As a lifelong Albion fan I 100% agree with you. However, as someone who has sold some large sporting assets professionally, it’s more difficult. Selling any sporting asset is incredibly difficult and time consuming and reflected in the fees that are typically 3-5% of consideration. Yep, on a £100m sale I have quoted and been paid £3-5m. No one pays such large sums unless it’s recognised that the job is very difficult to achieve. And that’s when I have the whole world of contacts to work my way through. If the vendor says “you have to sell to someone who will invest in the club and put supporters interests firstâ€, a small universe shrinks massively. It’s a bit like selling your house but telling the agent that you will only sell to someone who will agree to keep your prize roses for the next 10 years. You may still sell your house but it’s going to take a lot longer and you may have to accept a lower price.
There’s also sadly no interest from within football for this to change. I know for a fact that there have been lots of proposed changes to some of the ownership rules but there is no desire from the clubs to accept these changes. And that’s not just the “big†clubs blocking such changes. The reluctance goes all the way through football. Most owners just don’t want to be told that they can’t sell their asset to a wealthy foreigner. Again, think about it in the context of your biggest asset- would you volunteer to change the deeds of your house to prevent you selling it if a crazy foreign buyer offered you twice what it’s worth? The governing bodies of football aren’t government departments or quangos. They are ultimately clubs and can only do what members want and their members don’t want to exclude buyers who have got no “investment cash†or loyalty to the club.
Sadly, this isn’t going to change. It really is sad in many ways because football clubs aren’t like other businesses. People aren’t bereft when their local shop or cinema struggles but whole regions can be deeply affected by losses such as Bury. Maybe in a post Covid world football will find a new level. Lower league clubs should be profitable- they generate a huge amount of cash but need to pay players “only†£10k per week rather than £20k. Maybe that will work it’s way through and find that smaller clubs will once again be owned by local people who have the interests of the club at heart. Maybe clubs in L1 and L2 can be owned again by local people who have done well building a firm of accountants or selling a construction business; millionaires rather than multi billionaires. I can’t see that trend ever reaching the Premier again. The days when a local-lad-done-good buys the Albion are gone for ever. Premiership clubs are global status symbols now alongside works of art and iconic buildings.
Could JP have got us a better buyer? Who knows. I hear that he was in talks with some serious people including Fosun. We will never know how close they came. However, as said earlier, it’s incredibly difficult getting any buyer to the finish line and with Lai lined up to pay a transformational amount of money, it would have taken a brave man to turn that down in the hope of landing someone who would also invest. Could he have left some money in the deal for investment? The problem is the irrelevance of large sums of money in football. He could have agreed to take £20m less from Lai in return for that being invested back in the club. What does that get us, a £10m left back and his wages for 3 years...? A big sacrifice for JP but probably no difference to our destiny on the pitch.
In the end, the Albion is a journey, not a destination. We will have plenty of ups and downs over the years ahead and lots of twists to the plot. Lai will one day be in the rear view mirror along side JP etc. They won’t be Albion fans. They may or may not invest. But we will still be there. COYB.
A very interesting comment Stoxman.
As somebody with experience in changes of ownership of sports ventures, in your opinion, is it likely that GL paid £200 million for West Bromwich Albion?
Apart from the Palm project, very little is known about GL's personal wealth, & looking at the way that project has performed in the last 3 years, it's struggling to sustain itself, never mind providing funds for WBA.
There are a number of articles online on how to value a football club, & some of the KPI's include, turnover, profitability, attendance percentages & gate receipts & merchandising.
With the best will in the world, using those formulae, I'm finding it difficult to get a valuation of £200 million & it's probably nearer to £50 million.
I'm really not sure that GL is as wealthy as some believe, & I wonder if, at the time of the sale, pounds sterling were being confused with Chinese Yuan.
GL is certainly a Yuan billionaire, but I'm not sure about pounds sterling.
