Should Jeff Shi do one?

[Paddingtonwolf]

How has he “successfully”changed the manager? Lage is miles worse than Nuno.

 

[Lupollet]

3/4 seasons top half finishes.
FA cup semi
European competition
Making a profit
'Successfully' changed the manager

Through certain lens' it looks like he's doing a decent job

How much net do you think we need to spend in the summer and how much do you think we will spend?

I think (due to stagnation in the last 2/3 seasons, players ageing and that our squad depth was inadequate before then, we now need to spend a net £80m to stay where we are.

I think we will spend £15-20m max and be relegated.

 

[Tony Towner]

How much net do you think we need to spend in the summer and how much do you think we will spend?

I think (due to stagnation in the last 2/3 seasons, players ageing and that our squad depth was inadequate before then, we now need to spend a net £80m to stay where we are.

I think we will spend £15-20m max and be relegated.

I don't think Andy is saying he's doing a good job, but as with my post earlier if you don't look at the granular detail which it's unlikely the main Fosun Board will, it gives a facade of success. Add the disproportionate focus on Esports and how it would appear that's delivering the vanity Brand exposure they are looking for and the headline metrics are positive.

 

[AndyWolves]

How has he “successfully”changed the manager? Lage is miles worse than Nuno.

We'll have a better league position than last season. I put it in quotes as it clearly isn't just about league position.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The club makes money by default without the CEO doing anything, like the majority of Premier League clubs these days when there isn't a global pandemic raging.

 

[AndyWolves]

I don't think Andy is saying he's doing a good job, but as with my post earlier if you don't look at the granular detail which it's unlikely the main Fosun Board will, it gives a facade of success. Add the disproportionate focus on Esports and how it would appear that's delivering the vanity Brand exposure they are looking for and the headline metrics are positive.

Exactly, I think Jeff is doing exactly what fosun want him too, superficially at least.

If he oversees a relegation to the championship will fosun see it as a categoric failure? I'm not sure they will, more likely a bump in the road which gives us the opportunity to bring through some of our youth prospects.

 

[Tony Towner]

Exactly, I think Jeff is doing exactly what fosun want him too, superficially at least.

If he oversees a relegation to the championship will fosun see it as a categoric failure? I'm not sure they will, more likely a bump in the road which gives us the opportunity to bring through some of our youth prospects.

That's where we disagree the model collapses with relegation as the value of the investment reduces significantly

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Exactly, I think Jeff is doing exactly what fosun want him too, superficially at least.

If he oversees a relegation to the championship will fosun see it as a categoric failure? I'm not sure they will, more likely a bump in the road which gives us the opportunity to bring through some of our youth prospects.

Can already see the 'it's actually more fun in the Championship' posts on Twitter in the middle distance.

(Narrator: No it bloody well isn't)

 

[darlowolf64]

3/4 seasons top half finishes.
FA cup semi
European competition
Making a profit
'Successfully' changed the manager

Through certain lens' it looks like he's doing a decent job

I know you are putting things through Fosun's eyes and the reply to them should be "it looked like Rafa was doing a decent job at Everton until they started plummeting towards the relegation zone"

 

[AndyWolves]

I know you are putting things through Fosun's eyes and the reply to them should be "it looked like Rafa was doing a decent job at Everton until they started plummeting towards the relegation zone"

In fairness Rafa was good for 6-8 weeks tops. Jeff has been 'delivering' for 4-5 seasons.

 

[pr0sl0]

It does stike me that things have seemed to become progressively less competent at the club the more that power has become concentrated in Shi's hands.

A lot of us used to - sincerely, ironically, or a little of both - point the finger at figures like Kevin Thelwell when trying to apportion blame for poor bureaucratic performance, but at least we used to have a wider range of figures with input into decision-making at the highest levels of the club. When Shi first arrived he, by his own admission, didn't know much about the sport and thought he could do the job half-remotely from China. Fair play for realising pretty quickly that he'd have to move his family over and commit himself to his responsibilities more than that, but he's also pretty much pushed everyone else out who was already here/who earned enough standing to challenge his decisions. He is the board now, and the two highest-ranking figures on the coaching/scouting/training side - Lage and Sellars - aren't exactly the types to rock the boat.

Even if Shi was actually a sports executive savant, you can't run a multi-million-pound business (or any other large organisation) this way. You need dissenting voices who you can trust when they push back against your bad calls, because at some point you will make bad calls. Even the best managers do, and the same applies to execs.

 

[darlowolf64]

In fairness Rafa was good for 6-8 weeks tops. Jeff has been 'delivering' for 4-5 seasons.

I'm half asleep... I thought I was on the Bruno thread

Shi has "delivered" because of the two seasons of recruitment that saw us add Neves, Jota, Raul, Rui and Mout but very little has happened since. The transfer strategy he is overseeing is unsustainable as we will lose the better players and run out of luck

 

[AndyWolves]

My earlier comments have been a little tongue in cheek to try to illustrate how fosun (or even other external parties) might view Jeff's tenure.

I share similar fears about the upcoming season and the ageing of the squad, palace have shown it's survivable but it's a risk we've had ample opportunities to mitigate over the last few seasons.

I think the only things fosun might challenge Jeff about would be the purchase of Silva & Semedo, but that assumes that a) the strategy wasn't changed under Jeff's feet and b) those transfers were done purely for football reasons.

I also think the current structure of Fosun Sports Group allows Shi to continue as chairman of that entity whilst also having more of a 'football savvy' CEO in place at wolves.

 

[Walnut]

How many CEO's are football men. I don't know any.

 

[redvictor]

Is it?

The investment company have written off their loan to give a less than honest picture of growth.

The working profit is based on player transfers of which it looks like they have one asset left when 2 years ago they had 5.

I would say that's built on sand. Add to that a weakening customer base, ageing stadium asset needing to be replaced and a CEO living in an echo chamber and I would say that is a company going in the wrong direction.

It's opinions as i said. We are all allowed different ones..

 

[AndyWolves]

That's where we disagree the model collapses with relegation as the value of the investment reduces significantly

Depends what they've invested in and what their aims are.

If it's to make a return on the football club then I would agree.

If it's the brand or something else (a nice logo for eSports) then they probably won't care too much.

If the noise about being around for 20 years is true, one or two relegations won't bother them I wouldn't have thought.

 

[The Bion]

I can't help but think back to something Spiers (a/k/a club mouthpiece) wrote right around the time Nuno was sacked - it was something along the lines of figures higher up in the club were annoyed they weren't receiving enough credit for the club's success.

It smacked of someone having developed (or maybe always had) an ego and opinion of self way above reality. And it stacks quite tidily with what we have seen over the last couple years with the various appointments and how badly they've been doing.

I'm concerned Thelwell, Dalrymple et al were keeping him in check and we're now seeing the fruits of him having full unabashed control. And its not pretty.

 

[Tony Towner]

How many CEO's are football men. I don't know any.

How many sign 18 year old kids for £35m and talk about them being generational talents? If he didn't pretend he knew about football then he wouldn't be judged as such

 

[Deano]

How many sign 18 year old kids for £35m and talk about them being generational talents? If he didn't pretend he knew about football then he wouldn't be judged as such

Shi came over from China to live here and he's really invested his time into the football side - he was always seen taking a keen interested at the training ground most days, he attends all of Wolves games including a lot of the younger age groups games. It's to be admired in a way but the worry is he now thinks he knows enough not to have that outside input. I mean his quote that Fabio Silva gets into any team in the Premier League is just ludircrous.

 

[big mean bunny]

I don't understand why fans so quickly make a connection between Fosun now not fancying Bank rolling the side, and them wanting to sell the club. I think it's two different things.

They are pretty open that the City style strategy isn't happening, as pious as it sounds I wouldn't want the Newcastle owners who look like they may do that, they also seemed keen on the youth aspect with Wolves and mentioned that early on.

Given the overall ventures with the expansion in China, the shares in Mendes firm (obviously small) the esports stuff and everything else, I can't seem them having any plans they are done.

I don't have the same venom for Jeff that others seem to, I wasn't particularly a fan of the interview and the justification over Silva, but then that was a PR exercise so what is he going to say?