Wolves' Billionaire Owners Insist Club Will Be Bigger Than Manchester City
Wolves have already impressed under their billionaire owners, but now executive chairman Jeff Shi is claiming he wants to turn the west Midlands club into the largest in the world.
The Chinese businessman heads the Fosun Group's investment in the football club and told the Daily Mailthat the size of Wolverhampton will have no impact on turning the city's team into one of the world's elite.
Having been born and raised in Shanghai, a city of 24m people, Shi was keen to point out that cities like Manchester have produced top clubs despite relatively limited populations in comparison.
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He said: "If you are comparing Manchester to the cities in China, it is very small city to us. But they have two top football clubs."
There are in fact 40 cities in China that have populations larger than the entire Greater Manchester.
Shi explined: "If your goal is to have a global club, your fans will be around the world. In Wolverhampton maybe the population isn't so high and for every game 50,000 or 45,000 is the max: it's no problem for us. Because you want an international club and fans in the US, in Canada, in China, in Europe.
"Football doesn't need a very big metropolitan [area]. It's more about the people and their love and passion. That I can feel here. And for that reason, I like Wolverhampton very much."
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Wolves stunned the Championship last season when they appointed Nuno Espirito Santo and brought high-profile names like Ruben Neves to the English second division, and since earning promotion have looked more than comfortable in the Premier League too.
There is a clear suggestion that Molineux will be a Premier League stadium for seasons to come, and with the levels of investment and ambition from the new owners every real possibility of Wolves becoming an English powerhouse in the near future.
Manchester City achieved it in relatively few years after their own billionaire owners arrived at the club.
