Season Preview 20in20 - Wolverhampton

4 of 20 - Wolves

Author

nick lochner
July 27, 2023

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2022/23 Finish - 13th Place

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. Struggled early last season and really responded to new manager Lopetegui at the mid-way point. Great fan engagement club.

The Club

Located in West Midlands suburb of Birmingham

Molineaux Stadium, 32,000 capacity

Rough estimates

$200M Annual Revenue (15th worldwide, 7th PL)

$80M Player Payroll

History on the Pitch

  • 3 league titles, last in 1959

  • 4 FA Cups, last in 1960

  • 1 of 12 founding members of EFL

Ownership

Fosun 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.” In 202, Wolves had the fastest growing fan base.

Sponsorship

Biggest Rival - West Bromwich Albion, Black Country Derby

  • West Bromwich Albion, 11 miles

  • Wolves W53 L65 D44

  • Have struggled recently winning only 3 of 23 matches

  • Interestingly, Wolves have had more success by staying in the PL and W Brom relegated to the Championship.

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-ism

In 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

  • Mark Hamill

  • Robert Plant

  • Mike Tyson

  • Eric Idle

Song

Considered having the best Song list in the PL? You can see/listen to the Wolves FC official Spotify playlist here!

Game Day Pub Guide

Fan Sites

Official Twitter

@Wolves

High Follows on Twitter

@WolvesFC_latest (23k)

@TalkingWolves (42k)

@WolvesTalk (16k)

The Team

The Gaffer

  • Julen Lopetegui (Spain), 56yo

  • Manager since Nov 2022 - Spain

  • Goal Keeper as a player, in La Liga (Spain)

  • Head coach at Porto, Spain national team, Real Madrid

ODDS

  • To Win League +75,000

  • To Be Relegated +550

  • To Finish Top 4 +5,000

  • To Finish Top 10 +350

Roster Notes

Full Roster click link

Projected to finish 14th

  • No Americans on the roster

  • Midfielder Matheus Nunes (Portugal) at $50M is highest paid player with Defenseman Max Kilman (England) at $35M.

  • Captain Ruben Neves will be missed as he moves to a Saudi club

  • Will need to integrate 8 new players via acquisition/returning from loan

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