Potential owners promote yourself

So West Brom might be joining West Ham in the owner must go brigade it's a completely different world in football today with TV and billionaire owners.But let's have a look at the West Brom story as we know the plight of  the Hammers, and the two owners their are ex Birmingham City duo Sullivan and Gold. So the Chinese revolution,the success stories pro's,con's and what Could be if things go wrong. Are Chinese owners putting our clubs at risk? And what could be the fall out if let's say thing's change.

So it's early doors in the Black Country and things are heating up fans starting to bite at the club owner mr Lai and each other, life's not so good at the Hawthorns these days after a surprise return to the prem caught the club on a financial hop. Billic gave himself time by saying a return to the prem in two he did it one. You would think it would be a welcome achievement but  with the way West Brom keep a brilliant eye on the books and players contracts things can come all at once and this seems to be the case at B71 were post codes mean a lot in the local area. So with promotion catching the blue and white stripes on the hop, you would think having a billionaire owner would be a welcome tool to help finance the club into keeping them in the prem were the financial rewards are better for club and owner. So with Slaven Billic working with some exceptional talents but a thread bare and un experienced side ,players are not welcomed they are needed just to make the Albion a side that will not be embarrassed week in week out. So the West Brom faithful are in battle with there club once more but can we come together and help try and create a change for the good of the club.

So the baggies, let's have a look at potential owners who are looking to buy clubs and who mite be interested in a well run club that has bags of potential for growth and success,and makes a profit. Sounds good to me, the current climate will have restrictions and if you were to purchase a club in these uncertain times you would want a knock down price or at least a deal that gives way for a fair transaction for both parties. We all know that buying a football club is a complex business but things can happen and West Ham have helped their owners attract interest in the club even though they don't own their ground and find themselves in a precarious position. But the one thing they do have is a force when it comes to support with  a season ticket allocation of roughly 50.000, and have sold that amount now for 3 year's so the Supporters have helped make West Ham with it's precious ground position an attractive package for a buyer. So let's take a look at some organizations and buyer's of football clubs.

So we can look at the Newcastle bid and the premier leagues concerns over the Saudi royal family becoming an owner of the club. The deal was rejected by the top premier league clubs with Manchester United and Spurs being the main objectors  they raised concerns over a club becoming what is essentially a state owned club. Why do they object obviously it loosens their grip on the top flight and having a club with a counties wealth behind it would obviously make Newcastle the driving force of English football. And Levy obviously concerned that Spurs would never win or have the potential to compete with such a force that a state owned club would bring to the prem making it more predictable than ever before. So I understand the concern of fair competition but try telling that to the Newcastle faithful that have waited for such a dream buy so they have the wealth to compete with top three Man City, Liverpool,and Man United who are the most powerful clubs in English football with either wealth or history or both placing them at the top of the pile. Arsenal and others will complain but I think most will agree that  history and wealth place the two red clubs there, and wealth alone places Man City there. So as we see even if you find the dream buyer's politics still play a part. But the Saudi steam train normally gets what it wants so the Saudi regime will be part of English football sooner rather than later.

So moving on Boehly is worth around 4.7 billion owns a percentage of the LA Dodgers and has shown interest in the premier league before. But  has  looked at clubs such as Chelsea,so does he want a club already a top six performer or a club were he can make an impact and create a club that becomes a European power house and take the credit of lifting a club and area to world acclaimed status.

So QPR co owner Lakshmi Mittal already in the English game but talk of unrest and ambitious wants to move on and create his legacy in the English game, could be a pulling factor for both clubs West Ham and the Baggies and his worth could buy a few Diangana's but the 12.3 Billion Could also pull the world's best to the Black Country. 

So there are plenty more but the trick is to advertise ourselves as Supporters in need and advertise the club's positive factors.

NO DEBT and a club with SUPPORTERS that could fill the biggest stadiums in the world the support is there,but the lack of ambition from the club is driving what would be full houses away as people cut there cloth to the countries economy. So West Brom becomes a second thought but if the club needs these Supporters to come forward to purchase season tickets for a ambitious drive for success they will flock back.

So let's have a look at the owner and supposed facts that are holding the club back. I will try and put all likely facts and conclusions on the table as the Albions message and problems are being lost in a smoke and mirrors job of miss representation in journalism,and club politics coming out of the Hawthorns.

Mr Lai is no mr popular at the moment and probably never was but he came and told the faithful that he has the clubs best interests at heart and would not put the club in any financial risk. So in small talk he did say the club would run on its own steam so did the faithful expect massive investment no. But did Peace sell to the right man? He  gave himself a pay raise of nearly 800,000 taking  his last year's pay to nearly 2 million not bad for an owner who was hands on no doubt did earn his money but was that the right thing to do, I'll leave that one to the reader to decide.

So Lai paid anywhere from 175 million to the 200 mill mark ,different reports say different things but I think some agreement can be found within these two figures. Moving on to the Lai loan, so when taking over the club he basically borrowed around 3 million to complete the purchase of the club. So  since then the loan has acured interest to the value of around 4.7 million but that interest is obviously an advantage to the club unless you need the money more than the interest.

So the Baggies need the money, Lai sends Jenkins to the bank to borrow the money owed to the club by Lai ,he borrows the money at a lower interest rate. lai's loan's interest is around 5% that's great business if Lai can eventually pay the loan. So moving on to why Lai can't pay? The company that owns West Bromwich Albion holdings  is Yunyi Guokai Shanghai sports development. Some people may disagree with the name of the company but it's not far from the truth. So even the company name that holds 88% of West Brom is confusing as it all depends on the information you read, the full details of the deal are not published so speculation continues with people trying to find out the full facts. The company has 3 shareholding companies all owned by Lai. Yunyi investment is regulated by Asset management association of China and its head quarters are based in Shanghai. So if he wanted to invest could he?

 So the rules into football investment for Chinese owners has drastically changed, and one of the reasons for this is the fact that football bleeds money.  Chinese government's aim to have investments in Europe's top clubs would be a good idea to improve football and sports development back in China is not the case. So the People's party decided to halt Chinese Companies investing in foreign activities. So clubs like to the Wolves who  have Chinese owners to finance there clubs simply do things differently, using company money that's not based in China also using the bank to finance deals with the promise and backing to pay the loans at a later date, like using prem payments that come installments. Those are just a few ways in which the  Birmingham and Black Country outfits operate. 

Is it dangerous in this climate  as China have introduced currency controls and investment restrictions on companies that are not already based in Hong Kong this also includes property not just sport investment. Also the Chinese FA have placed restrictions on foreign players in their game so as before you used to see big name players from big English and European clubs going their for massive sums this will no longer be the norm as only 6 foreign players are allowed and only 3 on the pitch at the same time. A bit off track,  but just a little info on how China and sports have changed. So with covid hitting again and supporters un likely to attend any game this season revenue for clubs is at an all-time low. And with West Brom struggling to finance there first season back in the prem you would of thought mr Lai would of helped with his cheque book but no. And especially as he used the clubs money to finalize his purchase of the club. Mr Lai has sent the club to the bank for that money but at a lower interest rate than the club is charging mr Lai so payment is covered if mr Lai can pay. Ok with Slaven Billic trying to build an exciting brand of football and struggling financially you would of thought the owner could of pulled a deal together to offer the club and supporters a small amount such as 5 to 8 million to help bring in needed players. A striker is a must,as Jenkins and co try to put a deal together with the Penny's they still have left from a transfer budget that looks more at home on the TV show home bargains. But still the amount mentioned would of been a welcome sign that the owner does have an interest in the club which we think was aquired for government pleasing for favour at home for lai's business deals there instead of a genuine love for the game. But still the club and fans are not asking for his money a loan would of been nice that could of been payed back at a later date with TV money or when the economy starts to move again. So the worrying signs are.

1 Couldn't find the money to pay back a loan from the club that is incurring interest that a clever business man would not want to aquire.

2 The lack of investment means that relagation is a real possibility and that's not good for club or owner and one thing a business man with no problems would want to avoid.

3 The China rulings on sport investment say he can't, so even if the shit hits the fan his hands are tied. And so with China and the way their government and society view failure in business you would of thought he would do everything he can to avoid this embarrassing situation. So this should send warning signs to all involved at West Brom. 

4 So what happens if we are relegated, with the financial situation like this with promotion it can only send the worsed signals to the faithful. And what could end up being a championship season that ends with not a promotion push but a relagation battle. And we have seen this many times over the years with other clubs getting relagated from the prem so Lai must go.

#LAI OUT I agree with this whole heatedly and so how ?

We promote ourselves, a petition to gather speed and letter of intent by the fans to purchase season tickets to fill the Hawthorns if a buyer shows interest. Last but not least to either kick Lai up the you know what use China's name in this battle as much as possible. As China hate bad publicity and this is no joke. This would not sit well with the Chinese government and would in turn put  pressure on #LAI OUT.