George Overhill

Thu 14 December 2023 12:10, UK

The latest developments on the long-awaited West Brom takeover will “bring peace and tranquility” to the minds of Baggies supporters, according to Kieran Maguire.

Speaking on The Price of Football (14 December) the University of Liverpool football finance expert reacted to the news that a deal with one of three potential bidders is now getting closer [Telegraph, 12 December] with Guochaun Lia now set to choose one of the trio.

Maguire believes the signs are strong for a deal to finally get done, with the recent second loan from MSD Holdings also suggesting as much, and should help put the fans at ease at long last.

Maguire said (26m 30s): “John Percy reported this in the Telegraph, and also Ali Jones of Action for Albion, he and I are in regular contact. John Percy was reporting that progress has been made with regards to a sale of the club.

“We spoke a couple of weeks ago that West Brom have actually taken out another loan from MSD Holdings and my view at the time would be that MSD Holdings probably would only lend if they were confident that a deal was going to go through because otherwise how are they going to get their money back?

“So it will bring a bit of peace and tranquility into the mind of many Baggies fans. We know that the club has been through a pretty rocky period since Jeremy Peace bought and then sold his investment, and moved to Jersey.

“There’s been a number of lenders who, they’re ok, but these specific lenders they aren’t football fans. They’re not interested in the long-term sustainability of West Bromwich Albion they’re looking to get a financial return.

“So if there is new owners coming in, I think there’s two or three interested parties, one would presume that we’d move to a period of exclusivity with regards to one of them and then we move on from there with new owners.

“Clearly the existing owner Guochuan Lai hasn’t worked out.”

Finishing straight

It’s been a long hard road but it looks like it might be close to reaching a badly-needed conclusion at The Hawthorns, and thankfully comes at a time when the situation on the pitch is in a good place against the odds.

That Maguire feels the process is likely heading in the right direction for an imminent answer is clearly another positive note.

But with little over a fortnight until the January transfer window opens it is still touch and go whether it saves the current season potentially being derailed.

The financial situation at West Brom is widely known to be perilous under the status quo, and with costs still needing to be cut in the market as things stand it is surely only going to be a completed deal or a near-guaranteed agreement within a very short period that will prevent players potentially leaving.

The squad situation was juggled relatively well in the summer in terms of what Carlos Corberan could get from the players he had at his disposal.

But since some players who were expected to move on didn’t it clearly hasn’t solved the budget pressures to the extent it needed to.

If a new owner comes in within the next four or five weeks then that extra expense over the first half of the season might prove to be a key development, with the promotion push well and truly on track.

But any late deviation from the destination or delay on the takeover could still gut the squad at a crucial point so the pressure is still on the final parts of the process in a big way.

In other West Brom news, the worst case scenario has emerged to potentially end the season of a cursed luck Baggies man.