[Beefy 1965]

Info in Chris ?
He was the man who got all the news in first at the Birmingham mail unlike today where it's all national journolists, for years on Twitter we chatted and meet him a few times at games that's it really,not sure why he is not liked,if that's the case fair enough,but what I do know he was first to know anything WBA, and always correct as well,
That's why above will be spot on including years times of loans etc will be spot on !!
His thoughts are his own, but what I have read regarding why the loan has not been paid back I think all of us agree ??

[Foxman_WBA]

Here’s my take on a few thing;

Firstly Chris;

I’m with beefy on this one. I’ve met him a few times. He seems like a good guy who just wants to bring the news to us. Let’s not fool ourselves though his main priority was to sell the news so there may have been some elements of sensationalisation but far less than the BBC or Sky ever do.

That loan;

For me this is just sneaky and snide from JP. This loan came about the exact time that he bought the shares to take control presumably knowing that he could sell up with full control. He was short of purchasing all the shares so took the money out of the club. Rather than taking it as a dividend he took out a loan. Therefore, bypassing the other shareholders (hence why they’re so pissed) and avoiding a hefty tax bill on a near 5mil payout. This actually isn’t the issue, ethically wrong as it’s a club but it’s ok. The loan then stands for years untill he sells. At which point he should be paying off the loan. Therefore reducing his income from the sale, but this is where is gets shady. He doesn’t, he just sells the whole thing to Lai and runs. Having never paid the 5mil and never having to pay a penny of tax on it. As a business man, Lai should have been able to see this. It’s ridiculous that he didn’t! This is potentially why JP wouldn’t just sell to anyone. He needed someone stupid enough to not ask questions about why there’s a 5mil directors loan that is still unpaid. Again, none of this is illegal but it is completely ethically wrong!

Lastly, going forward and costs;

Again going back to last years accounts filed, unfortunately there’s no breakdown of costs exactly so estimating what people are on and where I’d expect costs generally that’s where my figures came from in my original post. The overall cost last year was 112mil but let’s face it. That could include anything! Someone mentioned purchases of players over a period. As of last year we still owed; 17m within 1 year and a further 11m after that. Hopefully by now the 1 years worth has been paid and we just owe the 11m but it fully depends what’s happened in the year. The big question is who the hell are we still paying for!!! I can’t think of anyone we actually bought last year so at-least that figure shouldn’t rise. The point is upon selling the actual assets we have (players initially mentioned) we should have more than enough money for a full squad rebuild and the odd good player! So why is our board making out we are totally broke when there’s more than enough to go round? That is unless the plan is to strip the assets and sell up. Leaving someone else to rebuild. It would make sense that they can’t tell anyone and further to that makes more sense that suddenly this loan has come out in the press as due diligence is looking into it.

Who knows, all I know is that this whole thing is a mess and we really need someone to step in and run things properly! The squad above that I’ve predicted for next year isn’t awful (not great don’t get me wrong) and should be a decent starting block to rebuild from. We need to go back to the days of buying low and building players up. It’s going to be a big old task to get us back to the Prem or High achieving champ side but it is doable.

[drewks]

The fact that many people who are obviously experienced in the world of finance are seeking answers to questions, should be enough in itself for the club to issue a statement to attempt to clarify things.
If they can.

Very worrying. I wonder if there is anything criminal going on here? Is that OTT?

[Blue Baggie]

I'm just horrified Lai purchased the club with borrowed money and we may already be technically bankrupt !!
Chris feedback -
Like I said about Chris Lepkowaski I never really followed him, from other posters on another forum is seen as an ex Baggies reporter who is now All Anti Baggie.
As I don't really do Twitter I assume that's why I'm in the dark - I don't know about him one way or the other so I don't have an opinion on him.
Emails - This Forum - Wba unofficial forum - Linked In - Facebook - RSSOC forum - West Mids RSSOC - phone messages and whats app I've not got time to get into twitter and instagram.

[Beefy 1965]

Chris is far from Anti Albion and still goes to the games he's a big supporter of the club, I have seen things said about him myself on Twitter but they really are unfounded , I think he tells things like it is and people do not always like that, but as supporters I think we can see something is really wrong at the top of this club, and it must change !!!

[4evaabaggie]

Where has all the money gone?

Sssssh, don't tell anyone, I've got it, it's in a sock under my bed, I'm hiding it from the taxman, when he's been around and done his audit i'll give it back, but you must not tell anyone ..

[silverbaggie]

Where has all the money gone?

Sssssh, don't tell anyone, I've got it, it's in a sock under my bed, I'm hiding it from the taxman, when he's been around and done his audit i'll give it back, but you must not tell anyone ..

I hope that's a very big sock 4evaa or are we really as broke as some of us are beginning to suspect.

[Blue Baggie]

Chris is far from Anti Albion and still goes to the games he's a big supporter of the club, I have seen things said about him myself on Twitter but they really are unfounded , I think he tells things like it is and people do not always like that, but as supporters I think we can see something is really wrong at the top of this club, and it must change !!!

Not as outspoken as me for sure, I come across as bonkers at times, I dnno him so he's just another name to me. I think we are well short of grapevine info from the club atm. I know we have always been slow, but this long without a manager has to be a record. Used to know a guy who was in the AA - that's lost its way now the tannoy appears to be the main topic

[Beefy 1965]

Story gathering pace latest from Matt Wilson@expressandstar and how we should interestingly be competitive this season ?
Owner Guochuan Lai owes West Brom £4.1m because of loan he inherited from Jeremy Peace
By Matt Wilson | West Bromwich Albion | Published: May 24, 2019 | Last Updated: May 25, 2019

Albion owner Guochuan Lai owes the club £4.1million because of an historical loan he inherited during the takeover, the Express & Star can reveal.
When Lai bought an 88 per cent majority stake off Jeremy Peace for £200m in 2016, he inherited a £3.7m loan the holding company owed the football club.

It has since accrued interest and is now a debt of £4.1m.

Club accounts state there is ‘no fixed date for repayment’ and the loan is ‘payable on demand’, so in theory, whenever the club need the money, they can ask for it.
There is no indication Lai does not intend to honour this debt, or that he has ever taken money out of the club.

However, a number of Albion’s minor shareholders who own the remaining 12 per cent of the club are concerned the historical loan is yet to be repaid.

They believe the £4.1m could be useful for the seasons ahead now the Baggies have dropped out of the Premier League and face the financial downsizing that relegation to the second tier will bring.

The Baggies will receive a second parachute payment of £35m for the upcoming season, but that will be reduced to £15.5m the season afterwards.

Although Lai inherited the loan and did not take it out in the first place, the holding company owned by his company, Yunyi Guokai Sports Development Limited, is now responsible for it.

It's believed the loan, taken out when Peace was majority shareholder, was not repaid because it was accumulating interest at a rate advantageous to the club.


Former owner Jeremy Peace.
Lai has been reluctant to invest any further money into the club since spending £200m on his takeover in 2016.
It’s believed he did spend £6m on vanity project Zhang Yuning, a Chinese striker who never played for the club before he was sold to Beijing Guoan in February for an undisclosed fee.

But he has not invested anything more than that, having stated when he took over the club that he wanted it to remain ‘self-sufficient’.

Although the Baggies are expected to lose a number of high-profile players this summer, they will have a competitive wage bill for the Championship next season believed to be above the estimated £20m average for the division.

---

Crucially, in a week where WBA have pleaded poverty and tried to offset the non-signing of Gayle against ensuring staff won't be made redundant, they are owed in excess of £4.1m - a figure that would easily help ease financial issues, possibly even pay for 12 months of Gayle.

---

When one repayment is missed - as has happened - notice could be given demanding the whole loan back; a normal condition of repayment loans. But not this one? Strange.

---

Secondly, Jenkins was the sole director of Group from 2013 to late 2016. Also, Peace sold Holdings ( August 2016 ) when the FC directors knew the loan was partly in default –and no interest paid. Jenkins is now CEO and so therefore some burden of responsibility to call in loan?

[Foxman_WBA]

That loan sounds exactly what id expect. They've had to charge interest on it in order to stop it being taxable as technically its an overdrawn directors loan. The reason there's no repayments or terms is because it not a real loan with a signed agreement etc. Its an owner or director taking money out of the club and saying its a 'loan' as they intend to repay it. Its not dodgy though as most companies do this. They just clear it by a dividend at the end of the year.

The comment about average wage though is a bit ridiculous. What, do our owners think we should be spending the same as the likes of Reading, Wigan, Charlton etc? We make more money so we have more money to spend. It should be as simple as that, forget what everyone else is doing!

By the sounds of all those its looking like my figures in the original post were pretty much spot on! With the extra inflow of TV money this year from SKY into the championship and thereafter we should have more money, admittedly we lose 20m and then 15mil next year if we stay down but as my calculations above we should be able to just cope with that.

Why don't we sign players and basically say if you don't get promoted your wage will drop but we put a release clause in so you can go and earn more if someone is willing to pay? The simple answer is players are greedy in this day and age and don’t actually care about the club as long as they get paid.

But the point is, we should be able to sign players on 20-25k a year? how much is Dack on cant be more than that, but the outgoing cost will be more, which should be what the parachute payment will be for plus the incoming on sale of 1st team players. Its about buying smart now, buy young players on low wages, train them, get promoted and increase their wages or stay down sell high and do it all again?

I think everyone will be relatively happy to know we are building towards something even if we have to start again but we need to know that. I don't actually have trust that the current owners actually want to!