West Brom mascot protests against club owner after Simon Jordan criticises fans’ complaints

A young West Brom mascot protests against the club owner after Simon Jordan criticises fans’ complaints on the running of the club.

Guochuan Lai was defended by the talkSPORT presenter over the repayment of a loan worth around £4.95m loan with The Athletic reporting that Lai missed the December 2022 deadline to repay the loan and that he had promised directors that it would be repaid in the new year.

Fans and journalists have been voicing growing concern about the lack of news regarding the repayment and want answers at it going quiet.

🤷‍♂️ “If I take money out of my club, so what? It’s my football club!”

😤 “If I paid £200m for a club, I’ll do what I bleedin’ well please!”

🤫 “It’s my money, who are you to say what I can and can’t do with it!?”

Simon Jordan responds to fans’ complaints about the #WBA owner. pic.twitter.com/bIeN9OjhcZ

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) January 17, 2023

Jordan suggested that the majority shareholder has the right to withdraw money from the club.

“If I had taken some money out of a football club which I owned I would sit there and say ‘and what? It’s my bleeding football club I do as I please’,” said Jordan.

“My answer would be very simple. If I paid £200million for a football club I would do what I bleeding well please. It’s my money, who are you to say what I can and can’t do with it?”

Hours after that interview, a young West Brom took it upon himself to wear a t-shirt which read: “Where’s the money gone?” prior to the FA Cup replay at home to Chesterfield, which finished 4-0 to the hosts.

West Bromwich Albion’s mascot made sure to send a message to the owners 🤣👏 pic.twitter.com/cEhaNO9NrT

— The72 – We Love the #EFL (@_The72) January 17, 2023

West Brom put fourth past Chesterfield in replay to reach the fourth round.

John Swift put the Baggies ahead by sending his curled effort into the bottom left corner.

Five-time winners Tom Rogic made it 2-0 three minutes after the restart before Jake Livermore got the third from a corner.

Jovan Malcolm then added another in the 91st minute.

West Brom chief executive Ron Gourlay has since held a sit down interview discuss a range of issues on and off the pitch.

The China-based chairman Lai is the subject of protests from his supporters, including those who missed deadlines for the March 2021 figure removal.

Gourlay addressed the local press and reiterated his belief that the cash would be returned to the club, not repaid via dividends. This is a reward for shareholders who have invested as previously reported.

“I made no secret on the point, my board has too, this money has to come back,” Gourlay said, as per Express & Star, about the fee Lai took out of the club to one of his other companies, Wisdom Smart Ltd. “You’re right, it has defaulted, the money will come back. It’s not a matter of it, it’s when it will come back.”

Lai missed September 2021’s deadline and it was confirmed by the club on New Year’s Eve, that the second deadline had also passed.

Gourlay stated that a statement suggested a vague date of “early in January” – but he couldn’t be more specific.

The chief executive stated that he pursues the repayment issue on a daily basis along with Lai and Xu Ke (the WBA Group director, and the non-executive director of the club).

On the field, Corberan’s Baggies continue to march up the table. Off it, long-held concerns within the fanbase regarding Albion’s finances and ownership threaten to boil over.

A piece from yesterday’s peaceful yet heated protests #WBA https://t.co/SDW0qOJ0er

— Elias (@EliasBurke) January 3, 2023

“From my point of view there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t ask him for the money to come in,” Gourlay adds. “I’m in – not so much daily dialogue directly – but by email or requests by Ken, every day that question comes up. I’m not lying about that; every day. I firmly believe the money will come back one way or the other. Do I know whether it’ll be tomorrow, next week, next month? I don’t. I’d be lying to you and misleading and I don’t want to do that.”

Gourlay, who is a former Chelsea CEO and Manchester United director,  said when asked if the repayment continue to be missed, would he walk away from the club: “Good question! I’m not a quitter. I’m not at that stage at the moment.

“I think, in my view, I think and it’d be supported internally by my peers, the club is in better position with me here than me not here.”

Social media users reacted as West Brom mascot protests against club owner after Simon Jordan criticises fans’ complaints…

@srkearley: Got the same T-shirt I wear for the missus after payday 😂😂

@longlaneroyal: Quality 👏👏👏

@Ell1875: One of the highest player wage bills in the league 🤦🏻‍♂️

@NilocSworrub: Ledge!

@CharlieJH1: Rate this, it’s what we should’ve been doing instead of moaning about the club on Twitter tbf

@Evitts7: Good lad 💙😂

@LestahSam: Mental how many bad owners there are. You just know our fans would never do something like this tho

@xJared04: This is absolute class

@NorthBSHA: They bought a 9 million pound striker last season 😂😂😂

@Weaverfooty14: one way of getting your message out there 🤣🤣🤣

@Jay89R: Smashed it lad 👏🏻 well done to the family, raised well 👌🏻 #wba

@BrynmorJ: Good lad 👏🏼

@BaggieFans: Wrong on many levels @Sjopinion10
1. He’s not the owner, he’s the controlling shareholder
2. He didn’t invest £200m, it’s made up of MANY individuals money
3. Have you ever seen this much equity taken out of a club as “loan” never to be repaid. Talking of the £12m not £20m

@ryannwbafc: Bit different when the owners taking money out yet can’t afford to run it without a loan, secured against the assets of the club which puts it all at risk.

@WBA78part2: I think Simon needs to know the full detail before making such bold statements. Consortium of 80 owners and one takes money to keep another of his companies alive while the Albion have to take a 20m loan to pay bills because of it. Morally wrong

@rickster_patel: I think what Simon has not realised is that the owner of WBA is taking money out and then taking loans out against the clubs assets in order to run it on a daily basis.

@RamInSweden: But Simon, when the club goes under and it has lots of unpaid debts, thw debts suddenly aren’t yours are they? As we found out with Mel Morris.

@jgeth89: Its the fact that the owner has taken a £20m loan out to cover operational costs, on top of an existing £12m which has been defaulted on twice. Similar to when you @Sjopinion10 took loans out & delayed numerous tax / runnings costs at @CPFC. Didn’t end well, did it?

@TThrostle: That would be correct… if Lai was even the owner, not the ‘controlling shareholder’. Is it ‘his money’ to take? Why should Albion have to suffer because his other businesses have gone to shit?

@JakeM11wba: @talkSPORT stop giving a ridiculous amount of airtime to the ‘issues’ with Everton’s ownership and give this the attention it deserves rather than dismissing it as a trivial ‘complaint’. We are heading for big trouble under this ownership #wba

@MarkAbel_28: Well of course you can take that tone but it will destroy the fan base, destroy cohesion as a club, and lead to your asset depreciating. Just like you are allowed to do what you want fans are allowed to have their own opinions. Pointless circle with nothing positive achieved.

@johnoakley711: If his heart isn’t in the Club, why buy it in the first place. Clearly doesn’t understand English football. This a disaster waiting to happen.