Sam Stone

Tue 17 January 2023 17:08, UK

Simon Jordan has defended Guochuan Lai with the West Brom majority shareholder due to repay a £4.95million loan to the Baggies.

The Athletic reported (31 December) that Lai had missed the December 2022 deadline for the repayment to be made and that he had assured directors it will be repaid early on in the new year.

No news has since emerged on the loan being repaid which has led to growing criticism from fans and journalists.

However, Jordan has suggested the majority shareholder is well within his rights to take money out of the club.

“If I had taken some money out of a football club which I owned I would sit there and say ‘and what? It’s my bleeding football club I do as I please’,” said Jordan (talkSPORT, 17 January).

“My answer would be very simple. If I paid £200million for a football club I would do what I bleeding well please. It’s my money, who are you to say what I can and can’t do with it?”

Worrying

It seems to have gone very quiet on the loan front for the Baggies. Lai had assured fans that it would have been repaid early into the new year and we are now over halfway through January. Many had hoped that money would’ve been repaid in order for the Baggies to complete some transfer business during the window.

Things are very good for the Baggies on the pitch at the moment but there’s certainly a cloud off of it which needs rectifying sooner rather than later. There’s more and more pressure currently mounting on the players to secure an unlikely promotion.

There are financial issues at the club and promotion to the Premier League and the lucrative deals which follow would ease a lot of off-the-field problems.

The premise of what Jordan is saying is correct, but he’s out of touch with the feeling of the fans towards the current owner. Let’s hope we hear some positive news regarding the loan in the coming weeks.

In other West Brom news, Guochuan Lai wants to sell the club with the takeover now dependant on one condition.