Remember when Jeremy Peace owned our beloved Baggies? This blog disclosed that the football club was getting massive kudos via its connection with The Albion Foundation, a charity which does some excellent work, but putting sod all in. The canny Peace was happy to bask in the glory of the "good works" whilst letting other people fund it - notably us taxpayers via bent Labour Sandwell Council. I pointed out long ago that in the 2012/2013 WBA FC put just £20k into the charity that year but then it got even worse. One set of accounts during Peace's reign showed that the Club put a nice round figure into the charity ie "0" (zero)! This left a very nasty taste in the mouth of most right-thinking fans but, as usual, was hardly mentioned by the local mainstream media (and Match of the Day) who continued to laud the non-existent generosity of the Club
I reviewed the state of play during lockdown and noting the change of ownership. The latest accounts for the year ended 30th June, 2019 do, of course, reflect the new ownership and the ultimate control of WBA by Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited (a mere 9,207kms away from The Hawthorns.) At the moment fans are struggling to pay £14.95 to watch a game on TV (although pre-Covid WBA were trying to flog polo shirts for £40 a pop) but the good news from the accounts is that the "highest paid director" almost DOUBLED his pay - up from £219,000 a year to £437,000 (plus a £20k pension bung which seems remarkably modest.) The Club had a turnover of over £70 million but there is no mention in the accounts of any payments to the Foundation.
This led me to look at the accounts for the Foundation itself - also for the year ended 30th June, 2019 - whereupon I shat myself. The list of donors supporting various programmes did NOT include WBA FC and mostly consisted of the Premier League, the corrupt Labour Council, various other charities/foundations and a couple of companies. Not only does the Club not appear as a significant donor (aside from some minor admin and facilities help) but, as will be seen from the document below, the Charity says it paid the Club over half a million pounds for tickets!
As will be seen below the Charity sold goods and services of £7,251to WBA FC down from a much greater £58,150 the year before.) But, incredibly, the accounts say the Charity bought £507, 890 worth of tickets from the Club. I thought this must be a misprint although noted WBA had sold the charity over £600k worth of tickets the year before. Even then I thought there must be some mistake and that the rapacious Club were not actually profiteering from their "own" charity. I duly wrote to Mr Rob Lake who runs the Albion Foundation. You will see from the exchange set out below that Mr Lake denied the colossal ticket purchases and said that the charity only (ONLY) spent £50k+ on kit and tickets for the staff. As you will see, I duly wrote back to Mr Lake pointing out the figures set out in the Charity's own accounts - but answer came there none!
This appears to be an absolute scandal (and Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill was a trustee at the material time and is named as such in the accounts.) Perhaps Mr Lake and/or the Trustees will explain this NOW?
Here are the actual emails. There was no response to my follow up.
2nd July, 2020
Dear Mr Lake,
Hi Julian
Thank you for your interest in The Albion Foundation.
We have an excellent relationship with WBA FC. I have replied to your queries in the text.
Hope this helps.
TEXT:
In the past the Foundation has featured in The Sandwell Skidder blog in respect of apparent lack of funding from West Bromwich Albion FC.
I have been looking at both the Club's and the Foundation's latest accounts and I have been unable to trace any donations in money or in kind from the Club to the charity (apart from some "sales" of £58, 150.) Am I missing something? Within restricted funds anything with PL, Premier League or EFL in the title is WBA FC’s contribution from the central Premier League Community Fund. This was a contribution of £740,618 for the last set of accounts.
We also receive a great deal of in-kind support such as free use of the stadium and academy facilities.
I further note:
(a) that WBA FC handles the payroll for the Foundation. Is there a charge for doing this and, if so, how much? No
(b) incredibly, the Foundation declares that IT buys over half a million pounds a year-worth of tickets from WBA FC (£507,890.) Why? I do not know where you get this figure from see below the figure is £53,519 and this includes the cost of all staff kit as well as tickets.
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