Dunlavy column: Wilderness awaits Wolves if Morgan doesn’t act on sale

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WHEN the For Sale signs went up at Molineux in September, we were told that would be snatched up like a Macbook on Black Friday.

“It's a very clean football club, a simple transaction to do,” said chief executive Jez Moxey. “There is no debt, the stadium is freehold. And the beauty of this club, perhaps against some of the others, is that it is owned 100 per cent by Steve Morgan.”

Yet, five months later, Morgan is still waiting for the phone to ring. His club, touted as a £30m bargain, has generated about as much interest as a second-hand cassette deck on ebay.

The “small number of serious bidders” reported last month has, in Morgan's words, become “no firm talks with anyone.” Results are wretched.

Reality has bitten. And the reality is that football clubs are a devil to sell. Mike Ashley has been trying to shift Newcastle for the best part of a decade, getting poorer with each passing week.

haven't had a sniff. Even , the tightest ship in the top flight, couldn't seal a deal with Chinese investors last summer. And they can all dangle a £120m carrot at potential buyers. What have Wolves got to offer?

Yes, yes. Debt-free, modern stadium, big crowds, all very nice. Ten years ago, that might have twisted a few arms.

But the landscape has changed beyond recognition. When Wolves won the title in 2009, Mick McCarthy's entire team was constructed for a total outlay of just £2m.

Now? That's dogfight money. have chucked around £25.5m. took Middlesbrough's seasonal spend to £18.5m. Burnley have done a shade under £10m, Sheffield Wednesday about the same.

And that's just the teams already here. By 2017, sides dropping out of the will boast a minimum of £120m in the bank and parachute payments on top.

Once, relegated clubs were forced into an undignified fire sale to stave off bankruptcy. Now, they not only retain top talent (see Hull), but can spend millions on reinforcements. Morgan's £30m asking price is small beer. Within a few years, Championship clubs will need to spend that every season just to compete for a place in the top six. And that's before wages.

Buyers with that kind of cash don't grow on trees. Nor do they want to buy unglamorous clubs in the West Midlands with three big local rivals and limited potential for growth.

Throw in the restrictions imposed by Financial Fair Play and you can see why the Sheikhs and Oligarchs haven't bothered to leave their yachts. Even if you offered Wolves up for a tenner, the sum Morgan famously paid Sir Jack Hayward in 2007, you wouldn't spark a stampede.

It's a miserable situation for the Midlanders, as it is for any club in this kind of limbo. Investment dries up. Ambition becomes subsistence. The failure to replace Bakary Sako or Benik Afobe is a case in point.

Performances have naturally nosedived, with poor taking the flak. Like Sheffield Wednesday in the dog days of Milan Mandaric, there is a distinct feeling of treading water.

That's no dig at Morgan. If you were selling your house, would you instal a new German kitchen and bifold doors? Or would you just tart up the paintwork and stick some bread in the oven?

There's just one problem. Before long, the division will be bloated, top heavy with Premier League wealth. And, with each passing season, the have-nots and water-treaders will be cut further adrift. There has never been a worse time to be poor.

For Morgan, it all amounts to a bleak choice: find a buyer or throw cash at the team. Without one or the other, Wolves could be consigned to a generation of anonymity.

*This article originally featured in the 28 February edition of The Paper.

One Comment

  1. wolvesjoe

    Poorly researched piece. FFP for the Championship has been massively
    diluted from the start of this season, and sets almost no limitations on
    ambitious Championship clubs. Also article fails to explain why
    the potential of promotion to honeypot Premier seems not to be
    acting as an incentive to buy a club like Wolves. Some research
    over uninformed opinion might have revealed some interesting
    material about the sale of the club.

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