West Brom may need to ‘flog’ players to keep lights on despite some good news on auditors
West Brom may need to “flog” a lot of talent to “keep the lights on” at The Hawthorns with the club’s auditors writing off the £5million loan controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai paid to one of his companies, according to The Athletic journalist Matt Slater.
The Chinese chairman had promised that the £4.95million loan he took out in 2021, plus interest, will be paid back after already missing multiple repayment deadlines, which has come as a source of much frustration to the club’s fans.
Finance expert Kieran Maguire on his personal Twitter account, shared that the West Brom accounts “show the loan due from owner Lai is not expected to be received and so write it down to zero.”
And Slater, writing on his own personal Twitter account, responding to the news from The Athletic that the club auditors have written off the £5m loan, claims the Baggies may need to offload some of their talents if they don’t secure promotion this season.
He wrote in a message to fans: “West Brom fans, some good news: you’ve got new auditors and they’re not daft. The bad news is that means they don’t think your owner is going to pay that £5m loan back and, if you don’t go up, you’re going to have to flog a lot of talent to keep the lights on.”
Damaging position
Lai’s continued incompetence and lack of transparency have left West Brom in serious jeopardy right now, a position which could prove damaging to the club’s long-term future.
With manager Carlos Corberan currently doing a rather decent job at the helm, the fact that he’ll have to sell some of his key stars this summer if they don’t go up leaves him in a very uncomfortable position if he is trying to build something at The Hawthorns.
There really is no trust and confidence from the West Brom faithful and the club’s other shareholders in Lai’s ownership and something has seriously got to give because these failed loan repayments just reek of a businessman not understanding what business and loaning money are.
To have your auditors stating that they don’t believe the owner is going to pay back the loans he took out really does not inspire confidence and Lai’s continued and needless silence is what’s leading to all this unrest and anger within the whole club. The protests must continue.
In other West Brom news, this attacking duo has been named in the best English XI from the Championship this season by a stats company.