As the discussion is a bit dull on here this evening, purely for the purposes of debate, is there any good reason why we couldn't spend money like Wolves have done to invest in our club and take it to another level? Our owners have a similar net worth to those of Wolves and are rich enough for that to still represent small change to them. And it looks like Wolves will incur no sanction for successfully gambling on their future status.
Needs to happen if the owners want success for me. What we’ve tried has well and truly fallen on its arse!
We haven't got one of the worlds biggest agents "advising" the board which of his clients to buy, and persuading said clients to drop to the Championship. You can offer all the money you want, but if the players think the club are "tin pot", then you will struggle to get them...
And it may still happen at some point, or a version of it at least. Don't forget that the "Wolves system" hadn't been tried to that extent before, and could have seriously bitten them on the arse had it not worked. But now it's been proven to work, and providing they pass the Premier Leagues investigation into their ownership structure(and relationship with the agency), I can see more than a few teams look to emulate them. Trouble is, that will artificially inflate player values and wages even more...
To be honest though, it's mad now and a bit more mad will hardly make a difference. Fact is, Barnsley fans for decades have watched teams being built and players coming through only for them to be cashed in at the first opportunity. It gives little faith in any lasting progress being made.
The absolute key point about Wolves' signing power has just as much to do with 'super agent' Jorge Mendes as it does with the stacks and stacks of cash they've thrown at it. He's the one responsible for bringing these players to the table and persuading them to sign whilst persuading the owners to part with tens of millions all whilst lining his own pocket in signing fees. The model doesn't lose for anyone involved at Wolves.....they get promoted, tick, players get inflated wages and put themselves in the shop window (neves to Liverpool for 35mil being banded about) tick, Mendes keeps getting signing fees, tick. Mr Lee and the Consortium could throw millions at it but we'd still need a Mendes to make it work properly.