Guochuan Lai was heavily criticised during his time at West Brom.
Guochuan Lai was heavily criticised during his time at West Brom.

High-interest West Brom loan detail emerges after official announcement

Danny Wright

Head of Editorial AUTHORITY enior editorial lead managing the daily newsroom output across 11 sites. Daniel oversees the correspondents and the specialist pundit output. FOCUS Newsroom management, breaking news, and high-level editorial quality control. THE BRIEF Former correspondent Daniel has risen through the editorial ranks at Breaking Media to run the daily newsroom, coordinating stories from live reporting to final publication. He ensures that every expert-led report is executed with total accuracy and speed.

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West Brom have borrowed more cash from MSD Holdings with the "same base interest rate" as the original loan from last year, according to the Birmingham Mail.

In 2022, Albion confirmed they had secured a £20million loan, against club assets such as The Hawthorns, from MSD. On Monday (27 November), the club announced they have received additional funding from MSD "to support the ongoing funding of the football club’s general business operations".

The Birmingham Mail reported on Saturday (2 December) that this fresh cash boost is "expected to be borrowed with the same base interest rate as the original £20m loan".

West Brom

As per Albion's last set of accounts, the interest on that four-year loan was around 14 per cent.

Digging a deeper hole

West Brom were already going to have to pay several million in interest on that initial loan from MSD Holdings.

It's unclear how much extra funds have been secured from Michael Dell's investment group but it's safe to say it won't be anywhere near the initial £20million.

That's the good news but the bad news is that even though it may only be a small amount of extra debt being added to the club's books, it's still extra debt.

And when those loans are being secured against historic club assets like The Hawthorns, it means the stadium is becoming more and more at risk.

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Albion need new owners who are willing to pay off the debt as soon as possible.

However, that also then comes with a risk because what kind of funds will they have available to spend after buying the Black Country club?

While the debt would be wiped out, there might be nothing else to add in and then we're back at the same place we were a few years ago except with no parachute payments and worse prospects of winning promotion.

www.westbromnews.co.uk