West Brom takeover news in dispute as Action for Albion claims journalist ‘being fed rubbish’
West Brom takeover information is in dispute after Action for Albion and Matt Slater both claimed the other was wrong in their position.
The Athletic journalist and the supporters campaign ground communicated via Twitter on 12 February in an ultimately-good natured exchange over the situation at The Hawthorns.
Action for Albion accepted Slater was “reporting in good faith” but said “we believe you’re miles out and being fed rubbish”, after the latter’s recent update for The Athletic (11 February) where he reported that Chris Farnell and Alex Hearn were heading to China this week in an attempt to close a takeover deal, while Roman Gevorkyan has also been encouraged to stay in the race despite Shilen Patel’s bid still being the “frontrunner”.
Action for Albion recently suggested that Hearn was definitely not buying out Guochuan Lai, despite the situation involving money owed by the West Brom controlling shareholder to his former company Warmfront Holdings.
Slater stood his ground on his reporting, replying: “I’ve heard your view and you’re wrong”.
Emphasising there was no conflict between the two, Action for Albion did the same, saying: “That’s fine. We think you’re wrong”.
West Brom ownership question remains a mystery as information in dispute
When US-based Patel emerged as the apparent chosen one out of three prime options to takeover from Lai a month ago it looked like West Brom might finally be on the brink of a much-needed solution to the situation.
Instead, two months after light emerged at the end of the tunnel the Chinese businessman is still in place and the picture appears to have only become less clear.
The fact that a payment deadline for Lai to repay money loaned by Warmfront Holdings has just passed looks to have helped complicate matters.
But with Patel believed to have the backing of MSD Holdings, which has loaned far more money to the club itself rather than to its controlling shareholder, the American would logically have a significant head start in the race.
The club and the fans need a resolution as soon as possible, and while Slater and Action for Albion are both apparently trying their best it certainly looks like some of the parties involved in the process are briefing messages that don’t tie up with each other.
In other West Brom news, Don Goodman reacted live on Sky Sports after what Ipswich fans did to Daryl Dike.
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