Wolves chairman Jeff Shi has come under fire from the fanbase in recent years for making some controversial decisions.
Jeff Shi angered Wolves fans in the summer after he claimed the club were never close to breaching PSR and was instead penny-pinching.
Last season, Shi also made a bold Gary O’Neil statement, as he claimed the Englishman’s squad was better than what the Old Gold had during Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign.
Considering the drop off down the Premier League table, supporters were in disbelief at what they were hearing, as O’Neil would have loved Nuno’s squad, particularly in their current situation.
It’s fair to say that Shi isn’t the most popular figure at Molineux however, he’s offered insight into his time at the club, including his ‘most shocking’ moment.
Jeff Shi describes Raul Jimenez injury as ‘most shocking’ moment as chairman
Discussing the period when Nuno managed the club, one incident left the Wolves chairman stunned, and that was Raul Jimenez’s head injury against Arsenal in November 2020.
The Mexican striker fractured his skull and it left him out of action for eight months. Adama Traore described Jimenez’s injury as ‘agonising’, while Shi says it’s his ‘most shocking’ moment as chairman.
In his latest column for the E&S, Shi wrote: “November 2020, the night of Raul Jimenez’s injury at Arsenal, remains one of the most shocking moments I’ve experienced as Wolves chairman.
“It wasn’t just devastating for Raul but marked a turning point for the club. That night, I understood that some challenges are beyond control, no matter how hard we work. It became clear that it was the end of our first rising cycle and the start of a new chapter of rebuilding.”
Jimenez brought the whole footballing world to a halt when he passed out on the pitch at the Emirates, with many feeling he wouldn’t survive.
Luckily, the 33-year-old pulled through, returned to action for Wolves and then joined Fulham in 2023 alongside Traore.
When Jeff Shi thought Fabio Silva could replace Jimenez
A couple of months before Jimenez suffered his injury against Arsenal, Shi thought he’d unearthed the Mexican’s future successor after completing the club-record signing of Fabio Silva for £35 million.
It was a capture that excited supporters at the time but they’ve been left completely underwhelmed by how it’s turned out.
From arriving as a promising young talent with huge potential, Silva will go down as one of Wolves biggest ever flops.
The 22-year-old has scored just five goals in 72 appearances, and such a measly return makes Shi’s previous comments on the Portuguese striker look laughable.
Speaking after he signed in 2020, Shi called Silva a ‘very exciting’ player: “Fabio is a young player who shows not only incredible technical ability, but also his game intelligence for a player of his age is top class.
“Fabio has the potential to be a generational talent and for us to see him develop under Nuno is very exciting. He is the type of player our fans will love.”
Although Silva is currently starring on loan at Las Palmas with five goals in 12 games, as far as his Wolves career goes, Shi’s comments have aged like milk.