Adrian Goldberg drops ‘Dire Position’ verdict after MSD loan development
The latest loan taken out by West Brom only highlights how much of a “dire position” the club currently find themselves in, according to Adrian Goldberg.
Albion announced on 27 November that they have taken out a further loan with the US investment group, a year on from borrowing an initial £20million.
Some felt the development was a positive, but former BBC presenter Goldberg has suggested it could mean talks with interested parties are no closer to concluding.
Speaking on The Liquidator podcast [3 December, 16m 10s], Goldberg said: “I think the loan tells us that Albion are in a very dire position. One or two people said in the aftermath of the loan ‘isn’t this a good thing?’.
“I don’t read it like that. The truth is, MSD, if things go really bad, can sell our stadium. I don’t think MSD want to do that, but they want their money.
“This loan will hopefully be picked up by the new owner, but I don’t think it tells us anything about the state of the ownership talks. It just tells us that this football club, without the loan, would not be able to pay its way – that’s how bad things have got.
“If you factor in the £20m we took out in the first place from MSD, plus this latest loan of, say, £7.5m, then add on interest payments, you’re talking something like 35, 36, 37 million pounds that Albion will owe.
“There are figures that Albion may be bought for around £60m. When you factor other aspects in, you’re getting close to £50m that will be owed.
“I’m struggling to see how the ownership actually takes anything out of the football club in terms of the return for their investment.”
Uncertainty
Everything is going well on the field as far as West Brom are concerned, even accounting for the loss to Leicester City, but the takeover picture remains incredibly unclear.
The news of a loan being taken out seemed on the face of it to suggest that Albion do not expect new owners in place for the foreseeable future, with this cash helping with the day-to-day running of the club until then.
Once that money runs out, it is difficult to see what is next for the Baggies if majority shareholder Guochuan Lai does not reach into his pockets as expected.
The debts will ultimately be inherited by whoever takes over at The Hawthorns, and it may well be that there is little investment in the squad while those large payments are being dealt with.
It makes for a worrying future, but thankfully the players are helping to paper over the cracks with their performances on the field.
If Albion can remain in the promotion hunt, it can surely only be a good thing for any prospective buyers watching on.
In other West Brom news, a key player has been ruled out of the Sunderland match after a development that would not have pleased Carlos Corberan.