By Kieran Maguire

4th Apr, 2023 | 4:40pm

Kieran Maguire slams 'disingenuous' West Brom amid £5m Guochuan Lai twist

An independent regulator would not be able to intervene and help West Brom in their attempts to get owner Guochuan Lai to repay a £5million loan.

That is the opinion of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about why an independent regulator can’t involve itself in West Brom’s internal matters.

West Brom submitted their 2021/22 financial accounts on Thursday (30 March) which revealed that the club made a pre-tax profit of £5.4million.

The report also revealed that the outstanding loan of £4,950,000, owed during the accounting period by Wisdom Smart Corporation Limited, has been impaired in the accounts at group level by auditors.

Lai has made multiple promises to repay the loan by various deadlines, and once again he repeated his assurances that he will repay the figure in the latest account.

Maguire slammed West Brom directors for pointing blame at auditors and also believes Lai’s reassurances should be taken ‘with a pinch of salt’.

“West Brom are blaming the auditors for this, but I find that disingenuous,” Maguire told Football Insider.

“Ultimately the responsibility for preparing financial statements lies with the directors.

“The reason there has been an impairment of £5million is that Guochuan Lai has on multiple occasions failed to meet the deadlines that were set by the club and himself.

“Lai is still promising to pay it back at some point in the future, but given his record that has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

“I don’t see how the regulator could necessarily get involved with this as ultimately it is a commercial decision by West Brom.

“The aim of the regulator is to look at things from a strategic level rather than an individual level.“

In other news, Independent regulator told to steer clear of £5m West Brom ‘disaster’