Wolves takeover: Sale is boost to the game, says club legend John Richards
Wolves legend John Richards believes the club's sale is a huge boost for football in the Black Country – but said fans should be cautious about expecting immediate success.
While he welcomed the £30 million takeover by the Shanghai-based Fosun International group, he said only time would tell what impact it would have.
The former striker, who scored 194 goals for Wolves, said: "These are interesting and exciting times.
"From a Wolves point of view, the club has been down in the doldrums for 30-odd years really and in the West Midlands as a whole things have been a bit down recently.
"Nowadays you have got to have money to be able to compete. Having said that, money is not always the answer. Sometimes it is the root of all evil.
"You have got clubs like Liverpool who have had loads of money for some time but they have never won the Premier League.
"So you have got to be a bit cautious. This won't happen overnight." Richards said it would be important to sign new players who want to play for Wolves for the right reasons, and not just for a big wage packet.
Having won two league cups with the club, he later served as managing director in the 1990s, carrying out many of the duties later taken on by outgoing chief executive, Jez Moxey.
Mr Richards said it would have been a tough decision for Mr Moxey to quit, but that he must have felt the time was right.
He added: "The new owners obviously wanted a fresh start or they would have looked to keep the same hierarchy.
"Sometimes change is good and it is good to have fresh ideas in all departments.
"It will have been tough for Jez but he has said 'yes, the time is right.'"
Richards was speaking at the opening of the revamped Merry Boys pub in Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton.
