Finance expert: ‘Reasonable chance’ West Brom will fight against extinction in 2023
Football author Martin Calladine has told West Brom fans there’s a “reasonable chance” they’ll be fighting against their club’s extinction in 2023.
It was confirmed on 31 December that controlling shareholder and chairman Guochuan Lai has missed a second deadline to repay a £4.95million loan he took out of the club in March 2021 plus £50,000 of interest.
On top of that, Lai has recently agreed a £20million loan from MSD Holdings, secured against all of West Brom’s assets.
It’s an extremely worrying time for Baggies fans, who could be in a battle to have a football team to support over the course of the next 12 months if Calladine’s correct.
Calladine, who wrote the book ‘Fit and Proper’ about football club ownership, took to Twitter on 31 December to say: “West Brom owner misses loan repayment date. Again.
“Baggies fans better gear up because there’s a reasonable chance they’re going to be fighting for their club’s life in 2023.
“The owner of West Brom borrowed nearly £5m off the club, which it increasingly looks like he can’t or won’t repay, while at the same time lining up a £20m+ loan for the club, reportedly secured on the stadium.
“Very hard not to feel a growing sense of trepidation about this.
“And with West Brom’s parachute payments ending this season, it’s a club unlikely to get promoted and with a budget deficit it’s having to plug with borrowing at commercial rates because not only can the owner not cover the shortfall, he can’t even repay what he owes the club.
“There’s a perfect financial storm about to hit West Brom.”
How has this been allowed to happen?
West Brom fans probably didn’t expect to spend New Year’s Day worrying about the very existence of their club, but here we are.
No football fan should have this worry about their club but the Premier League and EFL continue to allow these absolute leeches to penetrate the game.
It seems fairly clear what Lai is trying to do now.
Ignore all the noise coming out of the club in an official capacity because you simply do not take a £20million loan out for general day-to-day expenses when you’re in the Championship.
It feels to us as though it’s money that’s going to be injected into the squad in a last-ditch effort to win promotion to the Premier League.
Lai is playing Russian roulette with a gun with more bullets than empty chambers.
Carlos Corberan has the Baggies on a good run of form now but we’re nowhere near the top two and we won’t be anywhere near them either when the season ends.
Yes, the play-offs are achievable. But then it’s make-or-break. Three games in which the club’s very existence could be at stake.
It’s really not good the way this is going.
We wish we could brush off Calladine’s tweet as nothing more than hyperbole.
In other West Brom news, a £50million takeover approach was made to Lai at the start of the season.