Wolves: Jeff Shea leaves the Premier League basement club after stepping down

Outgoing chief executive Shea has been a target of dissatisfied Wolves fans, with critics viewing him as overseeing the club’s managed decline under Fosun.

They have been the target of fans’ wrath for months, with long-term frustrations mounting now as Wolves – 14 points off 17th – look to claw their way back into the Championship.

Wolves host Brentford on Saturday looking to avoid equaling the Premier League’s worst winless opening run.

If they fail to beat the Bees at Molineux, they will equal the longest winless start to a Premier League season of 17 matches – set by Sheffield United in 2020-21.

Under the departing Shea, Wolves won promotion from the Championship in 2018 with Nuno Espirito Santo in charge before two consecutive seventh-place finishes in the Championship.

They also reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League in 2020 and the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 2019.

Speaking last week, Jeff Shi said he understood the fans’ frustration, as several thousand boycotted the first 15 minutes of the 4-1 defeat to Manchester United on December 8.

“It’s a very natural feeling from the fans,” he said. “Five or six years ago we were at our highest level, in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the quarter-finals in Europe.

“When you reach these heights, the fans don’t want to give it up. I feel it myself. When you lose something like this, it’s a huge blow – that’s why I feel sympathy.

“I’m not just a fan, I’m the CEO and chairman of the club. I have to think about how to judge the last decade in a more realistic way and think about the next 10 years.”

Shea spoke to BBC WM last week, alongside manager Matt Jackson, and the pair suggested that Wolves had bungled the transfer window in the summer.

“We probably sold too many players in one window,” Jeff Shea said. “You can see the team and compare it to last season, we probably changed 40 or 50% of the starting players.

He added: “It is the task of rebuilding the team, but the English Premier League is very difficult. If you cannot control the team’s rhythm and need longer to rebuild the team, the matches will punish you.”