[Fritzl Palace]

See Carl Ikeme has retired from football.

Best wishes for the future and I hope he gets through all his issues.

Agreed, transcends any football rivalry that one. Awful news for any fellow human being.

[AlbionFan]

Yes, good luck to you and your family in the future and hope you make a full recovey

[FallOutBoy]

Spot on Fosun will take them as far as they ca (mid table) make lots of dosh off the back of player sales and then jettison the project. Timescale ? I’m thinking 3 or 4 years tops! Which is not time enough to establish a worldwide brand.

Apparently representatives of Fosun had a meeting with a fans group last night, and were outlining their long-term aim was to be at the top table, with the Custard Bowl having a 50-60k capacity. With FFP, they need to achieve this by building a sound financial base and bringing in money through player sales. It's not going to be the easy route, but that's where they want to go.

As for Carl Ikeme, it's sad news but it has been coming. I hope he finds something that makes him happy.

[Hull Baggie]

As others have said sometimes football rivalries get put into perspective.

Wish Ikeme the very best for the future.

[Baggies]

Apparently representatives of Fosun had a meeting with a fans group last night, and were outlining their long-term aim was to be at the top table, with the Custard Bowl having a 50-60k capacity. With FFP, they need to achieve this by building a sound financial base and bringing in money through player sales. It's not going to be the easy route, but that's where they want to go.

As for Carl Ikeme, it's sad news but it has been coming. I hope he finds something that makes him happy.

This goes against everything Wolves fans have been telling me. When i've discussed this and said that I don't feel champions league is that realistic due to fosun being a business rather than a sugar daddy, i've been told by their fans that Fosun are very rich and will bank roll them to the champions league which is where they can THEN start making money.

What fosun have said last night suggests to me that they aren't here just to plough money in but, to run the club as a business. If they are thinking they can play the transfer market and make their millions, they will need to be very skilfull as Southampton have shown it isn't that easy to sell players at huge profits and invest that in even better players.

As for building the stadium, Wembley, Asenal and now maybe Spurs have shown that while it might be a good investment long term, it can really hit you in the short term as you have a huge debt to pay off. Besides, would the demand be there for Wolves to fill a 50 or 60 thousand sester stadium every week? 35 to 40 is being very optimistic but 50 or 60!!

If what fosun have said is their business plan, I just don't believe they will break the top 4. If it was as simple as they are making out, Everton, Villa, Newcastle or West ham would have done it by now.

[darbolina]

I wish fosun owned us, they have drive, ambition, imagination and connections whereas we have erm Lai.

[Standaman]

Looking at Wolves in someways it is difficult not to be envious of their good fortune. However I would take all the talk of world domination with a pinch of salt.

Their immediate aim is to stay in the Premier League anything else is a bonus. Looking at the squad there are a couple of points

a) It is huge and there is a lot of very moderate players there from the pre Fosun days
b) There is some real quality but that can be said of nearly every Premier League squad and Wolves aren't better than most and considerably worse then the top 6.

They have obviously focused heavily on the Portuguese market. There are a number of reasons for this chiefly the players are generally of a good technical quality and are relatively cheap in terms of wages which is important when working within FFP rules. It is not the fees that kill you it is the fatberg of a wage bill which needs feeding week in week out that makes life difficult (ask the Villa)

Obviously both Mendes and Nunes are familiar with League NOS and comfortable shopping there. Whether the players they are bringing in adjust is a different matter Neves and Jota both did well last season and have adjusted well, but  Moutinho at the age of 31 well let's wait and see about that.

Longer term the plans for the Custard Bowl sound impressive but building an ever bigger stadium barely dents the advantage the top 6 have. Building a stadium inevitably diverts funds from the playing side in the short term. However unless a club can fill it and with Premium paying supporters and critically Corporate clients then it really doesn't take you anywhere. It will give you a slight advantage over your mid table rivals but against the top 6 it is meaningless.

Unless you are a global brand e.g. Man United and or London based there is very little prospect of generating much from a bigger stadium. Here there is a real North South divide (bucked by the Global brands of Man City Liverpool and Man United). Consider this Bournemouth who have a tiny ground which has less than half the capacity of either ourselves and Stoke. They generate £5m a year match day revenue compared to Stoke and Albion's £7m.

To put this in context an expanded and full Custard Bowl would generate roughly £14m a year which compares to Spurs last season at the antiquated and somewhat limited White Hart Lane of £45m.

If the plan is build a bigger stadium it isn't a very good plan.

As I said at the outset on the face of it there is much to be envious of, but let's see how things develop. They might still end up with the biggest stadium in League 1 again.   

[Mister AT]

Agent Pulis played Traora last night in a friendly, the lads only gone and dislocated his shoulder and is out for 6 weeks. Looks like his wolves move has now ended.

[TheJacko2000]

Another good result for the Champions Elect today. Full strength team turned over by Lampards lumps.


Didn't get as many bites as I'd hoped on Twitter earlier... used the hashtag and everything 

[AlbionFan]

John Percy just Tweeted

“#Wolves are set to smash their transfer record with the £18m capture of Middlesbrough's Adama Traore before Thursday's deadline. Deal should go through early next week #wwfc #utb telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/… via @telefootball”

Could he, TP come knocking for Phillips?

[liverbaggie]

He could but our door is locked and bolted for the antifootballing guy,or as dads army would say Napoleon.

[Fritzl Palace]

Traore confirmed, Dedoncker close to signing for them.

Comparing their owners to ours is thoroughly depressing.

[johnny Cash]

Dendoncker has looked very good whenever I have seen him. Would be the first signing I am actually envious off. At £12m in today's market it would seem a bit of a bargain. The Belgians seem to adapt without too much issue too, so less of a risk than some nationalities.   

[PsalmXXIII]

Traore confirmed, Dedoncker close to signing for them.

Comparing their owners to ours is thoroughly depressing.

Traore was garbage at Villa in the Premier League. He won't do much at the dingles.

[BaggieBirdRus]

They’ve made some fantastic signings. Can easily see them being top 10 next season with Europe in 2/3 seasons

[gavinrussell]

If they sign the 2 latest players they are linked with that's £84 million.......pretty eye water watering figures considering where they were a few seasons ago...😔

[royhan]

Wolves' signings so far ..... They've obviously got an excellent overseas scouting system - and bucket loads of cash!

Adama Traoré
 Raúl Jiménez
 Joao Moutinho
 Rui Patricio
 Diogo Jota
 Willy Boly
 Leo Bonatini
 Jonny Castro
 Ruben Vinagre
 Leander Dendoncker
 Oleksander Zinchenko

[wbarenno]

Million miles away from the top 6 but they could definitely get top ten and could even finish top of the best of the rest league

[royhan]

Wolves have still not finished their transfer business. They have agreed a fee with Manchester City for Oleksandr Zinchenko. However, the transfer depends on whether the Premier League newcomers can persuade the versatile Ukrainian to leave the reigning Champions.
Zinchenko would cost Wolves £16m, and City are prepared to let him leave for that price but Nuno Espirito Santo has yet to persuade the player to make the move.

[divinewind]

What about the home grown rule and FFP? Or is it just our excuse for being tight?  They have spent a lot of money, but West Ham have spent £100 m and Chelsea have spent £70m on one player. Mid table I reckon. If they lose Saturday the next games become more important, Leicester away, Man City at home.

[skyclad99]

Spending like they have won the lottery, seen it all before.....

Lets see how it works out shall we?

[boinging_along]

What about the home grown rule and FFP? Or is it just our excuse for being tight?  They have spent a lot of money, but West Ham have spent £100 m and Chelsea have spent £70m on one player. Mid table I reckon. If they lose Saturday the next games become more important, Leicester away, Man City at home.

If they didn't get promoted last season they'd have fell foul of FFP as they'd smashed the spending limits.  I believe it's calculated over the last 3 seasons so by getting promoted they now have Premiership money and that offsets their spending last season.

[WBAinDEVON]

in a perverse way i am quite looking forward to watching these in the premier league. good luck to them, i think they will easily hold their own

[Albion79]

Have to say their last couple of signings have impressed me, if the new portuguese newbies adapt i think they will be okay, i still think they need another quality striker.

I dont think they will be anywhere near the top 6, i think they will still be closer to the bottom 6, and i think its a short term project, buy players and sell them at a profit if / when they have performed well, same as most other clubs, that will be one of the key factors stopping them ever becoming a contender or getting anywhere near.

As previously said there has been many false dawns at the Wolves but they look more competitive this time, if i was a Wolves fan i would enjoy it for what it is, they have been down to league 1 in recent years so to now be signing some of the names they have, good luck to them, i would imagine they will try and play football and having a go and its a lot more enjoyable than the last 3-4 years of boring tedious football we had to suffer trying to achieve the same thing - survival.

[PsalmXXIII]

Spending like they have won the lottery, seen it all before.....

Lets see how it works out shall we?

Villa spent £90m in the season they got relegated; spending money means jack pooh. They brought Traore that season too.