JEFF THE TONE DEAF

With a chairman who lives in a strange parallel universe, action is needed

Let’s start off with a quote from the much-missed Sir Bobby Robson.

It might have been 20 odd years since he said that, but it all still rings true for anyone who has grown up watching football in the UK.

Now let’s move on to what the current Wolves chairman had to say yesterday in a quite incredible (not in a good way) public address.

Fans also play an important role. If you only pursue trophies or consistent European football, Wolves might not be an ideal choice.

If you only love your local team and don’t mind their sporting achievements, Wolves may not be one either.

I went through the ticket price rises in yesterday’s piece, they remain a genuine scandal especially given the demographics who follow Wolves and the overriding economic climate. However…even in a rambling article where he spent several paragraphs wittering on about humans and bugs in some shite Netflix series from years ago that hardly anyone has ever seen…that remains the most jaw-dropping, off the scale, hatstand statement I’ve had the displeasure of reading from anyone connected with the club.

On the one hand, essentially admitting that we can’t (or won’t) challenge for anything material. On the other, seeming to suggest that just being from Wolverhampton or nearby and going to games isn’t enough.

Let me tell you what being a fan is Jeff.

It’s League Cup games away in midweek at the likes of Blundell Park.

It’s being 3-1 up at home to Oxford with 2 minutes left and still not winning.

It’s sticking with the club as we sunk to the very bottom of the professional pyramid (at the time) and were playing in front of a two-sided ground.

It’s Ryan Bennett at Bristol City.

It’s Steve Bull and the entirety of his story which encapsulates the motto “Out of Darkness Cometh Light”.

It’s heritage, tradition and the sense of belonging.

It’s putting Wolverhampton on the map in terms of national consciousness.

You don’t appear to understand any of that. Moreover, football is about bonds. The Dad who’s been taking his kids along as they grow up and share experiences that they’ll talk about for decades to come. It’s groups of mates meeting up before and after games. It’s how some people can trace their support back generations, from parents to grandparents and often even further back.

Bonds that you’re busy destroying, through nothing more than short-term thinking and a plain lack of understanding of normal life for those pesky 20-odd thousand who turn up every fortnight. That Dad now having to tell his kids that they can’t go any more as it’s simply too much money. Those mates dwindling from a group of 20 to no-one, as an expensive day becomes an astronomically expensive one. Those links going back through whole family trees just cut off abruptly.

You’ve been at Wolves for almost 8 years. You don’t get to tell people who’ve been around for decades longer than you what it is to be a fan, or what matters. You don’t get to write off the inescapable fact that the vast majority of our support always has and always will come from Wolverhampton and the surrounding areas. You don’t get to tell people that our prices are benchmarked and fair when they’re patently not. You might hold the keys to Molineux for now, but you don’t and never will hold the soul to the club. You’ve got away with increase after increase after increase during your time in charge (even as the on-field quality has markedly diminished, and our ambitions in the transfer market have shrunk like Stefan Maierhofer jumping for a header, and Molineux has begun to suffer from a notable lack of basic maintenance), but to brazenly ramp up the prices to levels that put us in the bracket of clubs chasing the Champions League spots, while simultaneously telling your core customer (urgh) base that they don’t matter and this might not be the club for them…well.

This is now a full-blown crisis of Fosun’s ownership as the overriding sense amongst current and prospective season ticket holders is one of anger and bewilderment. While it’s hard to see a backtrack on the pricing structure in the immediate term, it is now clear that Jeff Shi’s race has been run in terms of any kind of positive standing with the fans.

Multiple fluffed transfer windows, allowing two high-calibre managers to leave (one because we brazenly lied to him regarding future budgets; as much as I find Julen Lopetegui’s conduct in his final three months here distasteful and don’t really miss his football, the root cause lies with those running the club), two seasons out of three that have been allowed to drift to nothing after making no effort at all to improve the squad in January, incoherent communication and lack of any connection with the fans. For someone so keen on patting himself on the back that he’s in danger of a self-inflicted spinal injury, Shi’s recent work is a mix of negligence, arrogance, complacency and delusion.

He’s gorra gew Franksie. I’m not going to judge anyone who does continue to pay the prices demanded; it’s your time, your money and heaven knows, I’ve had to agonise over saying no. But if you do carry on attending - make sure the wider public and ultimately, those at Fosun above Shi in the pecking order are made aware of what he is. An unfit-for-purpose, out of touch administrator who simply isn’t welcome any more.