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West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited, with the controlling Significant Interest in such company being held by Guochuan Lai.
Lai bought the club from Jeremy Peace for £175m in 2016 but his lack of investment in recent seasons has left him hugely unpopular with supporters.
Albion's gross debt was £19m as at end of June 2022, all owed to the owners (unsecured with no fixed repayment date). However, since those accounts were published, they have also taken out a £20m loan with MSD, more than doubling the debt.
Billionaire businessman & investor Lai made his millions with Chinese landscape design & construction firm Palm Eco Town Development Company & accumulated personal worth of £2.8b.
Its known that Albion is up for offers & parties from America & the Middle East have held initial discussions with the club over a deal with conversations said to be "ongoing" for a £50 million takeover.
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Tactics/info summary;
We know how Coach Corberán plays, likewise with Mowatt & Bartley who can be dangerous when they utilise their strengths. Attacking midfielders Swift & Mowatt are given license to shoot on sight by Carlos Corberan in a 4-2-3-1 system.
Right-back & captain Wallace is an instrumental wing-back who produces many crosses for top goalscorer Brandon Thomas-Asante to bang in & WBA have players with aerial presence in "both boxes," the stats say - so we know what were gonna get. 😬
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Venue;
The Hawthorns 26,850 will see 2,009 Leeds fans on reciprocal deal. ER to WBA is 126 miles 2hr 20 mins trip.
£28 - Adults£23 - Seniors 65+£17 - 20 to 25 years£12 - Young adults aged 17 to 19 years£5 - Juniors under 17 years & 17 wheelchair spaces at £18.
Albion's club anthem is "The Lord's my Shepherd" (a setting of Psalm 23).
The song originated following a rare Sunday game in the 1970s and has been sung at matches ever since with that annoying "Boing Boing Baggies" chant to celebrate goals while bouncing up & down which is totally bizarre to watch.
The Baggies nickname ?
In its early days The Hawthorns had only 2 entrances, one behind each goal. On match days the gatekeepers would gather up the takings at each end & be escorted by policmen along the sides of the pitch to the centre line where their was a small office under the stand. The gate money, mostly in pennies, amounted to a considerable sum & was carried in large cloth bags.
It wasn't long before the crowd started chanting "Here come the Baggies"!
Also many of the fans worked in the local ironworks & because of the intense heat, would wear loose, baggy clothing.
Since most of them would go straight to the match after work, it resulted in a very oddly attired bunch standing on the terraces at the ground ultimately nicknamed* 'Baggies' which officially stuck.
Local history;
West Bromwich's growth in the W. Midlands corresponded with that of the Industrial Revolution owing to the area's natural richness in ironstone & coal.
Close to canals & railway branches led to the town becoming a centre for coal mining, brick making along side the iron industry & metal trades making nails, springs & guns.
Located 7 miles from Birmingham it suffered extensive damage by German bombing raids in WW2.
The town's primary economy developed into engineering, manufacturing & the automotive industry through the early 20th century.
More factories have closed in more recent years as manufacturers look to countries where the labour is cheaper but West Bromwich remains a relatively busy industrial area despite the decline of the last 35 years with Sandwell Council the largest employer in the borough who provide a comprehensive range of services to 200,000 local people of which 103,000 live in West Bromwich, a quarter of which is under 20 years old.
