Author Topic: Guochuan Lai  (Read 2349525 times)

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BalisPen

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5750 on: January 13, 2019, 10:26:23 PM »
This is quite an interesting read

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/status/1083445981910392833

So £70m is being taken out of China, but when it cones to Lai he cannot take his money out?

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5751 on: January 13, 2019, 10:30:26 PM »
So £70m is being taken out of China, but when it cones to Lai he cannot take his money out?


Clearly states they will have trouble getting the money out. Which did surprise me.
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5752 on: January 13, 2019, 10:49:33 PM »
So £70m is being taken out of China, but when it cones to Lai he cannot take his money out?

China has a football tax to protect their interests in the national team. To sign a foreign player the Chinese club has to pay a sum of money equal to the transfer fee to the government. If they buy Arnautovic for £35m, they pay an additional £35m in tax. £70m isn't being taken out of China.

It has been reported numerous times during Lai's time as owner that it is extremely difficult for investors to take money out of China. It has also been reported numerous times that Fosun get around this because they are an international conglomerate and therefore have extensive assets outside of China. Lai is a Chinese businessman, who owns a Chinese business (possibly multiple Chinese businesses?), his only foreign asset is West Bromwich Albion.

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5753 on: January 13, 2019, 11:34:37 PM »
China has a football tax to protect their interests in the national team. To sign a foreign player the Chinese club has to pay a sum of money equal to the transfer fee to the government. If they buy Arnautovic for £35m, they pay an additional £35m in tax. £70m isn't being taken out of China.

It has been reported numerous times during Lai's time as owner that it is extremely difficult for investors to take money out of China. It has also been reported numerous times that Fosun get around this because they are an international conglomerate and therefore have extensive assets outside of China. Lai is a Chinese businessman, who owns a Chinese business (possibly multiple Chinese businesses?), his only foreign asset is West Bromwich Albion.

The point is how can the Chinese wanting to buy him can take their £35m out of China but Lai cannot.

Imo it's because Lai, like the vile Dr have leveraged themselves to such an extent that they cannot service their debt, from the profits they thought were coming their way. In the case of the viler he found new investment and in the case of Lai, he's got MJ cutting costs.

Maybe new investors are being sought behind closed doors for us, but we don't really know much about Lai and what his actual wealth is.



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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5754 on: January 14, 2019, 04:41:44 AM »
A week or so ago you declared of "course he took the dividend".

Are you now saying that you didn't say that and didn't know what you were on about then?

It was when you were "estimating" losses on chadli and getting when Zaha signed for Palace wrong.

No I didn’t.  I suggest you re-read my post of 31 December.

I actually said “of course Peace took dividends”.  I was not referring specifically to the £27m dividend that you were referring to.  I have yet to see evidence of a £27m dividend having been taken, which is why I was asking you the question.

I made an error re the Chadli loss. I freely admitted that at the time.   I maintain that Palace were spending money generated from player sales.


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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5755 on: January 24, 2019, 09:38:45 AM »
This is how much West Bromwich Albion owner Guochuan Lai is worth


Source: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-much-west-bromwich-albion-15723890
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Albion79

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5756 on: January 24, 2019, 10:53:43 AM »
I dont know but my guess with Lai would be something like this.

Lai and his group wanted to buy / invest into english football when there seemed to be a boom with other chinese owners, they werent going to buy into one of the top 6 from the premier league, its too expensive. The likes of West Ham and Newcastle are basket case clubs and as Newcastle are finding now, Ashley puts a high price on them and as the Blues can vouch for, with Gold and Sullivan in charge at West Ham, they would want a premium.

Lai's group are investors so they are looking for a good deal, and therefore at some point they want a return on their money, the Wolves are exactly the same, i doubt the Fosun Group used to have posters of Mike Stowell and Robbie Dennison on their walls, they brought into Wolves to make money, the difference is they have Mendes who has a pool of players who he puts in the shop window, the top ones will be sold for big bucks, and the cycle continues, its working well for them at the moment, the issue will be if the authorities clamp down on it.

As for Lai, as far as premier league clubs go we would be about good as you could get, aside from the top 6 and the basket case clubs, we were relatively cheap (in football terms), we were stable (i think 6 or 7 years in the premier league when he took over), debt free and just a well oiled machine (on the surface)

I think his first interview he said it would be business as usual, ie - follow the JP model, which would be tick over in the premier league, they can promote and tap into the far east market a bit (the big boys have most of the pie but with how big the market is, if you can just have a little nibble you will still make plenty).

Basically, keep the money coming in, the incomings get bigger but so do the overheads (bigger fees, wages, etc) but at the end of each season i would imagine the group would put a percentage aside somewhere in the accounting (even if they dont withdraw it) which is their return on the investment, the whole time your in the premier league the club becomes more valuable, have a nice little return each year then in x amount of years, sell it on, make a nice profit due to the club being more valuable, its what JP did but with Lai the stakes are higher as there is money to be made but more to be lost too.

Thats all well and good when it lasts but as i think Stan pointed out above, your only one season away from that collapsing (ie - relegation!) I dont imagine Lai had a great knowledge of the workings of a football club when he took over so he did the sensible thing, appointed a couple of safe proven 'football' people who did (Williams and Goodman) again, what he probably didnt allow for was that been a disaster, whether it was they were too old, they were outdated, no longer upto the job, who knows but they were terrible appointments.

I think overall Peace did a very good job at the Albion but the last couple of years he was obviously looking to sell and therefore protecting his sale of the club with the appointment of Pulis, a man who had no relegations on his CV and so you were pretty much guarenteed to be premier league (ie - high value) when he sold the club.

I think from the appointment of Pulis tracing back to the changing of Director of Football every 5 minutes after Ashworth went, to the appointments like Mel and Irvine, the sanctioning of signings of players who barely kicked a ball or who we lost a lot of money on (Big Vic, Sess, Ideye, etc) it was clear he was just looking for quick fixes, just doing enough to get the club through until he sold it. Until the last couple of years of his reign i always thought Peace had a sensible plan and vision and overall he did a good job in my book but the last couple of years maybe tarnished things as by giving Pulis full control we were left with short term fixes but longer term problems, ie - players with lower resale value and big wages.

As for Lai, what i think he has done well is press the reset button, we were sinking and so he got Jenkins in who knows how to deal with that situation, he has done it before, turned it round and got us back to the premier league (which is all the owners will want) he isnt scared to make unpopular decisions but he has a proven track record. I also think Jenkins was there with the days of Ashworth, bargain signings, etc so i imagine we will return to that, signs are there with the appointment of a young eager coach in Mooro (Mowbray), Dowling as DOF (Ashworth), signing Townsend, Barnes (Harvey not Giles!) etc.

If we go up i would think there will be a couple of bigger names (helps with the marketing too) but also a number of foreign players we probably havent too much about, the same will probably apply even if we stay down just on a smaller scale. I think gone are the days of a glamour signings like a Anelka, Chadli, Greg, Sturridge even if we do get back up, i think we will eventually see the Albion model of mid to late 2000's and its something i personally am pleased about (with ideal a few more of our own youngsters involved this time round)

I know people slate Lai, saying lack of ambition, etc but its worth remembering the Albion is worth a lot more to him being in the premier league than is in the championship, so its in his interests more than anyone to get there even if we dont always understand the methods, but its a lot easier for Lai to make money through the football side than it is to sell land, the ground, etc, etc.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2019, 10:58:01 AM by Albion79 »

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5757 on: January 24, 2019, 11:33:29 AM »
I dont know but my guess with Lai would be something like this.

Lai and his group wanted to buy / invest into english football when there seemed to be a boom with other chinese owners, they werent going to buy into one of the top 6 from the premier league, its too expensive. The likes of West Ham and Newcastle are basket case clubs and as Newcastle are finding now, Ashley puts a high price on them and as the Blues can vouch for, with Gold and Sullivan in charge at West Ham, they would want a premium.

Lai's group are investors so they are looking for a good deal, and therefore at some point they want a return on their money, the Wolves are exactly the same, i doubt the Fosun Group used to have posters of Mike Stowell and Robbie Dennison on their walls, they brought into Wolves to make money, the difference is they have Mendes who has a pool of players who he puts in the shop window, the top ones will be sold for big bucks, and the cycle continues, its working well for them at the moment, the issue will be if the authorities clamp down on it.

As for Lai, as far as premier league clubs go we would be about good as you could get, aside from the top 6 and the basket case clubs, we were relatively cheap (in football terms), we were stable (i think 6 or 7 years in the premier league when he took over), debt free and just a well oiled machine (on the surface)

I think his first interview he said it would be business as usual, ie - follow the JP model, which would be tick over in the premier league, they can promote and tap into the far east market a bit (the big boys have most of the pie but with how big the market is, if you can just have a little nibble you will still make plenty).

Basically, keep the money coming in, the incomings get bigger but so do the overheads (bigger fees, wages, etc) but at the end of each season i would imagine the group would put a percentage aside somewhere in the accounting (even if they dont withdraw it) which is their return on the investment, the whole time your in the premier league the club becomes more valuable, have a nice little return each year then in x amount of years, sell it on, make a nice profit due to the club being more valuable, its what JP did but with Lai the stakes are higher as there is money to be made but more to be lost too.

Thats all well and good when it lasts but as i think Stan pointed out above, your only one season away from that collapsing (ie - relegation!) I dont imagine Lai had a great knowledge of the workings of a football club when he took over so he did the sensible thing, appointed a couple of safe proven 'football' people who did (Williams and Goodman) again, what he probably didnt allow for was that been a disaster, whether it was they were too old, they were outdated, no longer upto the job, who knows but they were terrible appointments.

I think overall Peace did a very good job at the Albion but the last couple of years he was obviously looking to sell and therefore protecting his sale of the club with the appointment of Pulis, a man who had no relegations on his CV and so you were pretty much guarenteed to be premier league (ie - high value) when he sold the club.

I think from the appointment of Pulis tracing back to the changing of Director of Football every 5 minutes after Ashworth went, to the appointments like Mel and Irvine, the sanctioning of signings of players who barely kicked a ball or who we lost a lot of money on (Big Vic, Sess, Ideye, etc) it was clear he was just looking for quick fixes, just doing enough to get the club through until he sold it. Until the last couple of years of his reign i always thought Peace had a sensible plan and vision and overall he did a good job in my book but the last couple of years maybe tarnished things as by giving Pulis full control we were left with short term fixes but longer term problems, ie - players with lower resale value and big wages.

As for Lai, what i think he has done well is press the reset button, we were sinking and so he got Jenkins in who knows how to deal with that situation, he has done it before, turned it round and got us back to the premier league (which is all the owners will want) he isnt scared to make unpopular decisions but he has a proven track record. I also think Jenkins was there with the days of Ashworth, bargain signings, etc so i imagine we will return to that, signs are there with the appointment of a young eager coach in Mooro (Mowbray), Dowling as DOF (Ashworth), signing Townsend, Barnes (Harvey not Giles!) etc.

If we go up i would think there will be a couple of bigger names (helps with the marketing too) but also a number of foreign players we probably havent too much about, the same will probably apply even if we stay down just on a smaller scale. I think gone are the days of a glamour signings like a Anelka, Chadli, Greg, Sturridge even if we do get back up, i think we will eventually see the Albion model of mid to late 2000's and its something i personally am pleased about (with ideal a few more of our own youngsters involved this time round)

I know people slate Lai, saying lack of ambition, etc but its worth remembering the Albion is worth a lot more to him being in the premier league than is in the championship, so its in his interests more than anyone to get there even if we dont always understand the methods, but its a lot easier for Lai to make money through the football side than it is to sell land, the ground, etc, etc.

Great post mate and I agree with pretty much everything you have said.

I think he put a lot of trust into Pulis and it didn't work out, like you mentioned he has hit the reset button, turned to Jenkins and it looks as though we are slowly rebuilding back to how the club was run previously.
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5758 on: January 24, 2019, 12:06:45 PM »
I dont know but my guess with Lai would be something like this.

Lai and his group wanted to buy / invest into english football when there seemed to be a boom with other chinese owners, they werent going to buy into one of the top 6 from the premier league, its too expensive. The likes of West Ham and Newcastle are basket case clubs and as Newcastle are finding now, Ashley puts a high price on them and as the Blues can vouch for, with Gold and Sullivan in charge at West Ham, they would want a premium.

Lai's group are investors so they are looking for a good deal, and therefore at some point they want a return on their money, the Wolves are exactly the same, i doubt the Fosun Group used to have posters of Mike Stowell and Robbie Dennison on their walls, they brought into Wolves to make money, the difference is they have Mendes who has a pool of players who he puts in the shop window, the top ones will be sold for big bucks, and the cycle continues, its working well for them at the moment, the issue will be if the authorities clamp down on it.

As for Lai, as far as premier league clubs go we would be about good as you could get, aside from the top 6 and the basket case clubs, we were relatively cheap (in football terms), we were stable (i think 6 or 7 years in the premier league when he took over), debt free and just a well oiled machine (on the surface)

I think his first interview he said it would be business as usual, ie - follow the JP model, which would be tick over in the premier league, they can promote and tap into the far east market a bit (the big boys have most of the pie but with how big the market is, if you can just have a little nibble you will still make plenty).

Basically, keep the money coming in, the incomings get bigger but so do the overheads (bigger fees, wages, etc) but at the end of each season i would imagine the group would put a percentage aside somewhere in the accounting (even if they dont withdraw it) which is their return on the investment, the whole time your in the premier league the club becomes more valuable, have a nice little return each year then in x amount of years, sell it on, make a nice profit due to the club being more valuable, its what JP did but with Lai the stakes are higher as there is money to be made but more to be lost too.

Thats all well and good when it lasts but as i think Stan pointed out above, your only one season away from that collapsing (ie - relegation!) I dont imagine Lai had a great knowledge of the workings of a football club when he took over so he did the sensible thing, appointed a couple of safe proven 'football' people who did (Williams and Goodman) again, what he probably didnt allow for was that been a disaster, whether it was they were too old, they were outdated, no longer upto the job, who knows but they were terrible appointments.

I think overall Peace did a very good job at the Albion but the last couple of years he was obviously looking to sell and therefore protecting his sale of the club with the appointment of Pulis, a man who had no relegations on his CV and so you were pretty much guarenteed to be premier league (ie - high value) when he sold the club.

I think from the appointment of Pulis tracing back to the changing of Director of Football every 5 minutes after Ashworth went, to the appointments like Mel and Irvine, the sanctioning of signings of players who barely kicked a ball or who we lost a lot of money on (Big Vic, Sess, Ideye, etc) it was clear he was just looking for quick fixes, just doing enough to get the club through until he sold it. Until the last couple of years of his reign i always thought Peace had a sensible plan and vision and overall he did a good job in my book but the last couple of years maybe tarnished things as by giving Pulis full control we were left with short term fixes but longer term problems, ie - players with lower resale value and big wages.

As for Lai, what i think he has done well is press the reset button, we were sinking and so he got Jenkins in who knows how to deal with that situation, he has done it before, turned it round and got us back to the premier league (which is all the owners will want) he isnt scared to make unpopular decisions but he has a proven track record. I also think Jenkins was there with the days of Ashworth, bargain signings, etc so i imagine we will return to that, signs are there with the appointment of a young eager coach in Mooro (Mowbray), Dowling as DOF (Ashworth), signing Townsend, Barnes (Harvey not Giles!) etc.

If we go up i would think there will be a couple of bigger names (helps with the marketing too) but also a number of foreign players we probably havent too much about, the same will probably apply even if we stay down just on a smaller scale. I think gone are the days of a glamour signings like a Anelka, Chadli, Greg, Sturridge even if we do get back up, i think we will eventually see the Albion model of mid to late 2000's and its something i personally am pleased about (with ideal a few more of our own youngsters involved this time round)

I know people slate Lai, saying lack of ambition, etc but its worth remembering the Albion is worth a lot more to him being in the premier league than is in the championship, so its in his interests more than anyone to get there even if we dont always understand the methods, but its a lot easier for Lai to make money through the football side than it is to sell land, the ground, etc, etc.


Great post, I think you are on the money (no pun intended) with how Lai expected this to turn out and what he has tried to do about it. The reason we got relegated wasnt really down to Lai in my opinion. I think with each year you have Pulis as manager of the club it slowly turns the squad into an ageing crop of players that have no real finishing edge and the reason he doesn't get relegated is due to him eventually getting sacked after he stopped being able to generate wins through lack of goals. That becomes difficult to turn around when you have a bunch of strong characters that are used to playing that way of football. This is a footballing issue which I wouldn't expect a Chinese business man to understand and he brought people in to spot these issues before there is no return. Unfortunately, Williams and Goodman were a disaster and really screwed his investment.

We are at a point of stick or twist I feel as Lai has 2 options. 1, invest in players that will give us the difference we need to make top 2, which may or may not pay off and cause a bigger loss if we don't go up. Or 2, continue with the current plan of only getting players in if we can do it as cheaply as possible and believe that the current crop is good enough to go up anyway. My worry is he will go with the latter which I think is just as much of a gamble because if we don't go up this year then we will lose our better players due to not being able to service their contracts without SkyPrem money and the value of the club will reduce further.

I hope I am wrong but if I'm not then DM needs to pull this out of the bag for the second half of the season

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5759 on: January 24, 2019, 01:28:45 PM »
My thought has always been that he isn't going to make money out of the club, but out of the name and what we do.

Palm will build these 'West Bromwich Albion Soccer Towns', and will use our brand to promote them. Remember, we still carry a little bit more weight than most English sides, having been the first to tour the country.

The soccer towns will play host to the next generation of Chinese players, who will be trained and developed in the same way we have developed Field, Harper, and co. Our training techniques will be exported to be used on them.

This will curry favour with the Chinese government for improving the standard of Chinese players, and when the big European sides come calling for them, guess who owns their contract / playing registrations / provide the agency services? Lai and his fellow investors.

Mark my words, he invested in us for favour in his homeland, and thought we could just keep spinning our wheels without them coming off the way they did.

He's playing the long game, but part of that relies on premier league football, and that's why I think there is a lot of pressure on Big Dave to get us back up this season.

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5760 on: January 29, 2019, 11:59:43 PM »
Any chance this owner could dip into his piggy bank so we could get a few signings over the line.

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5761 on: January 31, 2019, 01:19:57 PM »
If and right now it is still an if with a few hours to go until the end of the window we don't bring in a single PERMANENT signing two questions have to be asked of this owner -

1. Why did we take that overdraft out as it hasnt been for strengthening the side?

2. Where has the money from the Chadli sale gone?

Oh hang fire breaking news....wes hoolahan is being kept on!

I hope and pray im totally wrong but i genuinly feel we will struggle next year with the number of players we will lose at end of the season if we dont go up as it appears Mr Lai has little interest in us outside of getting his money back.

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5762 on: January 31, 2019, 01:53:37 PM »
If and right now it is still an if with a few hours to go until the end of the window we don't bring in a single PERMANENT signing two questions have to be asked of this owner -

1. Why did we take that overdraft out as it hasnt been for strengthening the side?

2. Where has the money from the Chadli sale gone?

Oh hang fire breaking news....wes hoolahan is being kept on!

I hope and pray im totally wrong but i genuinly feel we will struggle next year with the number of players we will lose at end of the season if we dont go up as it appears Mr Lai has little interest in us outside of getting his money back.

Like a lot of player sales, just because he has been sold for a reported £10m doesn't mean we receive that money straight away.
Sales are structured on performances, finishing position of the buying team, cup qualification and all sorts of other things.
I'd be surprised if we have seen half of the Chadli money yet.
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5763 on: January 31, 2019, 02:25:38 PM »
I agree that they are often structured but at the same time our incoming tranfers can be structured against the money that is due in so why are we not doing this if the deal is structured(obviously not including league position etc but refering more to the guaranteed installments that we would have agreed).

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5764 on: January 31, 2019, 03:34:22 PM »
I agree that they are often structured but at the same time our incoming tranfers can be structured against the money that is due in so why are we not doing this if the deal is structured(obviously not including league position etc but refering more to the guaranteed installments that we would have agreed).

I did hear (from a reasonably reliable source) a week or so ago that we didn't receive all of the Berahino
transfer fee as there are parts that were structured and the conditions have not yet been fulfilled.
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5765 on: March 07, 2019, 11:37:06 AM »
https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/west-bromwich-albion/2019/03/07/chief-executive-mark-jenkins-flying-to-china-to-discuss-plans-with-owner-guochuan-lai/

Jenkins is jetting out to the Far East with finance director Lee Cooper and chief commercial officer Simon King.

They will provide a progress report to Lai and his associates from Palm, the eco-town development company Albion’s owner is affiliated to.

But the main reason behind the visit is to discuss the financial and commercial realities of next season.


Lai is keen to find out the differences between winning promotion to the Premier League and a second season in the Championship.

Albion are currently in fourth place, seven points off the top two and automatic promotion, although they remain in the play-off spots.

Should the Baggies fail to bounce back at the first opportunity, their parachute payments will dwindle from £41.5million this season to an estimated £34m.

If they win promotion, they are set to receive more than £100m in prize money from the Premier League next season.

Jenkins regularly flies out to China to deliver progress reports to Albion’s majority shareholder.

However, Lai is not a regular visitor to The Hawthorns, and has attended just one game this season.

He is represented in England by executive director Ke Xu, who is based at Albion’s training ground.

Cooper joined the club in 2016 and was appointed finance director in August 2017. He oversees all areas of finance at the club.

King was appointed commercial officer in February 2017 after seven years in the same role at Hull City. He has also previously worked for Stockport County.

Oh dear is he really that clueless. ???
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5766 on: March 07, 2019, 12:00:10 PM »
If we fail to get up then cloth will be cut accordingly, presumably club will get bids for a couple of players, Hegazi, Gibbs, Phillips and Rondon. Players out of contract will either leave or be on reduced wages, loan signings will go back to parent clubs and Moore and Jones will probably go again but will have to produce the goods next season or will be gone.

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5767 on: March 07, 2019, 12:30:35 PM »
https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/west-bromwich-albion/2019/03/07/chief-executive-mark-jenkins-flying-to-china-to-discuss-plans-with-owner-guochuan-lai/

Jenkins is jetting out to the Far East with finance director Lee Cooper and chief commercial officer Simon King.

They will provide a progress report to Lai and his associates from Palm, the eco-town development company Albion’s owner is affiliated to.

But the main reason behind the visit is to discuss the financial and commercial realities of next season.


Lai is keen to find out the differences between winning promotion to the Premier League and a second season in the Championship.

Albion are currently in fourth place, seven points off the top two and automatic promotion, although they remain in the play-off spots.

Should the Baggies fail to bounce back at the first opportunity, their parachute payments will dwindle from £41.5million this season to an estimated £34m.

If they win promotion, they are set to receive more than £100m in prize money from the Premier League next season.

Jenkins regularly flies out to China to deliver progress reports to Albion’s majority shareholder.

However, Lai is not a regular visitor to The Hawthorns, and has attended just one game this season.

He is represented in England by executive director Ke Xu, who is based at Albion’s training ground.

Cooper joined the club in 2016 and was appointed finance director in August 2017. He oversees all areas of finance at the club.

King was appointed commercial officer in February 2017 after seven years in the same role at Hull City. He has also previously worked for Stockport County.

Oh dear is he really that clueless. ???

Surely it would have been better to discuss the impact of not being promoted before the January transfer window at least. Not a fat lot he can do about it now

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5768 on: March 07, 2019, 12:59:26 PM »
He has a representative based at the training ground  so why can't Jenkins report to him and save on air fares ? Better still why doesn't the owner show his face over here now and again?
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5769 on: March 07, 2019, 01:28:11 PM »
If we fail to get up then cloth will be cut accordingly, presumably club will get bids for a couple of players, Hegazi, Gibbs, Phillips and Rondon. Players out of contract will either leave or be on reduced wages, loan signings will go back to parent clubs and Moore and Jones will probably go again but will have to produce the goods next season or will be gone.

Yeah, and if Moore and Jones are struggling with this squad, what chance have they got with a weaker squad?  Unless we have faith our scouting and transfers will bring in a hell of a lot of improvements?

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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5770 on: March 07, 2019, 01:46:08 PM »
You would have thought that a savvy businessman would need that part of the business explaining to him would you.

Lai is keen to find out the differences between winning promotion to the Premier League and a second season in the Championship.
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5771 on: March 07, 2019, 01:51:28 PM »
You would have thought that a savvy businessman would need that part of the business explaining to him would you.

Lai is keen to find out the differences between winning promotion to the Premier League and a second season in the Championship.

Particularly worrying when you go on to read that
He is represented in England by executive director Ke Xu, who is based at Albion’s training ground.

What on earth is Mr Xu doing then?
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5772 on: March 07, 2019, 02:00:15 PM »
It’s the E&S. Don’t worry your pretty little heads about it. ☺️
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5773 on: March 07, 2019, 04:38:31 PM »
Why is anyone taking this at face value? The only part of the story that is not speculative is the fact they're going to China. Nonsense piece imo.
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Re: Guochuan Lai
« Reply #5774 on: March 07, 2019, 04:44:28 PM »
Why is anyone taking this at face value? The only part of the story that is not speculative is the fact they're going to China. Nonsense piece imo.

there is no "it is understood that" or "sources at" or any other similar caveat,  it is written as a series of statements of fact.  Why do you say its speculative? Why is it nonsense?  Have you read it?
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