how much truth is in these but see attached.
Interesting?
That’s a great story RickRack. If true, and there’s no reason to think it’s not, Adama deserves every success. I hope he finds it here.
Thanks Rickrack seems like the lad has a heart and soul he will fit in well.
My mom used to say what Cant speak can’t lie!
I see the question of moving away from Molineux or redeveloping as come to the fore again thanks to Jeff in the E&S.
Fosun are acting like governments do before announcing bad news, drip feed us with speculation, until we are all, at least partly, accepting it will happen and the backlash will diminish when the announcement is made.
I am 100 per cent against moving, it should stay where it is in the city, I do not want it moving to some characterless, sanitised site off the M54 full of the prawn sandwich brigade who will go back to supporting Man U or Chelsea at the first sign of a bad run.
This is just my opinion and I’m sure others have the opposite, but please Jeff, if only for me, make it possible, expand Molineux, I’m sure it’s a better option.
With you all the way, Lowves.
The Chinese are big on tradition and history, and we got plenty of that, so I hope they can expand, rather than build new.
Gotta be less expensive as well, surely?
If we do move, I will feel sorry for the likes of Scooped, Stuwolf, Doogooder, Twixfix, Rickrack, Cheesy, and a host of other bloggers, except me, who can remember the first game there, back in 1889!!
Four more sleeps and off we go!!
Would be an act of vandalism to move the Mol to some horrible retail park. Probably be renamed the Fosun.
I personally think, that rather than drip feeding before the axe falls, Fosun are playing with this local tinpot council of ours, who have priced every big small or firm out of Wolverhampton with their extortionately greedy high rates.
I think they are the reason Fosun are playing cat & mouse to ensure we get planning permission for the type of redevelopment Fosun wants. There was planning permission for a new ground on the Molineux site in place from many years ago, but I would imagine a group like Fosun want better than what was designed perhaps 10-15 years ago.
I would even moved to Sandwell to ground share to get a new ground built on the existing site. Iv’e been to the baggies a few times recently for meeting with the Disabled guys and gals and their ground is more user freindly than ours is at this moment in time.
I would be prepared to swallow my pride and ground share with the Shite, Vile or Blouses, me I don’t care, if we ended up in the Champions league with a new ground it would be a red hot poker up my chuff worth enduring.
After all, Clive always comes over for the last game, so he could help us wreck the place once we’ve had our use out of it.
But, to keep it all in perspective, Lorry Van Pimple was out the trap like a greyhound to say, “this was all last ditch actions should Molineux redevelopment not be possible”.
Stu
I can’t imagine even our incompetent council driving Fosun out of the city, I’m sure they will bend over backwards to keep them at Molineux with all the extra revenue that a successful premier league team will bring in to the city.
Or am I being too optimistic?
Whatever they are planning for Molineux or a new Molineux we should see next year as if we are staying they will start the expansion of the south bank and if we are not staying then i would think they wont be .
I can visualize an out of town american type stadium that holds 70 to 80 k or even more with parking for thousands but that would require us to be in the top 10 teams in Europe at the very least so what comes first ?
Staying where we are and bodging the stadium to hold a few more while we wait to build a new stadium and at the same time get the team where they would need to be seems to me to be the logical conclusion.
Wholesale redevelopment of the ground sounds great to many but we arent Tottenham and we dont have a wembley down the road to run off too.
Also if crowds of the magnitude expected if we reached those levels of football were to descend on good old wolvo i doubt it would cope .
Its already a nightmare parking and most of the boozers and restaurants are packed as it is , so could you imagine doubling the crowd size .
Maybe if it was possible to expand the south bank quickly and cheaply in the short term that may suffice for a while but i doubt that is an option.
Fosun it would seem have much bigger plans for us than we are perhaps able to grasp at the moment. But as the success unfolds and the clamor for tickets reaches fever pitch we may all realize that truthfully we have to build a state of the art up the road stadium which does not, as some say, have to be soulless . A sort of replica of what we have but three times the size is quite capable of being built.
Any way at the moment all i care about is what happens on the pitch.
UTW
A couple of thoughts. With the amount of money coming in from television revenue and shirt sponsorship, 10,000 more seats is pretty irrelevant ( I think Morgan had plans for 50,000 at Molineux so that would be enough, if they want to remain there).
You are talking around 200 million pounds for the top teams.
Do Man United ever say “If we only had 5 million pounds more of revenue per year, we would be able to sign better players”?
Secondly, look up Tiger Stadium. Home to the Detroit Tigers for almost 90 years. When they were discussing a new stadium in a different location, these same types of discussions came up. After they moved, people stopped talking about it, except what to do with the derelict old stadium. Turns out, if I remember correctly, they kept a corner of it as a commemoration and now youth league baseball is played there.
Tim,
We aint talking about a “sport” where overweight grown men play an English girly game of rounders, while running around in pyjamas, spitting tobacco juice over everyone, we are talking about Football!
The shape of baseball stadia is all wrong to start with, only three sides, they can’t even get that right!
And how can you lose over 50 games a season and still be top of the league??
If The Mol is redeveloped, it will be done right.
Fosun are not doing anything else half heartedly, why should this be any different?
And yes, Stu, I’ll be there with me sledge ‘ommer!