Lewis Cox: The dark clouds are clearing over West Brom

Gloom around the club had long set in. Guochuan Lai ownership uncertainties date back years. The brief stop-gap of 2020 Premier League promotion – albeit slightly ‘hollow’ during the pandemic – did little to help, with immediate relegation to follow. And with it further financial apprehension.

Throughout the time there have, and continue to be, good, honest people working on the ground at the club who want the best for West Bromwich Albion.

But that was while Lai’s hapless stewardship of one of the nation’s great sporting institutions threatened to run it into the ground.

Albion paid running costs and day-to-day bills with loans from lenders in the United States. These were not endless and brought with them great uncertainty and fear. It is understood the latest loan from MSD Holdings, from November, would only have covered a couple more weeks.

Despite that, there was not quite panic within the small inner circle of Albion staff connected to the deal. There was a quiet confidence that, after first flagging interest in November, Florida businessman and investor Shilen Patel could well be the answer.

That relative calm doesn’t mean for a second that the prospect of Lai’s Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) ownerhsip didn’t strike fear into staff. Dozens, if not hundreds, of staff members faced uncertainties – those with mortgages and bills to pay.

Albion’s contingency plan was always to sell the club. The second MSD loan of £8million, which followed the £20m fee before it, was to cover until things were finalised.

There are, presumably, only so many times you can go cap-in-hand pleading for funds.

No takeover meant the club would spiral towards administration and that would potentially mean fines, points deductions, a loss of job security and vultures circling head coach Carlos Corberan – the Baggies’ finest football asset – and his top players.

News that Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran had agreed a £60m acquisition brought sheer relief to everybody connected with the club. In taking on around £40m of debt, he has already done much more than his predecessor. Shilen quoted himself as the new “custodian” of the club.