Salt in the wounds for Wolves fans as accounts show Jeff Shi received 22% pay rise

Add as preferred source on Google

Wolves’ released their 2024/25 accounts earlier this week, and they revealed a reported pay rise for former chairman Jeff Shi.

As Championship football next season beckons, fans have been reflecting where it all went wrong for the old gold.

Ultimately, too many poor decisions were made at the top, with recruitment and the transfer MO being colossal factors behind the club’s demise.

Wolves played with fire for years, selling off top stars and bringing in unproven players with high ceilings.

Last summer, Wolves pushed it too far and Vitor Pereira was simply not a good enough coach to make up for the shortcomings of his squad.

Behind everything, of course, was Jeff Shi, who signed off on all the big decisions during his time as executive chairman before he left his role in December.

Wolves’ latest accounts show he actually got a pay rise in 2024/25, and that really is difficult to stomach.

• READ MORE: Nathan Shi a far cry from Jeff Shi as behind-the-scenes trait at Wolves is praised

Jeff Shi shown to have had pay rise in Wolves’ latest accounts

Wolves’ 2024/25 accounts showed that the club’s top director was paid £688,000, which was up from £564,000 the year before – a 22% rise.

Said director isn’t actually named, but the E&S report that this individual was Shi.

And over the same period, Wolves saw their revenue fall from £177.7 million to £172 million.

The E&S add: “The fee increase figure represents Shi’s remuneration for his role, which totals his salary and any benefits and expenses.

“In 2022/23, Shi’s income decreased to £588,000 from £612,000 the year before, but it rose again in the latest accounts.

“His wages for the current season are not publicly available yet and are unlikely to be disclosed before the next set of accounts are released next year.”

Shi receiving a pay rise of £124,000 is something many Wolves fans will have a real issue with, given the club’s slide on his watch.

The argument for many will be that Shi failed in his duties as chairman, which were to make decisions to improve the club.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
15	LeedsLeeds	31	7	12	12	37	48	-11	33
16	Nottingham ForestNottingham Forest	31	8	8	15	31	43	-12	32
17	TottenhamTottenham	31	7	9	15	40	50	-10	30
18	West HamWest Ham	31	7	8	16	36	57	-21	29
19	BurnleyBurnley	31	4	8	19	33	61	-28	20
20	WolvesWolves	31	3	8	20	24	54	-30	17

He and Fosun did well in the early years at the club, but there can simply be no denying they failed Wolves.

Shi’s resignation in December was effectively an admission of this failure, and Wanderers are now facing relegation to the Championship as a result of many decisions he presided over.

It’s now all about the recovery for Wolves, and the road will be long and tough. But hopefully Nathan Shi – who’s said the right things so far – will prove to be a much better chairman than his predecessor.