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Are you a Wolves Fan?
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
US Wolves BarsWorldwide Wolves
15+ pubs w/in walking distance
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
