General Wolves News

[AndyWolves]

How is this the same argument as "knock down an entire side of the ground and rebuild it, even bigger, when we had loads of games last season that didn't sell out"?

Didn't say it was.

It's a comment aimed at highlighting any strategy around attendances needs to address that our fans are getting older and increasing the capacity or not, needs to be addressed.

One way might be to offer discounts to families, parent & child etc and having a bigger ground allows you to do more of that.

So it's more of a "how do we avoid attendances continuing to dwindle?". Of course , they could just keep getting jam today

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The problem with the hacking at ticket prices is manifold, unfortunately.

1) You're essentially admitting you've been ripping off your only reliable customers for a long time, and quite brazenly too
2) It absolutely would hit the bottom line
3) Whatever you charge will still be too much for some people because they're either a) poor (not a dig at all) or b) tight (knock it down to £25 a ticket vs Bournemouth and plenty of knobs will say it should be £15, you can never win)
4) Whatever you charge, it's very simple to watch any game you want at home, even more so from this season as every game we get shunted to Sunday because the opponents are in Europe is legitimately on Sky, no need to source a foreign feed, and plenty of fans simply aren't bothered enough to actually go

They club have put themselves in this position through years of silly decisions, it's a stupid position and I don't think it changes until we get relegated (and you inevitably automatically lose thousands off the gate at a stroke), which the law of averages says we will, eventually.

The economics of building a new stand are completely separate from that and I don't think it's fair to fire that bullet at Jeffington. Because it isn't an easy equation and it's silly to pretend it is. It wasn't an easy equation 7-8 years ago and it definitely isn't now.

Arguably the time to do it was under Morgan when we went down to L1 (losing the capacity wouldn't really have mattered) but that would have gone down like a cup of sick.

 

[Keef]

Re the esports whenever the media team reports about it on social media, loads of comments are along the lines of “ we don’t care about Jeffs pet virgins, report on the actual football club”
It did kick off once when an Asian lad said entirely seriously “ wolves have a football club? I just thought it was a cool name and a cool badge” and showed all his esport merchandise with wolves badges on it

 

[PuntsWolf]

If it was cheaper more people would go, if we extended the stadium they'd make more money - eventually.

They aren't going to be here in 5 or 10 years though are they, so they don't see the point.

Reduce the ticket prices by 20% wont increase the gate by 20%. And even if it did you’re no better off, you’re substantially worse off.

 

[AndyWolves]

Problem is you can only kick the can that is the Steve bull stand down the road for so long. I'd guess Jeff hopes it's someone else's problem when it runs out of road

 

[PuntsWolf]

I mean, I can only talk about my own personal circumstances - but the main reason I haven’t yet taken my son to his first Wolves game (he’s 6 now) is because of the ridiculous cost involved in doing so. I just can’t justify it when that money would be better spent elsewhere. I absolutely understand that others may decide it’s worth it.

Surely the ticket price is only a fraction of the time and effort? How low do they need to go to make you do it? Could get a ticket for both of you for £40- £60 on last years prices. Is a £20 reduction really moving the needle here? And a 33-50% decrease is totally unrealistic. Would need A LOT of bums on seats to break even on ticket revenue before we even consider paying back the investment.

But if you drop the price to something reasonable - you sell more tickets and you put more bums on seats. It’s not rocket science.

It’s not rocket science, but the maths doesn’t add up.

Of course; there will be games where we sell out, and others that we don’t. But saying we “cannot get more than 40,000 in the stadium” isn’t true. It’s unlikely because of how they choose to run the football club.

We didn’t sell out when we were good and cheap. I don’t know where this view that we have loads of dormant fans come from. We’ve got a core of 20k at best.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Problem is you can only kick the can that is the Steve bull stand down the road for so long. I'd guess Jeff hopes it's someone else's problem when it runs out of road

Tons of stadiums far worse. SB is a shit hole but Goodison and Selhurst spring to mind as way worse. Those stands built way before and still standing. As far as I’m aware, the Steve Bull is structurally sound. Only if/when that happens will they have to do something.

 

[AndyWolves]

Tons of stadiums far worse. SB is a shit hole but Goodison and Selhurst spring to mind as way worse. Those stands built way before and still standing. As far as I’m aware, the Steve Bull is structurally sound. Only if/when that happens will they have to do something.

I think I read it had concrete cancer or something, I'm probably misremembering though

 

[Jinky]

I’m about 30 minutes through this Shi interview and I’ve had to take a little break. He’s full of contradictions.

He speaks about growing the fanbase by building a brand - he mentions Man City & Man Utd. He discusses how Wolves can work towards building a fanbase like those clubs. Those clubs have loads of fans outside of Manchester because they win stuff. Being successful on the pitch generally opens door to other stuff. Growing up in rural Shropshire, the reason 90% of kids at my school supported Man Utd and not Wolves, like me - was because they won every week and it was the easy choice. Most/all of those kids have never stepped foot in Old Trafford. They supported them because it was easy. Because they won a lot, which meant more exposure, and who doesn’t want to support the best? It’s easy being a fan when your team wins all the time, right? If you’re not actually interested in going to games, and just like the bragging rights of supporting a team that wins more often than not, in the 90’s, you picked Man Utd.

This generation it’s the same for City. You don’t get loads of young Manchester City fans walking around South Oxfordshire because they have a deep rooted relationship with the club - most of them support them because they win stuff. They have the big name players, they spend the most money and it’s easy to support them because they win more games of football than they lose. It’s completely different to a club like Wolves where most of us follow them because they grew up in the area, or their dad/mum/grandparent supported them and passed the baton on.

This idea that building an esports team, or a music label - or whatever wacky idea Shi comes up with next - to grow your brand and ultimately your fanbase, is delusional. You build a fanbase by growing your CORE set of fans - not by alienating them or pricing them out.

He also talks about it being “easy to break even” by finishing mid table every season. So you have it there - that’s the ambition, straight from the horses mouth.

 

[basher]

Wolves Records... what a crock of shit that was!!!

Never released a single thing!!!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I’m about 30 minutes through this Shi interview and I’ve had to take a little break. He’s full of contradictions.

He speaks about growing the fanbase by building a brand - he mentions Man City & Man Utd. He discusses how Wolves can work towards building a fanbase like those clubs. Those clubs have loads of fans outside of Manchester because they win stuff. Being successful on the pitch generally opens door to other stuff. Growing up in rural Shropshire, the reason 90% of kids at my school supported Man Utd and not Wolves, like me - was because they won every week and it was the easy choice. Most/all of those kids have never stepped foot in Old Trafford. They supported them because it was easy. Because they won a lot, which meant more exposure, and who doesn’t want to support the best? It’s easy being a fan when your team wins all the time, right? If you’re not actually interested in going to games, and just like the bragging rights of supporting a team that wins more often than not, in the 90’s, you picked Man Utd.

This generation it’s the same for City. You don’t get loads of young Manchester City fans walking around South Oxfordshire because they have a deep rooted relationship with the club - most of them support them because they win stuff. They have the big name players, they spend the most money and it’s easy to support them because they win more games of football than they lose. It’s completely different to a club like Wolves where most of us follow them because they grew up in the area, or their dad/mum/grandparent supported them and passed the baton on.

This idea that building an esports team, or a music label - or whatever wacky idea Shi comes up with next - to grow your brand and ultimately your fanbase, is delusional. You build a fanbase by growing your CORE set of fans - not by alienating them or pricing them out.

He also talks about it being “easy to break even” by finishing mid table every season. So you have it there - that’s the ambition, straight from the horses mouth.

But again what do you want him to say.

Knobrots still bring up the 'competing with Man City' comment 7-8 years on. He can't actually win there.

 

[big mean bunny]

Mentioned it before but I actually teach Level 2 Esports alongside Media and IT now. It's a growing industry for sure but I still don't see what the angle is to turn that into a gain for Wolves. Especially as the scene is slowly being moved and dominated by Saudi. And Wolves Esports seem to concentrate on mobile gaming from what I can see, which is the least interesting market for more UK people.

As an aside, I know everyone likes to make out the Esports scene is fatty virgins, but that seems to ignore the average crowd shot of pretty much any football game in the UK. It's hardly like most men go to watch football because they are sick of women constantly throwing themselves at them from the looks of it.

 

[Jinky]

But again what do you want him to say.

Knobrots still bring up the 'competing with Man City' comment 7-8 years on. He can't actually win there.

People bring it up because he said it. It’s no different to you bringing up a Matt Doherty performance from 7-8 years ago. Does that make you a “knobrot” when you do?

I’d like him to not be a delusional prick who chats absolute nonsense, while constantly contradicting himself. That would be a good start.

 

[Kenny]

Mentioned it before but I actually teach Level 2 Esports alongside Media and IT now. It's a growing industry for sure but I still don't see what the angle is to turn that into a gain for Wolves.

Its a gain for Fosun rather than Wolves with how they are viewed at home and avoids over concern on them investing outside of the country.

In terms of branding or financial reward for the club it will be minimal.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

it will be zero

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

People bring it up because he said it. It’s no different to you bringing up a Matt Doherty performance from 7-8 years ago. Does that make you a “knobrot” when you do?

I’d like him to not be a delusional prick who chats absolute nonsense, while constantly contradicting himself. That would be a good start.

It impacts on exactly nothing, unlike Doherty defending like a clot and costing us goals (granted, less so lately).

What do you want him to say about the club's ambition? I strongly suspect there's not an answer he can realistically give that would please you.

 

[Kenny]

it will be zero

It won't be. See how popular the eSports Wolves branded Fortnite shirt was.
It wont be massive but it's there.

To dismiss it because it makes no sense is wrong (and it makes no sense that thousands pile into an arena to watch people play computer games but we are just old grumpy fuckers).

 

[Jinky]

It impacts on exactly nothing, unlike Doherty defending like a clot and costing us goals (granted, less so lately).

What do you want him to say about the club's ambition? I strongly suspect there's not an answer he can realistically give that would please you.

A bit of honesty, humility & not trying to come across like the smartest kid in class with every answer would go a long way.

One of the interviewers pressed Shi on why he didn’t back the woman’s team by getting the relevant license last season and he squirmed his way out of giving a straight answer on two occasions, and then piped up with a “99% of the woman’s squad would need replacing if we were promoted” line.

He’s just a really unpleasant, smarmy, patronising man.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

But that wasn't your point, was it?

You were having a go at him for saying we could/should finish mid table without spending huge amounts of money.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

But again what do you want him to say.

Knobrots still bring up the 'competing with Man City' comment 7-8 years on. He can't actually win there.

Well he could have not said such moronic things in the first place?