West Brom's £20m loan ‘helps fill black hole from Premier League payments’

The club confirmed earlier this month that the significant figure was taken from the private US equity firm to assist payments of overheads with parachute payments set to decline.

Gourlay confirmed the football club have received the £20m fee from WBA Group, to whom the loan was paid.

He added that the fee will be used in regards to forward planning, especially once parachute payments decline from the summer, when a financial hole of roughly £30m appears.

“Of course (I understand) and I do speak a lot to the fans, I understand their frustrations,” Gourlay said when quizzed on the move, which caused considerable concern among supporters.

“This is a football club you’ve got to plan ahead for.

“There’s been very little investment into the football club since the owner took over.

“You get by in circumstances like that when you’re in the Premier League, but once you drop out that lack of investment does start to hurt.

“At the end of the day I’m an employee, it’s my job to do the best I possibly can with the tools at my disposal, that’s what I’ve tried to do.”

Gourlay added: “There are two really critical things here, the loan that has been breached two or three times – that loan will come back.

“The second point is the MSD loan and why that loan was taken out by (WBA) Group and the fact it was taken out by Group was on the basis of that money had to go to the football club.

“That money is not being borrowed just to be spent on football players.

“It’s about the infrastructure of the club, our ability to take the club further with the academy, the medical side, scouting side, technology brought to the club people don’t see that helps us build the squad we’ve got.

“And we’re building a squad with very little spend, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the right manager to get the best out of these players.

“The MSD is about giving us a position to finance the club going forward if we don’t get promoted.

“I’m the chief executive, I don’t own any of the shares, I didn’t spend £200m-plus on the club, I can give advice of what I think of the route forward.

“But ultimately he will have to make that decision. In the meantime I will do what we believe is best for the club and I we’re doing OK in the present time.

“I’m aware of the challenges, I understand the frustration of the fans, I don’t hide away from that, I discuss it with the assembly, the Action For Albion guys, I will do my best to explain the situation.

“But ultimately I’m not in control of that.

“The MSD money, even if it sits in the bank the whole time, that’s OK, but it’s there as that protection because we don’t get the parachute payment next season.”

Gourlay explained that, specifically with the loss of parachute payments, the MSD fee will help with general overheads moving forward.

“It’s everything, the day-to-day running of the club,” he added.

“We have just over 200 staff we need to operate the club on a daily basis, the academy is very, very important, the first-team building – it’s not just about investment in the team, it’s about operating on a daily basis.

“We’ve got to travel around the country like every club, a lot of other things.

“What we tried to be very strong on – and I’ve been clear on this from day one – that money is for the use of the club, nothing else. None of that money will leave for any other operation other than the club.

“I have a control of that as the CEO of the football club and no other money will leave because I know there’s a concern out there in the fanbase that money may leave the football club – money will not leave the football club. Gourlay admitted with very little investment from Lai during his tenure – big-money signings have arrived via other funding methods – it was always the case Albion would find themselves addressing the situation further down the line.

The CEO added that previous buys are still stinging the Baggies’ accounts.

“Going back to the loan, when you invest into a club you buy players and are able to sell players. That’s what West Bromwich Albion have done over the years,” he said.

“But that had stopped, we discussed many times the past acquisition of players, we’ve paid over the odds, and that’s hurt us.

“We’re still paying for players who came in a few years ago, that’s what it is, you’ve got to deal with that. I didn’t create that, I’m having to deal with it.

“In the job I’ve spent £350,000 on players, we’ve rebuilt an unbalanced squad and we’re now getting the best out the team.

“You see guys come through the academy, it’s happening, I did say it would take time. The loan – I go to the owner and I’m asking for investment and his way of investment was to take the loan.

“That’s his (choice), he can, he is the major shareholder, it’s his money, he’s the guy who spent £200million on the club, and I’ve got to run the day-to-day as chief executive of the football club.

“I can only work with the toolbag I have.

“I do know certain other things have gone on, before my time, that are proving difficult, but we will resolve it, we will resolve it.”

He continued: “To use an example the academy, when I joined we kept developing these young guys and losing them.

“We’ve had to put a stop to that, it’s not 100 per cent but we’ve stopped it.

“Then we had the academy audit, it needed investment, we moved what monies we had into the academy to protect the players coming through and coming to Premier League and EPP1, because that status is very important.

“A lot has gone on that I had to deal with which I inherited.”