It’s fair to say if you were to take a walk through the Wolverhampton Wanderers garden at the moment, you would not find things particularly rosy.
Several departed stars, no new signings to replace them, no money to do so and a surprising change in manager before the season start coupled with an opening game defeat to Manchester United means the problems are piling up at Molineux.
The focus is very much on owners Fosun and Jeff Shi at this moment in time, including from Neue Zurcher Zeitung, who take an in-depth look today and are critical of those in charge.
They explain that Wolves, who have the same ownership as Grasshopper Club Zurich, are ‘in financial trouble’, much like their sister club from Switzerland.
The newspaper focus on a Chinese term “Guanxi”, which stands for a concept based on personal, value-oriented relationships. In a way, guanxi symbolizes commitment and trust between two parties. In general, the more guanxi a person or company has, the easier it is to be successful.
As far as they are concerned while Fosun, who are the largest privately owned Chinese conglomerate, clearly have a lot of Guanxi, the problem is that it isn’t present at their football clubs.
Indeed, they accuse the Wolves ownership of being ‘much better at networking within and outside’ their company than they do at Molineux.
Rather than being open and developing trust, they’ve created a culture of obscurity at the club, with fans accusing them of a ‘lack of transparency and communication’ in the last four years.
These allegations are nothing new, and have been echoed at Grasshoppers, who, unlike Wolves, have been put up for sale this summer.
This lack of communication has already seen Julen Lopetegui walk, with the Spanish coach openly criticising the change in stance this summer and the failure to make him aware of it.
The big issue is money, with Wolves in ‘financial difficulties’, much like their parent company. According to the newspaper, Fosun’s share price has fallen 16% year on year and they’ve announced a need to sell €11bn of non-core asset.
Their lack of financial responsibility is haltering Wolves too, where they risk breaching profitability and sustainability rules. Indeed, Fosun are now determined to make the club ‘self-supporting’, hence the sales and lack of spending this summer.
Jeff Shi appears as the main villain and GZZ criticise his recent letter to Wolves fans, which they label an ‘ultimately unsuccessful attempt at conciliation’. He has insisted the club is not for sale but the current situation at GC would suggest otherwise.
According to NZZ, Shi was in China when that letter was published and was not even present at the time when Lopetegui’s contract was terminated.
He and Wolves appear to be severely lacking in Guanxi as far ass GZZ are concerned, they need more of it ‘above all’ if things are to be turned around. They, like most at Wolves, are not impressed with Fosun or Shi and are now asking serious questions about both.
