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- 24/25 Season Preview 20 in 20 - Wolverhampton
24/25 Season Preview 20 in 20 - Wolverhampton
10 of 20 - Wolves
nick lochner
August 04, 2024
The 2024/25 Season kicks off Friday August 16 when Fulham travel to Man United.
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2022/23 Finish - 14th Place |
Medium-Large. A medium sized club and founding member of the EFL, with trophies and major successes in the 1960-80’s, followed by down years leading to new buyers in 2016 and a return to the top league and Europe. The focus is currently on significant international expansion and the hope to take the club beyond a “medium” club and compete for Europe year in and year out. Wolves definitely have the history for it, the ownership for it and great fan engagement club.
One Step Back, Two Forward. Last season became a “just avoid relegation” and make sure “we don’t violate Financial Fair Play rules” season. The club had to sell some players and decided not to invest in new players during the summer window. This approach seemed to make then manager Julien Lopetegui (now West Ham’s new manager) angry, and he quit on the team one week before the start of the season. Owner Jeff Shi sent a letter to fans explaining:
“As we approach our 8th season as owners…An additional factor to consider in our FFP management is that last January we invested much more highly in the first-team than we had anticipated, bringing in six players. It was a very unusual winter window for us, and it literally advanced the investment room originally left for this summer…..The positive thing is that FFP is based on a rolling number, season by season, so if we do manage it well this summer, next summer we will be more free financially.”
As Planned. Unlike last summer, this summer Wolves have been buyers, most notably Rodrigo Gomes and Tommy Doyle who will add to a solid cast including Hwang Hee-chan, Mario Lemina and a top 5 goalkeeper in Jose Sa.
Wide Range. Seems like the “bookmakers” are unsure what Wolves will bring this year. You can get decent odds on a top 10 finish and being relegated, both +300-400. Last season Gary O’Neil took over 1 week before match week 1 and lost 4 of 5, he then lost just 4 of his next 16 matches and talk of a top 10 finish and Europe was in play. That all changed down the stretch, losing 8 of 12. Given where Wolves were to start the season a 14th place finish was a good result, and ownership are now back to talking Europe.
Fun to Watch. Will be interesting to see Wolves-Bournemouth and Wolves-West Ham. Bournemouth sacked Gary O’Neil 2 seasons ago and West Ham’s current manager Lopetegui left 1 week before the season last year. I’m sure fans will be focused on these fixtures next season.
The Club
Located in West Midlands suburb of Birmingham Molineaux Stadium, 32,000 capacity Rough estimates $220M Annual Revenue $75M Player Payroll  | History on the Pitch
Sponsorship |
 Home Shirt |  Away Shirt |
OwnershipFosun International. A Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company purchased Wolves in 2016 for $50M. Jeff Shi is Chairman Wolves and describes his vision of growing their international fan base. “I can see the trend is going very fast, but our goal is not just about to make 100,000 or 200,000 fans more, our goal is to try to reach the largest fan base in the world. In the future, we have to compare ourselves with Liverpool, with Man City, with Man United and if you are thinking like this, it’s still a long way to go, but I’m happy to see the growth now.” | Biggest Rival - West Bromwich Albion, Black Country Derby
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Like Crystal Palace, there are questions surrounding Wolves new Shirt Sponsor -
Betting companies are throwing money around and questions surround how “real” these companies are. Take a look at the current (August 2) screenshot of DEBET. Two weeks before the season kicks off. At the end of the 2025/26 season, betting companies will no longer be eligible for front of shirt sponsorship, so this two-year deal will need to become a “sleeve sponsorship” if they decide to continue the relationship. Here is more on the sponsorship.
The Culture
The Wolves had a lot of success when soccer and television took off in the 60-70’s. For example, they have a very large Scandinavian fanbase due to the area’s television coverage of Midlands football. The first ever match shown live in Sweden and Norway involved the Wolves, a 1-0 winner over Sunderland in 1969. However, the last 30+ years have been less impactful. Fast forward to 2020 where the Wolves were considered to have the fastest growing fanbase in England. The Wolves created the Fan Parliament, a one of its kind connection between the club and supporters. In 23/24 the Fan Advisory Board, a new PL wide initiative for each club, will replace the FP. Regardless of the name, the Wolves have great fan connection.
Hooligan-ismIn the 60’s & 70’s a group called "The Subway Army" would ambush fans in the subway adjacent to the ground. "Operation GROWTH" (or "Get Rid of Wolverhampton's Troublesome Hooligans") in the 80s led to arrests and the eventual break up the group. Supporters You May Recognize
| SongConsidered having the best Song list in the PL? You can see/listen to the Wolves FC official Spotify playlist here!    Game Day Pub Guide
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Fan Sites
According to the AI tool COPILOT - here is an image of a Wolverhampton fan at Molineaux, based on Wiki’s description of a Wolves Supporter.
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Official Twitter@Wolves High Follows on Twitter @WolvesFC_latest (23k) @TalkingWolves (42k) @WolvesTalk (16k) |
The Team
The Gaffer
 Gary O’Neil ODDS
| Roster NotesFull Roster click link Projected to finish 14th Americans on the team (as of July 28)
Interested in playing Fantasy Soccer? Here are the basics. Typical teams have a budget of $100M and 15 players - $6.7M per player.
Goalkeeper
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Molineaux Stadium
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