Quiet and studious: Jeff Shi's passion burns for Wolves

Compared to the fiery, outgoing and melodramatic emotions frequently displayed by the man Shi appointed as his head coach, Walter Zenga, it's a different kind of passion.

He's understated, methodical and analytical.

But Shi's thirst for success and glory at Wolverhampton Wanderers is clear. He wants to take the club to unheralded heights and, backed by Fosun's millions, he sees no reason why it can't happen.

Every aspect of the club is being studied and scrutinised to discover where improvements can be made.

The team, the staff, the stadium, the training ground, the academy, the pitch...you wouldn't be surprised to hear if a study had been undertaken on the best brand of tea to be served by the tea-lady.

For the here and now, though, the focus is on the first team – and on getting to the Premier League.

Without that top-flight football, Shi's plans will remain on the drawing board.

"The most important thing is still about the team," he told the Express & Star's Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers during a visit to our Queen Street headquarters.

"We have to improve our performance step by step, be more stabilised, and win games.

"It will take two or three months to make the team more mature and prepare for the second half of the season.

"I hope by Christmas we are in and around the play-offs and also the team is ready to catch up with other teams and run as fast as we can."

Shi sanctioned 12 summer signings, who will take time to bed in. Shi knows the way the new players are moulded into the team will be crucial to Wolves' hopes of success this season.

He added: "Most of our new signings are not fit, for example Helder Costa, Cavaleiro, Saiss, Prince, Ola John...they're not fit and haven't had a full pre-season.

"For all the players we have to inspire them to play hard.

Shi revealed he wanted to get the deal to buy the club done earlier, but with ratification needed from the EFL it wasn't completed until July 21.

He said of the last few months: "It's not been so easy – we took over the club too late at the end of July, so we have no pre-season.

"We had to buy a lot of players in a short amount of time, and appoint a new coach, so it's not so easy.

"In May or June, before we took over, I thought we have a high possibility to get promoted, but because we had to go through a lot of process with the Football League it was too late.

"It's a very tough challenge but the good thing is we got through it and it was a very successful job from Kevin (Thelwell) and the team.

"It's a good team but you have to find some balance between the old and new players.

"I think Walter did quite a good job to inspire the older players to show they can play very well.

"We have good results in August but in early September we had some bad games. I think it's because when you try to insert some new players into the old squad they need time to find the chemistry and need to adapt to each other. It's not easy.

"Depending fully on the old squad we can play well, but when you try to put one, two or three players into the old squad some problems will happen.

"After that I think Walter did a quite good job to mix the team together very soon. Now I think the team is stabilised, the starting XI, or 18 players, are very strong."

Julen Lopetegui was Fosun's first choice to be boss, but when he turned them down to take the Spain job, Shi turned to Zenga.

And the Wolves director is pleased with the start the Italian has made to life at Molineux.

"There is no perfect coach. Walter is very passionate, he's working very hard and also he travelled around the world so he knew how to adapt to a new environment.

"The UK is new to him but it's a very mature and developed country so compared with Romania, the Middle East, it's a very good place. I think it's not so hard for him to settle here and also, so many Italian coaches have had a very good career in the UK.

"There's something maybe secret but very important to be successful here.

"Up to now he's done quite a good job and I'm satisfied.

"The connection between the coach and the fans is very important for the modern coach.

"They should coach the team, but in the meantime have a very good public image to face the fans.

"Walter is quite good at that – he shows the passion to the fans and they love him.

"They also write a song for him! In this area he did something out of my expectation. I'm very pleased with my (backroom) team. Most of the staff stayed with the club so it was a minimum loss for the team. The English team members have helped a lot – helped me and Walter, Andrea (Butti), Stefano (Cusin).

"It's still an English club so we needed local staff to help us adapt to the new environment, for things about the weather, the pitch, the opponents, they've done a good job."

It's been a positive first two months for Shi and Fosun. You get the impression under Shi's watch that positivity will only continue.