[WSBaggie]

It's a good move by Peace for him and for the club. It's all moving towards us becoming more sellable and most people want that at some point in the future as long as its to the right hands.

[LiamTheBaggie]

Personally, I have my doubts about foreign ownership. If we were to sell up, I would like Jeremy Peace to remain at the club in some sort of role so our finances don't go all out of hand. That's my main worry, for every decent foreign owner there is, along comes a dodgy owner, i.e the Venkys, or any of the lot which have been in charge of Portsmouth during the last three years or so.

Still, I do feel we need that investment if we are to move onto that next level.

[divinewind]

Fair play to him though,the money he saved on players in the window allows him to buy these shares.

If he can get a couple of more shares on top of the ones he has bought already that should see us finish in mid table. 

[KevinWBAFC]

Fair play to him though,the money he saved on players in the window allows him to buy these shares.

this share purchase isnt being funded by the club, its being funded by JP and will not affect the transfer budget or club turnover.

[AlbionLegend]

If we were to sell up, I would like Jeremy Peace to remain at the club in some sort of role so our finances don't go all out of hand.

Same here, whether that would actually happen is another matter. I think JP would do a good job if he were in control of more substantial funds.

[Baggies]

Well firstly he is continuing his ambition to slowly buy up all of the shares in the club so he has something in his ownership that will make him the maximum potential profit. To me, it just cements my belief that his involvement in the club is based around him making money and not particularly about his love of the club itself. According to the shareholders group, this values the club at a maximum of 15 million and probably less if he pays the lowest rate for shares. Considering Blues sold for over 80 million, he is certainly under paying for the shares as clearly if he does decide to sell he will be getting a lot more. I think he has taken advantage in a way of fans who are hard up in the economic climate and the worse than average situation of this area and sees this as a chance to get shares on the (relatively) cheap. Nothing illegal in that of course, but nothing to laud him with praise for either.

Im surprised that people are saying "he is just taking advantage of the system, who wouldnt" and "why should he care about fans who feel hard done by having to sell up" and comments to this effect. Of course it legal, but so is putting up ticket prices to silly levels and bringing out 2 shirts every season at 45 quid treating fans as profit making customers. Doesnt stop the same people making complaint's about that - it's still just the way of the world. He is within his rights but I dont think he deserves a pat on the back for it because there isnt really any advantage for the club in him owning more, just the uncomfortable feeling that one man has total control over the club. Should fans really be saying "good on him"? I dont really see why. To me it just highlights what is all wrong with football - how it is no longer a sport with genuine soul and is instead just a commercial mess that slowly eats itself and which will eventually crack and become unrecognisable in years to come where only the strongest have survived. Money has eaten the game.

Ive said it before in these topics though, but Im no longer convinced about new owners now. Looking around the country and even Europe, most people buying clubs can be put into 3 groups. The first is the lifetime millionaire fan at clubs like Wigan, Stoke, Wolves (Haywood), maybe Newcastle and Blackburn under Walker. These owners are the utopia but are rare and even then are still limited (Ashley - disliked in Newcastle, Whelan is still owed millions by Wigan - what happens when he goes?). The next group is the Arab/US/Russian/Worldwide billionaire who comes in and puts money into the club. They usually have no affinity with the club and who knows what happens when get bored but they do promise at least at the moment the chance for success. Think Man City, Chelsea, PSG, Malaga and maybe Sunderland with Ellis Short. Again, even less likely than the millionaire local hero. Then you get the third group and these are the people you worry about because more and more now the only people interested are looking to make quick millions from the club. Lots of clubs have uncertain futures now with owners prepared to buy up, spend loads and then sell before you realised they never actually put money in, just lent it to you and then your in big debt. You just dont want that sort of owner, even though these clubs usually cause teams like us to get relegated due to the short term investment.

The best hope is really that Peace does not sell up unless he gets somebody with our best interests come in but I doubt he will sell to somebody unless they offer him millions and why would they now? Eventually clubs will end up being fan owned but this will come after the European super league has relegated clubs like us to second tier national leagues with dwindling fan bases. Thats the future sadly and so id rather Peace doesnt sell up, even if it appears he is positioning himself to be able to. I hope if that does come about he remembers he has made a lot out of the club and it's fans already and he should be responsible when doing so. He may as well now just stick with us until the eventual domestic football plunge.

[KevinWBAFC]

theres not much that i disagree there with mate.

JP is a business man, i took the 'albion fan' tag out a long time ago. its not something that particularly bothers me, i view him the same as the coaching staff and players, he's here for career reasons and if the right opportunity presents itself he/they will move on. whether we like it or not, thats the name of the game in modern football, and the only people really here for the love of the club is us, the fans. look at hughesie, as soon as cov waved the wad he was gone. do you think odemwingie or mulumbu will want to stay around if the right opportunity presents itself to them? do you think hodgson will stay around if he is offered the england job, or another high profile job? 

that may well seem unpalatable to many, but its just the landscape of modern football these days and has been caused by the huge influx of money, via sky, into football. i've never had a sky subscription personally due to how i knew their influence would affect football, and i hope all those who criticise 'career' chairmen, players, managers and coaches arent feeding the frenzy caused by sky by subscribing to them, as that is where the root of the problem lies.

for JP to make the maxiumum return from his 'investment' the club will have to be healthy and successfull, so the ambitions of both entities are interlinked. hopefully when the time does come for JP to sell up then the next person in charge will be more of a peter coates than a carsen yeung, obviously that remains to be seen.

[costa blanca baggie]

We can´t score goals to save our lives.....SELL..SELL...SELL!!!!!

[Turkish baggie]

I read some of these comments in amazement! Some of the points are so very realistic but others, dear oh dear! Just who are we talking about MU, MC, Barca, Chelsea or whatever? Why do people want to pass comment when they haven't got a clue what is really happening? Do you think you will change anything? Do you think that over the last 8 or so years the Albion, who we so much love have not progressed or is it that some of these stupid ill informed comments forget when we lost to woking! When we lost 15 games on the trot! When the Hawthorns was a graveyard & only the real die hards would turn up! Forget multi million take overs, its fantasy! Stop running the chairman down who as been the must successful since Bert Millichip! Support the club for what it is, that is being a TRUE ALBION SUPPORTER & not something from sky sports or god forbid a thai owner of B'ham city!!!!

[rubyruby]

I read some of these comments in amazement! Some of the points are so very realistic but others, dear oh dear! Just who are we talking about MU, MC, Barca, Chelsea or whatever? Why do people want to pass comment when they haven't got a clue what is really happening? Do you think you will change anything? Do you think that over the last 8 or so years the Albion, who we so much love have not progressed or is it that some of these stupid ill informed comments forget when we lost to woking! When we lost 15 games on the trot! When the Hawthorns was a graveyard & only the real die hards would turn up! Forget multi million take overs, its fantasy! Stop running the chairman down who as been the must successful since Bert Millichip! Support the club for what it is, that is being a TRUE ALBION SUPPORTER & not something from sky sports or god forbid a thai owner of B'ham city!!!!

Heavens theres some good stuff being written on here today. Sadly turkish this bit of true insight will be lost on some.

[divinewind]

Thats a good post Baggies and sums up how i feel about him.

Certainly we could have much worse than Peace but that doesn't blind me to the fact that he is not taking the club forward where it really matters,on the pitch.

We have been the yo yo joke for a long time now.Look at our first season up,games sold out,the Hawthorns fully behind the team.Now we have empty seats all over the place,people booing our own players and a general feel of apathy about the place.

Every transfer window we all get excited as to who we might sign,names are banded about willy nilly,then we sign ex players,untried players and loanees.The excuse is "we tried".

A few weeks later we are in the bottom 3 and he is "trying" to buy more shares to make himself more wealthy.

I am fed up with being a joke club in the transfer market and fans like Norwich taking the mick out of our poor crowds.

This club has stagnated in the last 8 years,we have a better squad than then but the standard of the division has improved too.
We are making no headway.

A lot of the things that have been implemented were put into place by Thompson.


I don't want a rich foreign owner who sees us as a hobby,and i don't expect us to be competing for players with the top sides.
All i want is for Peace to show as much interest in the playing side of the club as he does in the financial side.
I am not asking for him to bankrupt us,but i doubt a couple of defenders in the window wouldn't have hurt us.

As it is we are gambling on untried again.

This has gone on long enough and we all know what usually happens next.

[rubyruby]

Obviously a bit disenchanted divine but are things really that bad? Picking up on some of the points you make.

Can you move the club forward on the pitch to the exclusion of other facets of the business and vis versa. surely they are inextricably linked?

We all want to sign the best players possible but do they always want to come and play for a club like WBA?

Are we really gambling on untried players. From what i can see most of the players we sign have proven international experience Currently 18 of 23 are either regular or have international experience?

Im not trying to pour cold water on your views. just think there is reason to be optimistic about the future of our club. Personally i think its in pretty good shape compared to many top clubs.