Thus far the club is being run pretty much the same way that Peace ran it. Lai has not sanctioned spending beyond the club's means and until he does then I think it is safe to assume that he won't.
The club is probably on course to make a significant profit this year regardless of where we finish in the league. I would be surprised if it is less than £20m and it might be as much as £30m. This would be typical for the first year of the new TV contract under Peace, who then reinvested the profit back into the club over the course of the next two years.
Peace did this with a view to realising a long term profit as the TV contract grew through the sale of the club. Lai might also be playing the same game or alternatively he could take the profit in the form of a dividend. Until the next set of accounts is published we won't know.
Lai may have some grander strategic objectives which owning the club contributes to be that influence in China or expansion of his business interests into the UK and Europe but at the moment that isn't clear.
Until something significant changes then I think fans had better view him as a businessman owning a business rather than benefactor who is going to make all their dreams come true .
All that said there will be funds available to strengthen and no doubt the wage bill will increase but only because there is a lot of money swilling through the club because of the TV contract.
Finally it really doesn't matter whether he is here or not provided he allows the local board to get on with the day to day running of the club, which appears to be the case at the moment.
I'm not sure that Guochuan Lai has the vast amount of wealth that some claim. As I understand it, he is backed, with promised investment, to the tune of around £2.8billion, for the Eco Town projects in China.
I also think he sees WBAFC as a stand alone project, which generates it's own profits.
On the other hand, I can't see that he would want WBAFC to remain as a mediocre mid table Premier League Club, especially if he wants to improve our own, & subsequently his, global profile. On that basis, I expect to see some investment in better players over a series of seasons, either bought in or through our academy.
As things stand at the moment, our best chance of winning something is through the domestic cup competitions, so I would expect us to make a better fist of them next season.
As far as current personnel are concerned, I would expect that they will be given an opportunity to deliver Mr Lai's expectations, if they don't, undoubtedly they will be replaced.
