Shilen Patel to ‘slash West Brom wage bill’ again after new reveal – Exclusive
Shilen Patel will have been working in overdrive after the latest accounts were released at West Brom.
Alarm bells were said to be ringing at The Hawthorns after losses tripled to almost £34million, with the highest wages-to-turnover ratio in the Championship, at 152 per cent.
Patel has already looked to reduce the debt burden on West Brom this week, making offers to minority shareholders after converting interest-free loans of over £10million into equity.
West Brom wages to crash again
Dan Plumley admitted that the wages-to-turnover ratio is concerning at The Hawthorns, but shows the clear effect of having no parachute payments.
The football finance expert insisted that Patel and the Baggies board likely have plans in place to trim the wage bill even further, after a recent seven per cent drop.
“It’s a concerning percentage,” he exclusively told West Brom News.
“This is all linked to parachute payments with West Brom, and you can see that within the details. The loss of £33million, it was near enough £11m, so that’s the tripling figure that has been reported.
“If you look at the reduction in revenue, the decrease is £28m, and most of that is wrapped up in broadcasting money.
“There has been a little bit of an increase in gate receipts, and the wage bill has lowered, so there are lots of moving parts.
“Principally, what you are seeing there is the impact of not having parachute payments, because if you sustain that squad on good wages, while you have that money that’s ok, but the minute that goes, it’s a big hole to fill and you can’t trim the wage bill quick enough to keep on top of it.
“It’s one of those, we’ve said before with West Brom, they were always going to run out if you don’t get back to the Premier League, you’ve got to plan for that.
“It’s ok to swallow that for a year or so, but I’m sure the new owners will have been putting plans in place to bring that down further and bring it more in line with the revenue average you would expect for a non-parachute payment club.”
West Brom need Premier League return
There is very little these Championship clubs can do financially if they do not return to the Premier League within those parachute payment years.
Tony Mowbray will not be concerning himself with these numbers though, and promotion will be the only thing on his mind right now.
| Championship | Played | GD | Pts |
| 5. Boro | 40 | 12 | 60 |
| 6. Coventry | 39 | 5 | 59 |
| 7. West Brom | 39 | 13 | 57 |
The Baggies dropped to seventh in the Championship on Friday, with Middlesbrough winning at Blackburn, but will go back to at least sixth with a win over Sunderland.