Following my first ever Fans’ Parliament meeting on Thursday September 18, I can now reveal to you all that proceedings went well and I found it a particularly worthwhile experience.

Featuring CEO Jez Moxey, head of marketing and communications Matt Grayson, head of supporter liaison Paul Richards and head of ticketing Lynne O’Reardon, I was able to ask one or two questions on your behalf, after taking a tour of the new academy building. I will write a separate blog on this at some point as it deserves one of its own.

Before I begin, there were one or two house rules, namely that I can’t post anything on the blog until the official minutes go live, hence the delay in getting this to you all. Also, there might be one or two items that are strictly ‘off-the-record’ at the meeting, which I won’t be able to bring up – however much I might want to at the time. This could be interpreted as being somewhat clandestine, but I understand the club’s rationale. Hopefully the quality of each meeting and the questions answered will offset this.

I’ll start with the questions I was able to ask on behalf of Wolves Blog, followed by some interesting other questions posed by fellow fans.

I am sorry I wasn’t able to ask all of the questions posed, but I managed to ask three or four which was a decent return in the room in comparison to others! The Q&A was shortened due to the academy tour, which I will report on in due course – a HUGELY encouraging aspect of the club, with so much music to my ears hearing the overall philosophies underpinning this.

I won’t report on every single item raised as it will turn this blog into war and peace. In short, the items that I didn’t think were of pressing interest won’t be on here. They will however, be on the official website under David Instone’s official minutes, so feel free to have a look there too!

(All notes taken with my 100 word-per-minute shorthand)

My questions to Jez Moxey

Ben: In March 2011, Jez Moxey said the following: “The aim is to get us back where everyone thinks we belong. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can usurp Manchester United, but we think we can get to just below that level – in the top three, four or five clubs where we can be competinghttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/lb_icon1.png in Europe.” Is this still an aim within the hierarchy of the club? What is the vision, the strategy today?

JM: It hasn’t changed. If you look at results from the beginning of time until now, we are in the top 10 in the country in terms of points and victories. Today, our natural pecking order is sixth in the Championship to wherever that place above might be. We are not going to usurp Manchester United or Manchester City. But why can’t we be an Everton, challenging?

Ben: For this to happen, what are the short term aims of the club? Surely promotion is necessary in 12 months or two years to make this aspiration likely?

JM: We are trying to manage pressure. We really have tried hard in the last two years to make sure we don’t set ourselves up for a big fall, so the stock answer is that we will try to do our very, very best. We want to get the fans behind us and create a special atmosphere around the club, which I think many of you can feel. But we will not be putting any pressure on the players with an answer to this.

Ben: A lot of fans contacting Wolves Blog are getting soaked in the North Bank. What is being done?

JM: We are aware of it. It will get better when we are able to take on the next phase of the Molineux redevelopment, which will be the Steve Bull Stand.

Another fan followed up with: When will this happen?

JM: We haven’t got an answer to that question. The time to do it would be now because we haven’t got capacity issues. It would take one to one-and-a-half years to do and it would coincide with us getting promoted. Bang! But the reality of life is not like that. We are not keen on mortgaging the club. We are not beholden to banks and thank goodness we haven’t been. We have to live within our means.

Ben (after taking a tour of the academy): Are there targets for youth players moving up into the first team to justify the investment in these facilities? Four players coming through per season for example? A couple?

JM: There are many KPIs that they must adhere to. It’s been said that if you produce one player per year you are doing really well. We believe we have been better than that recently. Sometimes circumstances change in and around the first team so it is difficult to put a figure on this.

(He also talked glowingly of Jack Price as an example, and how he’d love to see him playing after such a good season, what a great lad he is…but other players develop too, short-term circumstances change and it is the manager’s prerogative to send him on loan to give him the games he needs)

Other questions

1. Videowalls – what is the situation with them?

JM: We are looking at alternatives but nothing will be done in the short term. We might put a ‘digiboard’ in place at the front of the upper tear of one or two of the stands. We are not going to change the videowalls just yet, but will probably increase the advertising on them.

They could still be used as units / shells and we could insert new screens inside them, so we will not knock them down or restore them until we are in a position to develop the stadium.

2. Bakary Sako contract?

JM: We would love Bakary to stay long term. He is becoming a player that is developing a cult status amongst fans and has managed to establish himself from previous regimes, helping us to promotion.

But we bought him when our economics were different to what they are today. We would like to have success this season. We all want this season to end well and to offer him a new deal.

But he has always said to us: ‘If I can go to a Premier League club, then you have to know I would be interested.’ Forest offered big money but the deal was never quite right. That turned his head but he still said no.

In the summer we were thinking that he might well leave, which is one of the reasons we bought van La Parra.

We could have sold him in the summer, probably, but he was content to stay and we were delighted when the phone didn’t ring.

This issue will go to the heart of mine and Steve Morgan’s motives. Steve did not want him to leave. The relationship Bakary has with Nouha Dicko, both on and off the pitch, is a big thing. Unless we have to sell him we won’t. The relationship between Bakary Sako and the club is as good as it can be.

3. Jamie O’Hara decision. Was it more from his side or the club’s?

JM: We spoke to Jamie O’Hara and his agent, then he changed his agent, went back to his original agent and so on. When it became apparent that we were taking a stance at the club – that was wholeheartedly backed by Kenny Jackett – that we were taking the financial burden, then the message eventually sunk in that something has to change in his life in order for him to progress.

It was very amicable, very sensible and worthwhile. It wasn’t a big financial outlay either. He needed something to change and we wish Jamie well.

4. Has the club learned from this (and five year contracts?)

JM: We could talk about that subject for hours. You are buying somebody in the Premier League for that sort of money and you hope he turns into a £20 million player…

…But yes, lessons have been learned.

5. Why can’t fans pay cash on the gate, specifically in the Stan Cullis corner? It would add to the attendance.

Matt: There is a huge drive to get fans to buy in advance because it improves the matchday experience inside the stadium as a result, such as the flow of fans, reducing queuing times and catering for the right number of people.

Lynne: There is no ‘man in a box’ facility in the Stan Cullis Stand corner to allow this. We do cash on the day at the ticket office, with a wait of 10 to 15 minutes max. You can also buy on the day in the club shop.

We are trying to move forward from the traditional mode of purchasing.

(Lynne also talked about the print at home / flexi- ticket and various other online ticket provisions)

My take



Lessons have been learned at the club, which appeared obvious on Thursday night’s showing. While Mick McCarthy’s name was never uttered during the evening, you could definitely sense that his pig-headed refusal to play youth players during his tenure has had a perversely positive effect on the club today.

Again, without naming names, the academy manager Gareth Prosser did refer indirectly to the past, and how much better things are today. If, for example, Scott Malone came through the ranks today (only to get sold to a Bournemouth for a nominal fee, who then make £500,000 on him), you sense that hell would hath no fury, with the questions coming from Steve Morgan.

Was Mick held to account over his reluctance to play youth? I suspect not. As Jez Moxey said repeatedly: ‘Steve Morgan’s love for building includes the careers of young players. It is what he wants to see and gives him the most satisfaction.’ As I say, I believe lessons have been learned here.

The North Bank situation will surely provoke some more response here. I wasn’t able to ask specifically about the Perspex along the side or the rain coats due to time, sorry. It’s clear there is not an immediate solution, but he said the club is aware of this issue, as it is frequently raised. Following on from this, it feels that the stadium redevelopment will definitely take place at some point as it was talked about regularly – when it takes place is a different matter.

And my first impressions of Jez Moxey and the evening were very positive. Both Thomas and I know he is aware of the blog, and that he surely has little time for me and my particularly caustic commentaries during our dark times – of which I held him largely responsible!

However, he shook my hand firmly, answered all questions and for the first time in his 15 odd years at the club, I actually warmed to him and agreed with virtually all that he said. So there!

We’ll see what the next one brings.