Last Thursday, West Bromwich Albion announced that Florida-based businessman Shilen Patel has agreed to buy them from current owner Guochuan Lai. This news was joyfully greeted by the Championship club’s fans as Lai’s clueless spell in charge has seen two relegations, albeit with one promotion in between, and a massive deterioration in the club’s finances. So much so that a once well-run club was heading towards bankruptcy. Perhaps the best evidence of this narrowly avoided crash can be seen in the return on investment Lai is getting. The Chinese businessman paid about £200million for what was a Premier League club in 2016. Patel is paying him only £10m guaranteed – £2.5m on completion, £2.5m in August and £5.5m in August 2025. There is the possibility of bonus payments if West Brom are promoted. Go up this season, and they are currently fifth, and Patel will pay Lai an extra £18m. Promotion next season would trigger a £10m payment, £5m the following season and £2m if West Brom
Rochdale is having a pantomime by-election while its football club faces going out of business. Liquidation s the fate Rochdale face, according to their board, if the club’s 650 small shareholders do not vote the club out of fan ownership by agreeing to issue nine million new shares at an extraordinary general meeting on March 7. These new shares, 90 per cent of the club, will be available to purchase by a new owner for 22p each, which would immediately put £2m into the club. The club’s current directors took over in June 2021, picking up the pieces after Rochdale were relegated from League One. With their finances already stretched by the pandemic, the board was immediately forced to defend Rochdale from a hostile takeover. They won that war but were relegated from League Two last season, ending a 102-year stay in the EFL. But Rochdale are not a basket case. Their debts total about £1m and most of that is to the chairman. They also own their stadium, which is worth about £5m and has r