West Brom CEO Ron Gourlay shares verdict on £4.95m owner loan being returned
West Brom CEO Ron Gourlay has revealed that he’s confident club owner Guochuan Lai’s £4.95 million loan will be paid back in time for the January transfer window.
Lai had taken out a £4.95m loan from Albion earlier in the year to give to Wisdom Smart Corporation Limited, a company connected to Lai.
Gourlay confessed that there “could be funds made available” for the new West Brom head coach Carlos Corberan and that he believes the loan will be paid back.
“When I took over the role, I found out at that time. It is something I have picked up I have made it clear I believe that will happen,” said Gourlay as quoted by the Express and Star.
“We have a big squad, and if he needs to make some changes then we have to support him, that could be funds made available and also with players maybe having to go.
“What I will say I have been talking to the fans and fan meetings and have met shareholders, what I wanted to do is we need to get stability. A major problem we have at this club is changing our managers too regularly.”
The loan.
When Albion published their 2020/21 accounts at the end of June it showed that controlling shareholder Lai had taken a £4.95million loan out to prop up one of his other businesses.
The money taken out was ploughed into Wisdom Smart Corporation Limited in March 2021, a company that the Chinese businessman has ties to.
Repayment of the loan was supposed to be made on 15 September last year, with a fixed interest rate of £50,000 attached to it.
The repayment was missed and a new date of 31 December 2022 was confirmed for the repayment which is creeping up.
Gourlay has claimed time and time again that he’s fully confident the loan will be repaid but his confidence must be wearing thin now.
Lai blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for the taking of the loan and suggested that the upturn in the economy will allow the Baggies to spend money in the 2023 January window.
West Brom fans will now have New Year’s Eve locked in their diaries and whether it will bring positive news or not remains to be seen.
In other West Brom news, a government official insists that the Hawthorns community application ‘is in safe hands’