Wolves' best hope of buyer 'may be in Far East' - top London lawyer

Wolves' next owner could come from the Far East, after the club was put up for sale by Steve Morgan, according to a top London corporate lawyer.

Morgan bought the club for £10 from Sir Jack Hayward eight years ago after promising to invest £30m but he now wants to sell up.

Corporate lawyer Dean Poster, of London firm Mishcon de Reya, says selling a Championship club may not be easy, and that their best hope of finding a buyer may be in the Far East.

"It's difficult to say but we at Mischon often get overseas buyers interested - a lot of Malaysian and Asian buyers," he told Sky Sports News HQ.

"West Brom and Aston Villa are apparently on the block, but they would be much more expensive.

"So if you had someone like a Vincent Tan [Cardiff City owner] who wants to come to the English market who is looking at the potential [of playing] in the Premier League…they could be ready for it.

"It's a very different rule for the Championship as opposed to the Premier League. In the Premier League average revenues are £160m. In the Championship it's around £20m, and [clubs] assumed losses of around £6m on average per year. So it's a very different game from the Premier League to the Championship.

"I'm not quite sure how easy it's going to be. It was announced last night [Monday] that Steve Morgan would stand down as chairman and owner but would carry on committing funds to the club and we're not quite sure what that means.

"You need to look where Wolves have come from. Sir Jack Hayward had that club for 17 years and invested £70m which he wrote off when he sold to Steve Morgan eight years ago. It's been a rough ride as we know. They came to the Premier League, and they dropped down to the Championship, down to League One and then back where they were to begin with.

"They made significant investment in the academy - it's a Tier 1 academy. And in the training ground. And in the properties around that. I can't say how much it's worth, but it's an interesting club and it is well supported."

Poster thinks that the club's fame will be its main selling point.

"It's history. It had won the top league in the 1950s, it has a fantastic fan-base and it's a very well structured club," he said. "Some people would say it's a trophy buy but there is a long way to go to get into the Premier League as we know."

Poster believes it is unlikely that a supporters consortium will be able to put together a bid for the Molineux club.

"That's very difficult for a couple of reasons," he said. "I was lucky enough to act on the Leeds purchase for Massimo Cellino last year. Before that there were a number of consortiums who got together with the fans to put the cash together.

"But the Football League have very stringent rules. They need to know there is a business plan prepared by a firm of accountants. They need to know that the club can fund its future and continue growth depending on where it may end up. It's difficult for a consortium to have those funds available."