West Brom suffer ‘worst case scenario’ £26m PSR loss in next accounts – Chris Lepkowski
West Brom could announce losses as high as £26million in their next set of financial accounts, according to Chris Lepkowski.
The Baggies are coming under pressure from supporters in a summer transfer window in which more players are leaving than joining.
Okay Yokuslu has this week departed The Hawthorns, while Conor Townsend and Brandon Thomas-Asante look like being the next to leave.
However, former Birmingham Mail reporter Lepkowski has defended the decision-making from the club in the wake of comments made by Shilen Patel as the Baggies desperately attempt to avoid PSR breaches.
Writing via his personal blog, The Far Post [31 July], Lepkowski pointed out that £11m was lost in the most recent financial cycle and added: “[Patel] told us – in honest and stark terms – that it would be worse in the next cycle of accounts.
“When the next accounts come out, some time next spring, I fully expect to see a loss of about £23m at best.
“In the worst case scenario it could be about £2-3m more (taking into account various variables that cannot be accounted for without a forensic knowledge of each and every contract, loan, liability).”
West Brom forced into player sales
As annoyed as supporters are right now a little over a week out from the new season beginning, West Brom are simply cutting their cloth accordingly.
Patel will take the brunt of the blame for signing off on various player sales, but he is simply picking up the pieces from the last regime.
Townsend looks set to join Ipswich Town for around £750,000, Yokuslu’s move to Trabzonspor is worth around £1.5m, while Thomas-Asante could fetch as much as £2.5m when officially joining Coventry City [John Percy, 31 August].
All-in-all, that near £5m payment will go a long way to helping the club to balance the books. Not only that, you also have to factor in the multi-millions of wages that are now freed up.
Of course, from the perspective of supporters, none of this really matters – all they want is for a squad capable of earning promotion to be assembled.
As frustrating as it is, this is the situation Albion are in right now. The only hope is that a few bargain deals can be pulled off before the window closes, such as that of Devante Cole, in order to ensure the Baggies are both competitive and also financially stable.
For now, the latter is clearly Patel’s priority.
In other West Brom news, Scott Sinclair has reacted to the latest transfer news coming out of The Hawthorns.
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