Chris Lepkowski raises West Brom ‘problem’ amid takeover uncertainty at The Hawthorns
Chris Lepkowski hopes Shilen Patel is fully aware of the size of the task he has on his hands should he complete a takeover of West Brom.
The American businessman is said to be in advanced talks with Guochuan Lai over ending the latter’s time at The Hawthorns helm.
West Brom have already taken out multiple loans to help with general running costs, with their parachute payments having expired last year.
Former Birmingham Mail reporter Lepkowski says West Brom, like many other Championship clubs, are in a pretty precarious financial position.
“Championship clubs are a complete mess,” he said on The Liquidator podcast [11 February, 18m 52s].
“Generally, it’s increasingly obvious that sustainability in the Championship is impossible without some sort of restrictions being imposed.
“Clubs are spending way too much on wages in the hope of getting to the Premier League, which will alleviate their financial risk taking.
“But if they don’t get to the Premier League they have a problem. We are very much in that category.
“We know our wage bill is unstainable, we know we’re spending too much and not bringing enough in.
“I hope this is appreciated by Mr. Patel or anyone else thinking of buying the club.”
West Brom’s precarious financial situation
As we have seen with many clubs, there are serious risks that come with chasing the Premier League dream.
Right now, West Brom are managing to tread the water thanks to money coming into the club via loans.
Only once Lai is ousted, which will hopefully be days or weeks away rather than months, can Albion begin to sort out their financial mess.
Should this takeover collapse for whatever reason, the Baggies really would be in a worrying position.
Some players are still on Premier League wages, yet the club is not bringing in Premier League amounts of money.
As Lepkowski says, it is an “unsustainable” situation and one that in the worst-case scenarios has led to clubs dissolving.
That will hopefully not be the case for West Brom, but the club could ideally do with this takeover going through as soon as possible.
In other West Brom news, Richard Keys made a “perfect” claim with regards to Albion’s result against Ipswich Town.
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