Leigh Griffiths' Hairline
Grammar Nazi
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2011
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A few of my thoughts on why Fosun have invested in Wolves, and how they plan to make us commercially successful
1. History. Wolves have a rich history, being one of the founder members of the football league, and also one of the most successful clubs in English football historically. We may not have done much in the last 30 years or so, but we are probably on a par with where Man City were when they were bought by their billionaire owners.
2. Fanbase: We have a good die-hard fanbase and a decent take-up of season ticket holders. In addition to this, there is a huge untapped resource of Wolves fans who would be more likely to attend with some successful football. We only have to look back to Cardiff in 2003 when over 100,000 lined the streets of Wolverhampton for the open bus tour. In addition to this, we also have a decent (but small) committed fanbase abroad, notably in Scandinavia and Ireland, and to a lesser extent in the USA.
3. Symbolism: We have an excellent brand. Our colours and our name are unique and very strong. We also have an excellent motto, which is not unlike a Chinese proverb. It sounds very cliche'd, however Chinese culture is very big on symbolism, and I feel this will definitely made us more attractive, leading us on to...
4. Marketability: In China, specifically. For the above reason essentially we are very marketable. There is a relatively untapped resource of a billion or so people in China that we can attract as fans. Promote the Wolves brand in the ways I have outlined in the last few points, and our overseas revenue could quickly dwarf the amount of money we make at home. And with Fosun being one of China's largest companies, we are very well positioned to exploit this. Plastic fans? Bring them on.
5. Room for Growth: Jeff Shi outlined this nicely in his press conference. We have a stable base, with excellent facilities already. But there is clear room for growth. Compton is an excellent training ground, with plenty of space to expand further if required. The stadium is good, and there are already plans to expand to 50,000 if needed, and I can't see us needing a much bigger stadium than this for a very long time.
Very exciting times. Done well, we could go on to be one of the best supported clubs in the most populous country in the world, which would only improve our success here at home.
I appreciate there is a lot of stating the obvious here, but I'm bored with little to do at work and I wanted to summarise my thoughts
1. History. Wolves have a rich history, being one of the founder members of the football league, and also one of the most successful clubs in English football historically. We may not have done much in the last 30 years or so, but we are probably on a par with where Man City were when they were bought by their billionaire owners.
2. Fanbase: We have a good die-hard fanbase and a decent take-up of season ticket holders. In addition to this, there is a huge untapped resource of Wolves fans who would be more likely to attend with some successful football. We only have to look back to Cardiff in 2003 when over 100,000 lined the streets of Wolverhampton for the open bus tour. In addition to this, we also have a decent (but small) committed fanbase abroad, notably in Scandinavia and Ireland, and to a lesser extent in the USA.
3. Symbolism: We have an excellent brand. Our colours and our name are unique and very strong. We also have an excellent motto, which is not unlike a Chinese proverb. It sounds very cliche'd, however Chinese culture is very big on symbolism, and I feel this will definitely made us more attractive, leading us on to...
4. Marketability: In China, specifically. For the above reason essentially we are very marketable. There is a relatively untapped resource of a billion or so people in China that we can attract as fans. Promote the Wolves brand in the ways I have outlined in the last few points, and our overseas revenue could quickly dwarf the amount of money we make at home. And with Fosun being one of China's largest companies, we are very well positioned to exploit this. Plastic fans? Bring them on.
5. Room for Growth: Jeff Shi outlined this nicely in his press conference. We have a stable base, with excellent facilities already. But there is clear room for growth. Compton is an excellent training ground, with plenty of space to expand further if required. The stadium is good, and there are already plans to expand to 50,000 if needed, and I can't see us needing a much bigger stadium than this for a very long time.
Very exciting times. Done well, we could go on to be one of the best supported clubs in the most populous country in the world, which would only improve our success here at home.
I appreciate there is a lot of stating the obvious here, but I'm bored with little to do at work and I wanted to summarise my thoughts