West Bromwich Albion Finances 2022/23

Ray Of Light

As West Bromwich Albion fans get ready for their fourth consecutive season in the Championship, others might expect them to be a little unhappy, as this is the Baggies’ longest unbroken period out of England’s top flight for more than 20 years.

However, there is an air of quiet positivity around The Hawthorns, partly because of last season’s push for promotion, which was testament to the skills of manager Carlos Corberan. The Spanish coach turned around the club’s fortunes after taking over from Steve Bruce in October 2022, bringing renewed hope to the West Midlands.

As a result, Albion finished in a commendable fifth place before being overcome by Southampton in the play-off semi-finals.

This was a notable achievement, given all of the issues off the pitch at WBA, but there would now appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel following the change in ownership in February 2024.

Owners

Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake.

Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club.