West Brom campaigners have retrospective hope with Guochuan Lai
Action for Albion chiefs have vowed to keep the heat on controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai – and carry fresh hope for an independent review.
The peaceful protest group was launched late last year with Albion’s absent owner continued unwillingness to invest plunging the club further into financial uncertainty.
In that time, chair and founder Alistair Jones has driven work that has included regular meetings with chief executive Ron Gourlay, organised a march of thousands down Birmingham Road and raised the club’s cause politically, including with ministers and the Prime Minister at No.10.
Following talks with the office of West Bromwich East MP Nicola Richards, who has backed AFA’s work, there is an understanding that the government Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s white paper review into football governance and sustainability – which was published in February and predicted to be part of the King’s Speech later this year – will bring retrospective sanctioning powers when it comes to owners’ and directors’ tests.
“What is very interesting and we didn’t realise until we’d had these meetings is that the actions can be retrospectively made,” Jones said.
“That is absolutely key for us – we didn’t realise as part of the independent regulator the government is trying to get through in the white paper includes retrospective actions.
“Potentially these licenses can be revoked if there is malpractice and irregularities financially where the owners have failed.”
Action for Albion and members and other concerned supporters also hope the independent review can help shine some light on Lai’s ownership model. Jones said: “Also, the actual awareness of who owns football clubs. There’s a definite question there (about) the owners behind Mr Lai, there’s around 1,000, we believe.
“That’s pretty regular when you look at Far Eastern investment, it’s not new or unique, however how can it be right that happens and we don’t own our football club?”
With a failed promotion bid and no parachute payments Albion were forced into a £20million loan with significant interest rates, while Lai’s £5m Wisdom Smart loan went unreturned and is now impaired.
Albion fans hope the strengthening and tightening of any ownership tests as part of the new bill may be able to help bring the Chinese’s crumbled ownership to an end.
Minority shareholders were further enraged last week when Shareholders for Albion (S4A), who represent a significant proportion of minority shareholders, drew a blank from WBA Group’s Hawthorns-based sole director Xu Ke having asked questions of accounts and finances they believe they have rights for answers to.
An open letter addressed to Lai penned by Action for Albion and backed by other groups including the Officials Supporters’ Club and Former Players’ Association, sent in late March, went unanswered.
AFA are determined to continue fighting in the media and political spectrum to raise awareness against Lai, who took control of the club from Jeremy Peace in 2016.
The group’s head continued: “We believe the draft for the white paper is planned to go into the King’s Speech for September, if there is a general election and change of leadership and it is in the King’s Speech, it will take a very brave Prime Minister to say ‘we’re not going to push this through’.
“It’s vitally important for clubs like us we continue to push this. Our ownership don’t want to come to the table to talk to us.
“We are not going to give up and I want to be the biggest boil on his backside we will be and we are going to create enough to noise to get it out in the political and media spectrum.”
