10 Jul 2016 15:13:03
Personally blown away by the takeover rumours and the impact it could have on our beloved club, after years of feeling disconnected and brushed aside by the board could this give the fans a voice or could it go the other way? Will are history be tarnished eg kit colour, badge, ground name, only time will tell but I for one am extremely excited about the potential takeover, I personally feel wolves as a whole needs an injection of love and the 21st century. thoughts anyone? Sorry just trying to divert us all from the endless update searching😂.
10 Jul 2016 15:26:58
It still hasn't sunk in yet to think we could be a power again in Football, and if all goes to plan then we ought to thank Mr. Morgan for doing the best for our club, and honouring Sir. Jacks wishes it shows that he does care what happens to Wolves and wants to leave the club in safe hands.
10 Jul 2016 15:56:37
Totally agree D Wolf89.
There seems to be a split / evolution happening in Chinese society, between their old world that is in the hands of tradition and Communism, and a new modern Corporate China leading them all into the future, based on enterprising community (a cross between competition and communism) . The Wolf has become the modern Chinese mystical symbol for that, it literally means enterprising, competing and winning, but as a team and for the sake of the community. Apparently it's become a really big, very cool thing in China, they've had a whole culture of "wolf chic" since 2004.
And apparently those modern Corporate Chinese types and their section of society are big into conspicuous consumption, that is displaying their wealth and power, and gold has become synonymous with that. So the wolf is perfect, the colour gold is perfect (both in it's original mystical context but also modern status context) .
Then there's the hexagon border to the wolf head, and hexagon apparently symbolises completeness, 6 plains, 4 compass points + heaven and earth, or light and dark etc. Personally although I like the hexagon and think it's good on Academy stuff, I'd prefer a traditional shield on the playing shirt to demonstrate heritage. But I think the Chinese will like the Hexagon and probably keep it, it even maybe fits with Out of Darkness Cometh Light for them.
I think they'll bin Moneyshop eventually (maybe not this season as too much hassle replacing shirts but will next) , as it undermines the rest of their identity, and it has no relevance in China, their home market, or Europe, their prospective one.
So apart from sponsor, I don't believe we'll have any changes to identity at all - and that's why this is so perfect and is happening, our natural identity (and our club, town, and regions heritage) perfectly fit what they want / need, it's why they're doing this, we won't be a construct, we will be really real as ourselves, and 'real' identity is what can move mountains in markets and is worth the really big money.
Also, as the home of Industrial Revolution, with out of Darkness Cometh Light motto etc, we link perfectly to the IT revolution (Robin Li's business) , the whole thing is just a perfect marriage, and it could well mean Wolverhampton City and region, not just football club, has a really bright future. We could end up regenerated as an IT centre of excellence, which would be ace for the young people and their futures.
Only thing I wouldn't guess about is Molineux, though I see no good reason to move, their target market (for their businesses and status etc, that they are buying Wolves to be a vehicle for) must be Europe and China, so no point developing a huge new ground for a local physical audience that won't represent most of their opportunity. Molineux is heritage and in a modern world of false constructs, it becomes increasingly valuable, like Old Trafford has. If I was them, I'd keep Molineux, develop it as big as possible and develop park and ride sites to it locally and in Shrops and Staffs to fix parking, and instead focus more on remote support and virtual audiences, but who knows what they'll do with that.
I suspect our relationship will end up very similar to Man City's with their owners. We'll still have stuff to complain about, but it will be crumbs in a World where they've done us so much good and made things so right, it won't matter.
10 Jul 2016 16:14:50
I still cannot believe this is happening to Wolves and I won't until it's confirmed by the club.
10 Jul 2016 16:53:27
Ulf - Good post, decent insight in what our world could look like. We will need patience and very strong leadership on and off the park. Plenty of clubs have thrown money at it and failed miserably. Hopefully the new coach is a strong character, will play an entertaining game and ensure he has a strong team ethic and not a bunch of individuals.
10 Jul 2016 17:29:30
I'm going to guess early days, we'll be like Watford when they went for promotion and now building in Prem, with players loaned from their Euro partner club, but maybe a bit more flash.
I get the impression Robin Li is super professional and smooth, his target Manager looks like he is too, and we have so much more heritage and depth than Watford. I think it could take a few years to get ourselves up and established, as you say money isn't the only factor and things need to be done to good effect - but to me this looks so right as a picture, like a real animal naturally doing rather than a construct / piece of architecture trying, in the long run it will be an irresistible force.
The new manager is especially exciting - the fact he's been so involved in development suggests our Academy will still have an importance place and that we mean to grow success intelligently rather than just trying to buy it.
10 Jul 2016 19:12:56
Good post ulf, concerning club identity not being messed about with.
10 Jul 2016 19:21:42
Brilliant post ulf, glad I'm not the only one looking into Chinese culture and beliefs haha. research on robin li suggests he's a perfect fit to give wolves fc great status, will not settle for half a job, pushes all employees to better themselves and push the business strongly forward, as a man speaks fluent english, has an infectious positive attitude very likeable, could be a great leader for all involved at the club. his company Baidu already has a paw like symbol within its logo (actually a hand on a computer mouse) but I feel would fit perfectly as our main shirt sponsor and li would benefit from it globally also believe he might turn the corner TVs back on for advertising space or personal gain seems a no brainer to me!
10 Jul 2016 20:24:15
Excellent info D Wolf89, I hadn't looked into Baidu. It just gets better, the more insight you get the more it makes sense and in the most positive possible way. And with it being IT, we birthed the modern world with the Industrial Revolution, then it moved on and abandoned us. This is the modern World and future coming home, hopefully for the whole town :-)
Funniest insight about this I've seen is on the official West Brom forum, their thread Dingle Watch, 241 pages dedicated to all things Wolves, but last load of pages dedicated to this and why. They can't understand why us and not them, they can't see the difference between us, our wolf symbolising enterpise, team spirit, and winning, and their thrush, a metaphor for a private lady fungus :-P.
11 Jul 2016 08:37:12
Ulf - your post at 10 Jul 2016 15:56:37 was very enlightening. I imagine a lot of thought went into that. Not that I have any doubts about your post, but I hope you are right in all you say as it promotes great reasons for optimism. I shall now return to biting my nails up to my armpits as I await confirmation that the deal has gone through.
11 Jul 2016 11:13:58
I'm part Roma Gypsy (English heritage though) , my great grandmother was a proper witch lol. I've never tried to divine anything but $$$$ happens, I made a career in marketing out of 'guessing'/ 'knowing'. Since January, my head has been certain that we'd either disappear down a bottomless pit of $$$$ with no future, or we'd be delivered into a fantastic future based on our real identity and heritage, and that whichever way we went, our path was going to be determined imminently.
When Moneyshop came along I thought that was the bottomless pit of $$$$ happening and panicked, but Robin Li has now come along to pluck us from it. And he 100% exactly fits the good feeling I had about an ace modern future based on our identity. Everything I google turns up odd things that just fits into it more.
Logically I want to be cautious, think Robin Li might not buy, or I want to choose to believe if he does it will take us years to get anywhere and even then while it will be good and it won't be stella, just better than where we are. But that isn't the 'feeling' I have, the feeling I have (from same place that seemed to know this could happen) , is this is going to be brilliant. At the very least, definitely, we have loads to believe in and support again :-)