Matt Atkinson 𓅪

#wba,STH.football.music.food.fashion.tech.gigs. Insta: mattjsatkinson

[jack @Jbcfc45]

Credit: @SouthamptonFC

[Harrison Ford @HarrisonFordLA]

May the fourth be with you

[Jack Himself ⚒️ @jackgambardella]

Ooh look at me, I’m Brentford and I’m gonna help Spurs and ruin the whole country’s fun just so we can qualify for Europe.

Grow up.

[Gavin Cooney @gcooney93]

Ipswich promoted with a remarkable stat - Dara O'Shea played every minute of the 46-game season...and didn't pick up a single yellow card. He deserves to be a Premier League player

[Damià Abella Pérez @D_AbellaOficial]

The club couldn’t be in better hands. We all love you, Mozza 🤍💙!

[Sarah Coombes for West Bromwich @SarahCoombesWB]

Few things have united my constituents like the anger felt over the West Bromwich Albion points deduction.

I’ve written to the @EFL on behalf of fans to seek answers. #WBA

[West Bromwich Albion @WBA]

Fun fact: The Albion haven't conceded a goal in 8 hours and 34 minutes of @SkyBetChamp football. 🧱

[Kieran Maguire @KieranMaguire]

2024: West Brom named EFL Championship Community Club of the year.

2026: West Brom deducted two points by EFL for accounting treatment of donations to Club community scheme.

[Daniel Hewitt @DanielHewittITV]

So Albion are deducted points:

-for making charitable donations to its community foundation

-based on a RETROSPECTIVE adjustment to its accounts AFTER the EFL changed the rules

-without being told how much they exceeded the limit

-with no published judgement

No words. #wba

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

James Morrison’s team-talk to his West Brom players today should be straightforward given frustration and anger at their treatment by the EFL. Even if breaches involve other matters not just community development expenditure (which are disputed), and we await the full written reasons, Albion still have every right to be aggrieved over the short nature of the hearing (two days) when the punishment could impact their season so devastatingly. Two days? Other clubs’ hearings have lasted far longer.

“For now, we will settle this on the pitch,” West Brom say. “For now” signals they reserve the right to appeal depending on reasons/results. For now, they rely on Morrison for survival in the Championship. One point against Ipswich or Sheffield Wednesday away next weekend keeps Albion up. They may be safe anyway, barring Oxford United beating Wednesday at home and Millwall away, Albion losing theirs and a GD swing. During every dark period, clubs need a guiding light. Morrison has provided it. #WBAFC #Baggies

[Steve Hermon @SteveHermon]

You literally couldn’t make it up that Albion have been retrospectively judged to have breached financial rules due to in-kind donations of facilities & resources to charity in the same season #WBA were named Community Club of the Year by the EFL.

[Andy Jones @Andyjoneswrites]

#wba fined 2pts for £2m overspend, much of which was charity work which the EL retrospectively punished.

Chelsea guilty of 36 separate illegal payments of £48m for players like Hazard, Willian, Matic, Luiz which helped them win trophies.
No points deduction or transfer ban.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

So a club can sell its hotel to itself, sell its women’s team to itself, but West Brom are punished, they believe, for legitimate “in-kind” donations to the Albion Foundation, its charity partner that saves lives. Albion also believe the alleged PSR breach is “less than £2m”

[Second Tier podcast @secondtierpod]

Cost of sacking Liam Rosenior: £24m

Cost of buying Sheffield Wednesday: £20m

When sacking a manager costs more than a club in the Championship, it's probably time to start addressing those financial oblivion questions in football.

[David Piesing @DavidPiesing63]

Compounded Interest on £4.95m of the MSD loan (not on the rest of the MSD loan) should be treated separately because it relates to borrowings directly correlated to the £4.95m that Lai withdrew illegally. The unlawful “loan” to Wisdom Smart was made in March 2021 and repaid (by Bilkul) in March 2024. The 3-year PSR period was from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025, so that “loan” was in existence for 21 months of the 3-year period.

The rate of interest was SONIA plus 9.75%, which equates to an average overall interest rate of 14.05% for that 21-month period. By my calculations that’s £1.29m of interest directly attributable to that rogue £4.95m Wisdom Smart loan which should unquestionably be treated as an ownership loan.

Not sure how accurate it is but it’s been suggested that we were £1.1m over the 3-year PSR limit.

[David Piesing @DavidPiesing63]

@RobDorsettSky @JPercyTelegraph @GoldbergRadio @BuzagloToBalis @AliJones9 Hang on - the club had to borrow money BECAUSE Lai had literally stolen (I use that term without hesitation) money from the club with the Wisdom Smart “loan” that was made unlawfully by his stooge (then sole director of the club), Ke Xu, in blatant breach of his fiduciary duty to only act in the best interests of the company (being the football club) which that “loan” made to Wisdom Smart very clearly was not!

I sent several emails to Ke Xu about this (I have copies), pointing out his blatant breach of fiduciary duty and demanding to know as a shareholder what he was doing to enforce repayment from Wisdom Smart. Every email was totally ignored. I also sent emails about it to the club’s auditors, Azets (I still have copies) who were obviously very interested. Crucially I sent an email to Rick Parry (Chairman) and Trevor Birch (Chief Executive Officer) of the EFL on 20th January 2023 about Lai’s “loan”, which led to two video calls with their “very interested” colleagues Mark Rowan (Chief Communications Officer) and Nick Craig (Chief Operating Officer) in May 2023 about all the shenanigans. I made them aware of facts regarding the Chinese ultimate beneficial ownership of the club which neither they nor the Premier League (who originally approved Lai as “fit and proper”) knew nothing about. Because of those illegal acts by Xu, as Lai’s puppet, money unlawfully disappeared from the club, leaving it days away from going into administration.

If the club may potentially now suffer a points deduction some 3 years later directly because of the club having no option but to pay interest on expensive MSD loans taken out by Lai to literally keep the club in existence because he was unable to repay his own unlawful Wisdom Smart “loan”, then this would be a disgraceful gross injustice by the EFL and must be fully exposed and challenged. No sane person would deem that to a breach worthy of a points deduction. The EFL was made fully aware of the situation regarding that Wisdom Smart loan and if they cannot now locate their emails to refer to, I do still have them all.

The EFL has had an absolute stinker here on multiple fronts (as did the Premier League before them) and they need to recognise that and immediately dismiss any charge against the club.

[Lewis Botfield 𓅪 @lewis_botfield]

This really is the worst team we have ever had, no fight, no quality, no hope. We’re a fucking disgrace!!! #WBA

[Gemma 𓅪 💙 @Gemmabaggies]

I have been supporting Albion for over 30 years. This is the most inept, talentless, spineless, bunch of footballers I have EVER seen. We deserve everything we get. They let us down time and time again. I’ve had enough. #wba

[Matt Atkinson 𓅪 @mattjsatkinson]

@AndyfromNewHamp Really enjoyed the article Andy. There is a small type btw:

On July 7th 2005, Aune signed for The Albion

[Matt Atkinson 𓅪 @mattjsatkinson]

@le_lebouf76 Styles with an assist playing CM 👀