"A football club requires constant feeding. It's a perpetual thing. Profit shouldn't be a dirty word. We need to make a profit because we also want to continue to invest in new players."

The club's Financial Controller Rita Purewal was complimented by John Pike on her presentation of a report showing that the pre-tax profit for the year up to May 31 last year compared with a £4.9m loss 12 months earlier.

Turnover for the period (Wolves' first year back in the Premier League) was £60.6m - an increase more than three-fold on what the club showed in their 2008-09 Championship-winning campaign. In answer to a question from Mike Taylor, Rita said the turnaround was largely down to Premier League deals, in particular the new TV agreement.

Crowds had also gone up from an average of 24,153 to 28,366, she said, although Jez pointed out that the increase in gate receipts revenue was small. And he said that attendances were down about a thousand this season. Parliament Chairman Matt Grayson pointed to the deal with main club sponsors sportingbet as being another important contributory factor on the balance sheet.