West Brom takeover: Administration verdict shared by Tom Ross after Monday update
Tom Ross has claimed that the additional loan taken out by the West Brom ownership group is good news as it may have prevented the club from going into administration.
The legendary local broadcaster took to Twitter to share his view that, without the extra income from the loan, the delay in the purchase of the club may have resulted in administration.
This has come after Guochuan Lai and the ownership group at West Brom opted to take out an additional loan from American lenders MSD UK Holdings Limited, from whom they have already borrowed £20million.
Taking to Twitter in reaction to the news, Ross shared: “Great news Baggies fans”, which many disagreed with in the replies, as Ross clarified: “Not [bad news] for example if the alternative was administration due to a delay in the sale of the club.”
A tricky situation
If what Ross says is right and the alternative to taking out another loan was administration, then by all means the owners may well have taken the correct and necessary steps to avoid what would be a disastrous situation for the club.
However, on the face of it, an additional loan will just pile on top of the club’s existing debts, which Lai and the ownership group have no desire to pay off, adding to the debt any potential new owner would be taking on in the purchase of the club.
With the state of the finances as it is it would have been a hard sell to get a prospective owner to cover those debts, but increasing them again while a potential takeover bid is ongoing could cause the whole thing to come crashing down.
The new loan, likely on a high interest rate, simply adds to the problems the club are already facing, potentially putting club assets and The Hawthorns at risk and making an already complicated takeover bid that much more difficult.
In other West Brom news, takeover news has emerged amid the new funding.