Molineux at risk during Steve Morgan's Wolves reign
Molineux was at risk of closure and the ‘life of the club’ was threatened during Steve Morgan’s reign, the former Wolves owner has revealed.
Morgan sold Wolves to Chinese conglomerate Fosun for £30million last year having run the club for nine years.
The stadium’s future is now secured on a 999-year lease – which made the club a more attractive acquisition for Fosun – but Morgan has admitted for the first time that Wolves could have left Molineux.
Showdown talks were held with Wolverhampton City Council before that long-term lease agreement was made in 2010.
Speaking at a business breakfast at The Way Youth Zone yesterday, Morgan said: “We had to tell (the council) we might have to move from Molineux in a meeting behind closed doors. We said they had to start supporting us.
“There was a lot of hard work to stabilise the property situation. There was even the risk of having to pull down Molineux through the issues around a short lease coming to an end.
“We didn’t have a car park for away fans and there were a lot of behind the scenes issues that the fans were not aware of that threatened the life of the club.”
At the time the club asked the council for the freehold of the land at Molineux to progress plans to expand the stadium.
The council did not want to grant the freehold in order to ensure there must always be a football pitch at Molineux.
Wolves’ expansion plans were revealed shortly afterwards and Morgan spent £18m rebuilding the Stan Cullis stand – although the rest of the ground’s redevelopment remains on hold with the club having since been relegated from the Premier League.
Morgan announced he was putting the club up for sale in 2015 – just 48 hours after a heated altercation with supporters.
He defended his nine-year record.
“Everyone forgets that in the last 30 years the club was only in the Premier League for four seasons – three under me,” he said.
“It was not as bad as some people would have it.
“We put investment in the ground and it has one of the finest academies in the country now.
“I am proud to see youngsters making their debuts that were taken on during my era. We put millions into the academy.”
Morgan added there was a lot done behind the scenes that fans did not know about.
