The Political Economy of Football V2

This season is the fourth in a row for West Brom in the Championship, which is the their longest unbroken period out of England’s top flight for more than 20 years, but there is still an air of quiet positivity around The Hawthorns. This could be attributed to the change in ownership, as Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran C. Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club, in February 2024.   The remaining 12.2% is owned by minority shareholders, many of whom are represented by Shareholders 4 Albion (S4A). West Brom had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold in August 2016 to a Chinese consortium, which bought out former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership turned out to be fairly disastrous for the club, culminating in numerous financial issues following ye...

Three bidders are said to be interested in acquiring West Bromwich Albion off current 88 per cent shareholder Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai:  https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-brom-takeover-news-lai-19622077 The owner hopes to settle on a preferred bidder, but in current circumstances is unlikely to recoup the £200m he paid for his stake in the club. Rod Liddle commented recently that when a moderately big club gets in trouble on the pitch, the answer often appears to be: send for Big Sam or Tony Pulis.  Pulis has already gone at Wednesday and it hasn't worked out well for Big Sam at the Baggies. I think that the club needs to look to the future under new ownership.

The authoritative Swiss Ramble examines West Bromwich Albion's accounts for 2017/18. The club made a loss before tax of £7.4m, compared to a prior year profit of £39.8m, representing a 'significant' £47m deterioration, as revenue fell £13m (10%) to £125m and profit on player sales was down £8m to £6m. After tax, the club went from a £32.3m profit to a £5.8m loss. This was the first time that WBA have made a loss since way back in 2009, so they have been profitable eight times in the last decade. Between those two losses, the club accumulated £83m of profits, but around half of this came from 2016/17 £40m alone. However, larger profits have been due to either high player sales (2014 and 2017) or exceptionals (£8m debt waived 2011). In fact, total £64m profit in last 10 years includes £63m from player sales. 2018/19 will include £16m proceeds (Chadli, McClean and Foster). The £13m revenue fall was very largely driven by broadcasting’s £17m (14%) decrease from £119m to £10...