Exclusive: Kevin Phillips warns West Brom about potential financial risk
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips has warned that if West Brom decide to expand The Hawthorns, they could be taking a very big financial risk.
Last week, Phillips told West Brom News that the club could make their stadium bigger by redeveloping the Halfords Lane stand so that is has an extra tier.
During Jeremy Peace’s time in the Baggies boardroom, there were tentative plans to expand the capacity of The Hawthorns before the plug was pulled.
Chief executive Mark Jenkins has spoken this year about the capacity, saying that it would only be made bigger if there is sufficient demand for tickets.
Since relegation in 2018, The Hawthorns has been more full than what it was during the last couple of seasons in the Premier League.
However Phillips has made it clear that if West Brom plough millions into building up Halfords Lane then they need to rely on results on the pitch to be able to fill it.
“When asked if it could be a financial risk, Phillips told West Brom News: “Yeah, it is. In my time there for two seasons, the ground was packed all the time.
“When you’re winning football matches, your ground is full. Your only concern would be if you’re not winning football matches and you’ve built an extra tier and you’re not filling it, it could hit you financially.”
West Brom definitely have the fanbase to raise the capacity of The Hawthorns to at least 30,000 – but are those fans going to turn up?
The club has the issue of being smack bang in between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, meaning they have a lot of rivals surrounding them.
Being in the Premier League for almost a decade will have helped boost fan numbers but as long as the club is stuck in the Championship, people can forget about The Hawthorns getting any bigger than it is.
In other West Brom news, Albion have been linked with a Croatian centre-back who Bilic handed his international debut.