Finance Guru slams West Brom lack of communication as Shareholders For Albion get cold shoulder
We’re delighted to welcome football finance expert Dr Daniel Plumley as our exclusive West Brom columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns...
Dan Plumley is unimpressed by West Brom’s failure to address concerns from a group of minority shareholders, who’ve seen a list of questions to the board completely ignored.
The Athletic reported on 12 September that Shareholders For Albion, a group made of up 430 supporters who collectively own a 12 per cent share of West Brom, sent questions to the board relating to the governance almost eight weeks ago.
At the time that was reported, S4A hadn’t received a response.
S4A’s questions ranged from asking about the 2020/21 accounts, Guochuan Lai’s loans or whether former owner Jeremy Peace is still in some way involved with the club.
Ron Gourlay was hired as the Baggies’ new CEO earlier this year and upon his arrival he preached about how he’d improve communication between the club and the fans.
Speaking to the Albion Assembly in August – after those S4A questions had been submitted – he “reaffirmed his commitment to greater communication with the fanbase”.
Plumley is unimpressed by the failure to respond to S4A.
“It’s another little thing that you put into a pot of other things going on and the end result is then that greater scrutiny then follows because you’ve got the whole thing about the owners, the loans that were taken out and the financial situation,” Plumley told West Brom News.
“On the pitch, they haven’t hit the heights either. All of that is compounded.
“But a question for me of governance is always if you do have a stake at the shareholder level, then that suggests you’ve got a voice that should be heard.
“If you’re invested in that at a financial level as well then you would suggest that line of communication should be better than it is at the minute.
“You can understand the frustration of the supporters’ group there for sure and yes, as I said, with that club, it’s just another thing that stacks up.
“It’s getting the backs up of the fans and it goes all the way up to the top.
“It’s the owners and the governance. That’s the challenge for West Brom at the minute.”
It’s not the first time S4A have been ignored by West Brom.
In November 2020, Adrian Goldberg reported how a legal letter was sent to S4A for trying to hand deliver a letter to former CEO Xu Ke to ask for an informal meeting after previous requests weren’t responded to.
In other West Brom news, Albion are struggling to sell tickets for a match this weekend with fewer than 10,000 sold.