John Ruddy: Wolves can be a Euro force

Chairman Jeff Shi recently outlined the club’s dream to become a top-six Premier League team and expand Molineux to 50,000 seats.

Shot-stopper Ruddy says he’s excited about the club’s future, both in the short and long term.

“It’s exciting and it’s the reason I joined the club in the summer,” Ruddy said. “The way they set out what they’re trying to achieve in the short term was exciting enough but going forward in the long term as Wolves player at the moment it’s really good.

“The fans are looking from the outside and know these plans are in place now, to know what would come if the short-term plans were executed.

“And in 10 or 15 years’ time this could be a massive force within European football.

“I said it when I joined – the owners have bought this club with a view to long term success.

“It’s not a money making thing for them, they’re not going to get in and get out as soon as they make the money back. I do think they’re in for the long haul and that can only be positive for Wolverhampton Wanderers as a football club and Wolverhampton as a city.”

Shi relocated full time to Molineux last summer and regularly in dialogue with both boss Nuno Espirito Santo and the players.

Ruddy added: “Jeff’s here every day, he’s out on the training pitch every day monitoring what we’re doing.

“He’s very hands-on and the refreshing thing is he’s fairly knowledgeable about football as well which is really important in this day and age.

“When you get people coming in and buying a football club as a business and wondering why they’re not making money from it, Jeff understands that football is a load of different ingredients put together to then reach the goal. If they make money from it then the success follows. Success follows money and money follows success.

“With the ambitions they’ve got and the infrastructure already at the club there’s exciting times ahead I’m sure.”