There are almost three weeks to go until the start of the January transfer window, but Wolverhampton Wanderers already find themselves in an invidious position.
Stick or twist? It is normally an easy question to answer for clubs trapped in the Premier League’s bottom three when the chance to change their squad arrives in the middle of the season.
Spending money and making some signings is, in most cases, a no-brainer given the financial blow of slipping out of the top division.
Yet based on their current trajectory, Wolves stand to be in such a dreadful predicament when the window opens for business that the decision for chairman Jeff Shi and the paymasters at Fosun, Wolves’ Chinese owners.
Wolves’ haul of just two points is the joint-lowest tally after 15 games in the history of England’s top four tiers, level with Sheffield United in the Premier League in 2020-21, Southport in 1975-76 and Barrow and Newport County in 1970-71, all in the Fourth Division.
So while Shi, head coach Rob Edwards and the rest of the Molineux hierarchy cannot admit it, they must now know that they are heading for relegation, given that no club has ever survived from such a perilous position.
Chairman Jeff Shi is in a tricky spot (Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
So then comes the thorny question. Do they spend January in the hope of making this season a little more palatable for their furious supporters, or would doing so amount to throwing money pointlessly at a lost cause?
“It could be difficult,” admitted Edwards in his post-match press conference following Monday’s 4-1 home defeat by Manchester United.
“But we’ll still need to do stuff, so we’ll see what situation we’re in. We’ve got some really difficult games coming up as well, so my focus just has to be back on that.
“If we could pick up some points and get ourselves a couple of games away (from the safety line) then that might give us a little bit of hope with what we could do.
“But we need to do some work either way.”
As Edwards touches on, it is inconceivable that Wolves will not try to do business in the window, if only to add two or three players who have not been ground down by the dismal start to this campaign and, in some cases, the multiple difficult spells during the last one too.
But in financial terms, there is a logical case to be made that Wolves should keep spending to a minimum rather than committing funds to improve a team that looks beyond salvaging.
What would be the point of investing cash in a hopeless cause this season when it could be used instead to ensure Wolves are stable next summer and able to attack the Championship with a degree of ambition?
Speaking at a recent fan advisory board meeting, Shi said Wolves are moving away from what they call coach-led recruitment of the last 10 years, to club-led recruitment under Edwards and beyond, with Edwards one voice in a broader structure, designed to make things more consistent regardless of who the head coach is. Shi also insisted the club would remain financially stable if relegated.
But the decisions might not end there. Depending on what course the window takes, there might be some even bigger, potentially divisive calls to be made.
What if, for example, a bigger club tests Wolves’ resolve in January with big-money offers for Andre, Joao Gomes or Jorgen Strand Larsen who, despite the latter’s poor form so far this season, remain Wolves’ three most lucrative assets?
Joao Gomes is among Wolves’ saleable assets (David Rogers/Getty Images)
Do Wolves have to keep hold of their most likely remaining Premier League match-winners to ensure an already-dreadful squad is not weakened even further, or should they cut their losses, accept that the current campaign is effectively over and sell while their market values remain relatively high compared to what they might become in a post-relegation fire-sale?
In truth, the financial decision seems fairly straightforward, but the balance sheet cannot be the only consideration when Wolves decide on their January plans.
Fans are angry enough watching their side capitulate to relegation just a few years after they were playing in an FA Cup semi-final and a European quarter-final and finishing seventh in the Premier League.
Imagine their fury if, having paid hundreds of pounds for season tickets and more on shirts and other merchandise, they see their club actively writing off the second half of the season instead of trying to make it more honourable and bearable than the first.
And what of Edwards? The former Wolves defender and coach left a promising start to the season at Middlesbrough to return to Molineux on the understanding that Wolves saw him as their long-term head coach.
The plan is for Edwards to lead his side into next season even if he could not turn this one around.
Yet if his side go down with a whimper, with the end of the campaign as grim as the start, then even that proposition might turn out to be impossible to follow through on.
So with the window approaching fast, Wolves appear destined to begin it between a rock and a hard place.
Write off this season to get a head-start on the next one but risk enraging paying supporters and hamstringing Edwards, or save face and appease supporters by giving Edwards a fighting chance but potentially make next summer even harder than it already looks?
It is a big question with no real palatable answer.
