Jez Moxey opens up to Martin Swain on Wolves

Wolves are suddenly staring into the abyss of a second successive relegation at the back end of a season which was supposed to relaunch the club into a bold new era.

Moxey acknowledges the peril and admits behind closed doors, voices are being raised and arguments breaking out.

But he is equally adamant the club will not throw good money after the costs of a wretched year in the story of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

That means no change to the club's determination to remain self sufficient, spend what it earns while financing its major development programme.

And, most controversially, no panicky investment in a squad manager Dean Saunders believes to be good enough to fight its way clear of the unthinkable.

Saunders had the chance to do some business during January but in the end decided against it – this despite the club cutting free from his numbers Ronald Zubar, Steven Mouyokolo, Frank Nouble and Richard Stearman.

The supporters screamed "madness" but at Molineux, Moxey backed the sanity and even admired the courage of the manager.

He today dismisses any suggestion the lack of transfer business was triggered by anything other than footballing considerations.

"I would like the fans to try to understand the difficulty of the process of trying to build and find better players and how it is masked by activities of clubs who are financially irresponsible or some who have so much money, especially in the Premier League, to buy players," he said.

"All of that leaves our fans wondering 'Why can't we find that player?' Well do you know what? Because we can't afford £15m and £150 grand a week, that's why.

"We are searching for players who will improve the team and fit into our dressing room protocols.

"We tried to make signings but players coming out of contract were asking for ridiculous money. Clubs were asking money we were not prepared to pay for others.

"And regardless of who was manager, there was already a clearly-defined plan in January to cut away the driftwood. The people not contributing.

"We actually wanted to reduce the squad by more than we did. Too many players just doesn't help the morale, their own self esteem..

"You end up with training sessions where the manager is working with 22 players and there's another eight or nine on the sidelines. That's not conducive to creating the best atmosphere.

"Dean is five minutes into the job, desperate to make a difference, to make an impact and he wasn't sure about the players we might sign. I think it was admirable of him to say 'I won't do it.'

"We could have sold Sylvan Ebanks-Blake for a huge amount. We would have been getting rid of our best goalscorer, a double Golden Boot winner and while we could have got someone else, would he really have been better?

"Sylvan has six months left on his contract; he can walk away for nothing in the summer. That's a major financial gamble by the club.

"But Dean didn't think he could get better – the decision to keep him was made from purely a footballing point of view."

Nevertheless, the lack of spending has aggravated still further the unrest within the fan base so much so that chairman Steve Morgan now finds himself accused in some quarters of using his ownership of Wolves as little more than a vehicle to feather the nest of his building empire.

This refers to the ambitious development programmes both at the Compton training ground and Molineux itself; at the former, his Redrow group are building homes but Moxey dismisses those questioning Morgan's intentions and motives.

"Redrow has no bearing on Wolves. Zip. Zero. There is no financial inter-dependancy at all," he said.

"This is just nonsense. Steve Morgan goes to the club shop each Christmas and buys his son his presents paying the same full retail amount as every other supporter. He has not taken a penny out of the club.

"The Compton project? Redrow are building 54 houses, 20 to begin with because they are not sure whether the market is there to sell more.

"That is like a handful of sand on the beach of Redrow's building interests around the country. They are actually taking a big risk at Compton, it's not even certain they will make a profit.

"But it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to benefit the club, the city, the school the university and it needed someone like Steve to have the balls to go for it.

"I honestly believe that it will go down as one of the best things we ever do in this era. That's how important it is.

"We will finish up with a training ground that will be the equal of any and will enable us to attract young players for the next 30 years.

"It will be better than most Premier League clubs, not as big as some perhaps, but better . . . to think that Steve Morgan is in some way profiteering out of all this is ridiculous.

"As for the fans singing 'where's the money gone?' – it's out there on the pitch. I am not sure the fans truly appreciate the costs...we will clearly have difficulties from a trading point of view and lose money on this season.

"Don't misunderstand – we are in a good position overall. But the drop in revenue, including the parachute payments, is nowhere near enough to cover our expenses."

Neither, Moxey insists, are Wolves sleep-walking to the fate that dare not speak its name – relegation to League One.

He said: "There are serious tensions within the club with how to manage our predicament.

"We had a chat the other day when he reminded me 'Jez, I'm a professional housebuilder, you're the chief executive, I've got a manager, it's up to you guys to advise me!'

"And he's right. It's not a cosy club. When the door shuts on our meetings there are raised voices and arguments, disagreements. And it's good to have these discussions, healthy.

"When we go back outside, we maintain unity and our professionalism and do the job as best we can.

"Do I feel under pressure? Who says I'm not? But no-one puts more pressure on me than myself.

"People want scapegoats, someone to blame and if that's me, fine. I'll take it. Of course we accept that there have been mistakes made. It's not an easy thing to get right.

"We were hoping for a bright, fresh new era under Stale Solbakken, people had got tired of the previous regime.

"Stale was an outstanding man and we were absolutely convinced he would do a super job, but it just didn't transfer on to the field of play.

"We had to make a change. Now we're fighting for our lives right now and our fans have got to expect to see our players give everything they have over the final 16 games.