Complex new investment on cards at ‘messy’ West Brom after £20m news drops – Kieran Maguire
West Brom are “trying to get involved” with new investors amid the “messy situation” at the club, according to finance expert Kieran Maguire.
But amid all the chaos behind the scenes at The Hawthorns, attracting new investors also promises to be complex, he added.
Maguire added that the Baggies have borrowed £20million at Sterling Overnight Interest Average (SONIA), which has been rising considerably in recent years.
“West Brom have borrowed £20million at SONIA, plus 9.75%,” Maguire said on The Price of Football podcast. “Now SONIA has been rising quite considerably over the past couple of years, so it is going up. And that means that they’re effectively paying around about 14% on their borrowings. 14% of £20million pounds is £2.8million-a-year, that’s over £50,000-a-week.
“West Brom will be in the position that they won’t be in receipt of parachute payments. So they get around £7.5million per year in TV money, so you can see, a significant proportion of their revenue, in terms of their guaranteed TV monies is now effectively going in interest to MSD Holdings.
“And that’s before you take into account the elephant in the room, they’ve still got to go and pay £20million back at some point in time. So it is a messy situation. I know that they’re trying to get involved with new investors. That looks complex as well.”
Real mess
It’s a real mess at The Hawthorns, and it has been for quite some time, with constant stories like this circulating about the Championship club.
Baggies fans will be desperate for this situation to be resolved as soon as possible, but given just how complex it is, a solution is a long, long way off.
The current situation off the pitch really does put things into perspective on it, with Carlos Corberan not only able to bring the club back from a relegation battle, but also bring them into contention for the Premier League play-offs.
As it turned out, the Spaniard and his determined players ultimately just fell short, with West Brom finishing ninth in the Championship this season.
It remains to be seen what will happen on the pitch next time out, but right now issues off it are more important, with fans simply hoping for a glimmer of light amid all the darkness.
In other West Brom news, Chris Lepkowski has reacted to the Baggies takeover latest, suggesting “NDAs” would be in play.