1

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover

« on: January 19, 2024, 01:45:41 AM »

I don’t know much about One Football, but how much was his stake in it and how much did he invest?  Yes he does seem to have a stake in Bologna.  Why would that be a concern?

What’s by far more important is the Patel Family Office, which manages the $2 billion made by his father when he sold 1st Choice, WellCare and Visionary Medical.  Proper businesses. Good source of wealth.   Nothing to worry about there.

Agree with you, look any investor who comes on now, regardless if a seasoned football club investor, US investor etc will just look to get us promoted, maximise value and sell. I'm not quite sure what people are looking for, a Tony Bloom, Matthew Benham etc? Unfortunately, the club don't seem to have any wealthy fans who wish to buy the club, thus we are viewed as a pure investment to maximise value.

2

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover

« on: January 15, 2024, 02:27:22 PM »

I do not agree with that, if the club is on the verge of a takeover to clear debt and inject capital then obviously that will play a huge part in the decision making this transfer window, and it ties in with the decision to take out the second MSD loan which has all the appearances of a bridging loan.

The issue is the deal isn't done, you can only make decisions based on facts, not the possible impending investment. Unfortunately, there is a transfer window but such is life. You don't spend money you don't have in the hope it arrives. Deals can fall through in the final hurdles.

3

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover

« on: January 12, 2024, 03:52:18 PM »

Interesting to see how it plays out. If it's the Shilen Patel route then it would be the Drs Kiran & Pallavi Patel Family Office. Wealthy family based in Tampa, made money through healthcare in the US. Investing their wealth now into other businesses e.g. F&B, hotels and other businesses. Nice to see he has a strong emphasis on philanthropy (hopefully an actual value rather than for tax benefits or PR). Glad to see it's a family office rather than a PE group or some others, albeit the concern would be on money available to invest. All in all, I'm sure there could be a lot worse and at least these guys have actually built multiple businesses and have money, unlike a certain Mr Lai.

4

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Action For Albion/ Potential Takeover

« on: December 14, 2023, 02:08:32 AM »

We don't know the source of the Percy story it sure as hell isn't an official release. The timescale would suggest that it is sourced from "someone familiar with the deal". The 10 day deadline would give the other parties still involved an opportunity  to match or better the terms that the current front runner has have offered.

Lai will have taken whatever counsel he can as to the bona fides of the bidders but that is short of "proof of funds" which is part of the EFL process.

Regardless of the new owners ability to fund the takeover and subsequent ability and willingness to fund the club there is little or no scope for the club to add to the wage bill in January.

Two critical elements to how this plays out is;
1. What timeline is going to be put into the exclusivity to complete the deal? This is a fine balance especially as we've got depleting funds and a buyer might use the exclusivity timeframe to push down the purchase price further, but it's risky.

2. What level of due diligence has been done already? I would hope that given the state of the clubs finances and the need for a quick sale they would have done Sell-side external due diligence to at least give prospective buyers enough information rather than just a data room. This could then speed up the amount of time on the Buy-side DD, which otherwise would take at least 4 weeks to complete.

5

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Guochuan Lai

« on: September 22, 2023, 05:02:59 AM »

It was doomed from the start. Buying a premier league club with a good infrastructure (training ground, own ground etc), multiple seasons in the league and a high purchase price. Without further investment, I'm not sure exactly what Lai's exit strategy was to better his purchasing price...

Just hoping the ongoing incremental increase in the value of the league and club would be enough to cash out in 5-10 years' time. Pure risky and shows it's someone with exceptionally poor business acumen, shortsightedness and didn't look at the plethora or clubs in the 2 divisions below to understand what can happen.

6

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Guochuan Lai

« on: June 16, 2023, 08:28:47 AM »

Sorry if this has already been asked if Farnell and this Egyptian chap were to buy a minority stake would they still have to go through the fit & proper test? By the looks of it Farnell failed the fit & proper test at Charlton so I can’t imagine much would have changed especially with them tightening up the rules, im just wondering if they have seen a way of skirting round the fit & proper test by purchasing a minority share in the club.

After what I’ve read about Farnell he should be no-where near football, the bloke is a complete crook. The only thing I’m hoping as it’s out in the press with names it’s not a credible bid. Generally transactions of football clubs are done under nda’s so serious bids aren’t found out until it’s all signed & sealed.

My assumption would be no they wouldn't as it's only a minority share.

7

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Guochuan Lai

« on: May 19, 2023, 03:50:20 PM »

I've got some sympathy with this opinion, I also thought that the letter from S4A had a confrontational tone.

On the other hand, I can understand their frustrations after banging on a closed door for years.

And that goes back to JP’s time too when I was a shareholder. Moving AGM to London, and very little in the way of engagement. It’s just got a whole lot worse now though it seems.

8

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Your first ever Albion game

« on: February 10, 2023, 10:26:31 AM »

My first was Millwall away in 1993, grand old age of 4 and half! Not sure what my dad was thinking.

9

General Football & Sports / Re: FORMULA ONE THREAD

« on: December 13, 2021, 11:56:08 AM »

The big thing for CAS will be interpreting the rule that enabled Masi to make the decision to override and was there a precedent of this happening. Never (as far as I'm aware) have only a selected group of cars been enabled to unlap; in which case Mercedes cant strategize based on what one man might do. If the rules and precedent were followed there can be no argument. To change it for one race is just wrong.

10

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Guochuan Lai

« on: July 23, 2021, 01:09:03 PM »

This is an issue with Peace rather than the club per se. I was a shareholder but sold my stake I think when Peace did his last round up of shares. Do I feel annoyed that I couldn't get the 'true' value of the share, of course; I got a fraction of what it was really worth. However, everyone knew that he only ever needed x% then no one would ever need to buy more, thus it was very unlikely you'd ever see the full true value unless some one wanted the full 100%, Peace knew that and so did all the shareholders, it's how things work in business and when you have very little power there's not much you can do. All the shareholders are still sat there with their 1 share that will continue to be worth very little and frustrated with what Peace did.

11

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: End of the Premier League, how does that affect us?

« on: April 20, 2021, 02:04:25 PM »

Having just read the FT article it's clear that there was salary caps and strict measures on spending and profitability, which further align it to a pure franchise model from the US. However, this way of operating will NOT work if they wish to remain in the PL. You cant operate in one way for one competition and another for another, this just does not work and will mean they only play in this one league.

 Lastly, if they do want football to be sustainable and reduce wages costs etc (which needs to happen regardless) and still remain in the PL then this will create a 2 tier premier league because they will still be able to operate at a higher level with the increased revenue and will exclude any other clubs from competing with them.

12

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Chances of survival

« on: March 04, 2021, 04:11:11 PM »

I have never watched more terrible football across the Premier League than in recent weeks. Nobody is playing well. The league has degenerated into a race to be the least bad. It seems crazy to suggest that a team in the case of Man City that are almost certainly cruise to a title by a 20 point margin is playing badly but even here their performance against Wolves has been described as "lethargic"  (they switched off defensively for the Wolves equaliser and then huffed and puffed to break Wolves down before rallying with a few late goals to pad the score line).

I suspect tiredness both physical and mental is to blame. Mentally I think the absence of crowds is really starting to have an impact on players the crowd makes matchdays different from training it is the thing that gives the players an adrenaline rush, in it's absence every game becomes just more of the same and mentally players are switching off. Maybe it is remarkable that players have sustained any level of performance without crowds for so long but I get the impression that most players now just want the season to finish.

In am not sure whether this amounts to anything in terms of our chances of survival but this is the oddest of seasons and there will be at least one team above us who will crater. We are terrible but if we can get into a race maybe someone will be really poor across 12 games and once the death spiral sets in you never know.

Couldn't agree more! Teams are too focussed on not losing games rather than the need to win. Compare that to the Championship whereby a draw isnt that useful and teams are going for the win. Over the past few years there is more just general passing it backwards and sideways and it's really dull. Liverpool prime example of this this season, their football has slowed up so much that they key players are ineffective. I do believe a lot of this is down to no crowds but I also feel this is a trend in football at the top level.

13

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: What the Hell is going on ??

« on: November 12, 2020, 09:44:51 AM »

I'm doing some digging too into the companies. There has been some % changes from the initial investment. The 59% dropped to 55% with the other picking up a bit more. I will see if there's any documentation about any loan.

In terms of people involved I'm mapping out who sits where within the different entities as Lai has holdings across a couple of the shareholders, whether just himself or via another entity and also intrigued with Li Piyue who's fronting from the Palm side of things so I'm digging into the next layer of investors and also names. Yasha Ge as has been mentioned came onto the scene a couple of years ago,  my intrigue at the moment is between Li Piyue and Yasha Ge at Yunyi Investment, possibly there's been some dispute there, not directly relating to Albion necessarily but between their other entities that they've both invested in. The web source I'm using is pretty damn accurate and up to date so I can see all changes, investments, officers any court issues etc etc and being a Chinese this site gives a lot more detail than any of the other 'western' sites offering similar info.

Once I'm done I'll happily the share the company structure and info so everyone can get a understanding of how it's all made up and the complexities of such investment, whilst Lai is still ultimately the controlling share there are still plenty of people and businesses to please further down the chain.

14

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Guochuan Lai

« on: November 03, 2020, 04:22:28 PM »

The cousin of Man City UAE Sheik Mansour is in the process of buying Derby - surely we would be the better option!

Just out of interest, why do you think we'd be a better option for someone to buy?

15

General Football & Sports / Re: Callum Robinson signs Permanently

« on: September 09, 2020, 12:59:55 PM »

Notice our two deals have been 5 year contracts. Trying to keep as much value for possible re-sale, of course the contracts will have flex down if get relegated but shrewd move in my my opinion.

16

General Football & Sports / Re: Callum Robinson (on loan from Sheff. Utd.)

« on: September 08, 2020, 11:18:40 AM »

Hate to be negative, but screams of having one eye on the championship.

But on the plus side of things, it gets rid of Burke

You have to have an eye on the future, it's an extra tough season in terms of finance and we've not been able to spend what we'd like to get even better premier quality players. We need a balance of quality, players that will hold their value for future sales but also be option should we get relegated, all whilst not blowing the bank.

I wish we did have more to spend but the simple truth is we dont.

17

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Karlan Grant

« on: September 07, 2020, 12:53:47 PM »

Our issue in previous seasons is having an ageing squad with depleted value that are harder to sell on. We now have a squad with the addition of Pereira Diangana that should (bar an awful season personally by them) have the same or more value than we paid.

18

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: July 23, 2020, 11:44:52 AM »

yes there area weaknesses in our team but as people have said, we've got through possibly one of the toughest seasons of football for years and years. To play the way we did then to have a 3 month break and then to regroup and still get the job done is a huge achievement. We certainly didn't make it easy but we've been in top two virtually all season with the pressure to win games and pick up points to keep the gap. This is probably the hardest league in the world, just look at the points across the league, every team is going for 3 points unlike the premier league where a draw is seen as an ok result for many; it's relentless and we've shown over the course of 46 games we were in the top 2. 

19

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Ticket Info & Requests

« on: January 02, 2020, 09:49:18 AM »

If anyone has 2 spare tickets for this game come up, please let me know. Unfortunately I didn't get on quick enough to buy them before they sold out. The ticket office said they are requesting some more as there are a few blocks that didn't become available, however,I'm not sure how true that is. Fingers crossed a couple come up!

20

General Football & Sports / Re: Dingle watch - Anything Wolves

« on: September 24, 2019, 07:56:47 PM »

Fosun are just just releasing some equity to get their return back for what they paid plus some. I'm sure they're in for the long haul. As much as we hate it there is a lot of opportunities to grow that club and see further value.

21

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: May 11, 2019, 04:43:09 PM »

There is no way Murphy should play second leg, he brings nothing to the team and didn’t make any impact again today.

Shocking marking for Hourihanne goal, it was such an obvious pass but we had over committed to Grealish in the build up.

22

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Play offs

« on: April 30, 2019, 03:09:35 PM »

Exactly with you on that Kirk. The whole point of loyalty points was to eradicate issues for games in high demand. To suddenly drop this stance and enable people with no booking record to get tickets through friends is shameful.

Yes, I've not been to many games this season so would hope that people that have been more often get the chance above myself, however to put on general sales effectively is unfair. I live in London and dont have the same connections to STH as many of those locally have to make use of this +1  benefit.

This club once again fails the supporters (and fully agree it's a joke what they did to STH's about renewals).

23

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Ticket Info & Requests

« on: February 19, 2019, 10:33:20 AM »

Love a London midweek game, mainly as I live in London so they're nice and easy to get to from work and home after. Great support too given the pricing!

24

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Dwight Gayle (on loan swap from Newcastle)

« on: February 14, 2019, 11:25:01 AM »

Not heard the comments made by Don but I think he's actually one of the better pundits and can give an actual view of how we are performing given the amount of times he's seen us play. Much worse.

25

General Football & Sports / Re: Dingle watch - Anything Wolves

« on: February 11, 2019, 01:09:29 PM »

Do note that Fosun are in a completely different league in comparison to our investor. One has piles of cash, the other doesn't.