Player sales to boost West Brom budget
Departing CEO Mark Jenkins has revealed any funds Albion receive from player sales will be used to boost Slaven Bilic’s transfer kitty.
It was announced earlier this week that Jenkins has decided to retire as the club’s chief executive after 18 years working at The Hawthorns.
The 54-year-old has been replaced by Xu Ke – who is known as Ken – but departed having already laid out the club’s transfer strategy for the 2020/21 campaign.
And Jenkins revealed Bilic is free to invest any money he brings in.
He said: “Albion always have to box clever in the transfer market.
“Whatever figure the club has got, any player sales goes on top.
“And if there is a player on a significant wage, that will also go back in the pot if you sell him and bring someone in on a lower wage.”
It is often reported promotion to the Premier League is worth £170million.
And while that figure is roughly accurate, Jenkins said £40million of the money Albion will receive has already been accounted for.
“Getting promoted cost the club nearly £20million in bonuses to players and in clauses we had to pay other clubs in transfer agreements,” said Jenkins who did not receive a promotion bonus.
“You can say that’s OK because you got promoted – and that’s right, that is how you should run your business.
“But that £20million has got to come from somewhere.
“That money comes out of the Premier League money.
“Also the Premier League have taken £10million off us because of Covid-19.
“That is money they have had to give back to foreign TV companies. And there is another £10million we haven’t got because no gate receipts are coming in.”
