[leeiswba]

The criticism of JP is fully merited. He was a custodian of our football club, a club he acquired for next to no investment. Plainly he was going to make a packet when he sold up after managing the club very well during his tenure. So he gets a lot of credit for that. However that doesn't mean he shouldn't be hammered for selling the club to an owner who no scope to invest in the club. Supposedly conglomerate FOSUN were sniffing around Albion around the same time but they we're able to acquire Wolves a much lower sum. Mainly because Steve Morgan then in charge of Wolves elected to take a hit and to sell on the cheap (still left him very wealthy). Whereas Peace put maximising his own profit above the future of the club and disappeared into the sunset. Had he really been interested in the future of the club he could have mandated a purchase price of £150m but strictly on the basis that he took £50m and the £100m went into the club for facilities, a safety fund etc. He had plenty of options to leave a lasting legacy but prioritised maximising his personal gain.

Cloud cuckoo land mate, I’m Albion through and through but if someone was going to pay me £200m or someone was going to pay me £70m I’d pick the £200m.

Also how do you know that Lai didn’t tell Peace everything he wanted to hear about what he was going to do for the club? Not hard to tell someone a pack of lies if you want something so bad.

Not saying he has told a pack of lies but like Liam said you can’t hold Peace accountable for what has happened after he left. By the way I don’t think Lai has done a fat lot wrong, not his fault the people he put in charge of football said failed and when they did he got rid of them.

[baggie82]

Cloud cuckoo land mate, I’m Albion through and through but if someone was going to pay me £200m or someone was going to pay me £70m I’d pick the £200m.

Also how do you know that Lai didn’t tell Peace everything he wanted to hear about what he was going to do for the club? Not hard to tell someone a pack of lies if you want something so bad.

Not saying he has told a pack of lies but like Liam said you can’t hold Peace accountable for what has happened after he left. By the way I don’t think Lai has done a fat lot wrong, not his fault the people he put in charge of football said failed and when they did he got rid of them.

So you’d just make sure you were as rich as possible even if the club would be better off and you’d still get £70m? What kind of fan is that? Look at Steve Gibson at Boro. Plenty of successful businessman who love their club and find a balance. Moving off topic slightly I broadly agree with your assessment of Lai and his decisions. My problem with him isn’t his management it’s that Peace supposedly sold us as he couldn’t take us any further yet Lai has no greater resources or ambition - which is more a criticism of JP.

[leeiswba]

So you’d just make sure you were as rich as possible even if the club would be better off and you’d still get £70m? What kind of fan is that? Look at Steve Gibson at Boro. Plenty of successful businessman who love their club and find a balance. Moving off topic slightly I broadly agree with your assessment of Lai and his decisions. My problem with him isn’t his management it’s that Peace supposedly sold us as he couldn’t take us any further yet Lai has no greater resources or ambition - which is more a criticism of JP.

Like I say though how can you blame Peace for that, you don’t know what the conversation went like, he could have told Peace he was going to invest £50m into the club. Peace can only take his word for it, not saying that is what happened but until we know it’s a bit harsh just to blame it all on Peace.

Also the Chinese government have really clamped down on money leaving the country and that is why Dr Tony at Villa got in the problems he did because he couldn’t put get any more money out the country. FOSUN don’t have that problem as they have money and companies all over the world.

[baggie82]

Like I say though how can you blame Peace for that, you don’t know what the conversation went like, he could have told Peace he was going to invest £50m into the club. Peace can only take his word for it, not saying that is what happened but until we know it’s a bit harsh just to blame it all on Peace.

Also the Chinese government have really clamped down on money leaving the country and that is why Dr Tony at Villa got in the problems he did because he couldn’t put get any more money out the country. FOSUN don’t have that problem as they have money and companies all over the world.

A contractual agreement to invest in the club could have been agreed, far from  impossible to sort out. Your second paragraph is kind of my point, we would have been better off with the conglomerate with billions all over the World than Lai (or Dr Tony for that matter).

[AlbionBest]

He's yet to invest anything in the team or stadium as far as I'm aware ? It's just been the normal revenue used to spend.
Wonder if he will invest in our Club ? When as the last time we had some outside investment ? Thompson ?

[divinewind]

How much money did Jeremiah put into the club?
How much did he take out? Two simple questions.

I think the Halfords needs a new coat of paint by the way.

[caravanc58]

A contractual agreement to invest in the club could have been agreed, far from  impossible to sort out. Your second paragraph is kind of my point, we would have been better off with the conglomerate with billions all over the World than Lai (or Dr Tony for that matter).

I believe Sir Jack Haywood sold Wolves for £10 but Morgan had to invest £30m so it's been one before.

[leeiswba]

How much money did Jeremiah put into the club?
How much did he take out? Two simple questions.

I think the Halfords needs a new coat of paint by the way.

But as long as we did well on the pitch which compared to the 20 years before we did under his leadership why does it bother you that much?

[baggie82]

But as long as we did well on the pitch which compared to the 20 years before we did under his leadership why does it bother you that much?

It’s his legacy we are criticising not his management during his tenure, not that hard to grasp.

[Albion79]

I think Jeremys legacy will be he sold us as an established premier league club, with a nice ground, top notch training facilities, a top level rated academy, players in the squad on reputation who years ago we could only dream of.

He sold it to a group reportedly worth billions, who never were going to throw endless cash at it, but who seem to have a plan of developing the Albion name through their eco towns and to young generations in the far east where football is starting to take off.

As far as i can tell, the new owners spent more money on transfers and wages last season than ever before , and on paper that squad should not of been in the bottom 3.

We didnt make any cutbacks last year, as our income grew, we spent, whether we spent it on the right players / management is another subject completely, just because the owners have lots of money it doesnt mean they have to spend it, our signings last year should of been more than able to kick us on from the previous seasons slump.

If Peace did put nothing in and made a huge profit, good luck to him, i wish i was that savvy, as leeiswba pointed out, the club is a hundred times better off than it was years ago, Thompson started the turnaround and Peace carried it on.

I have no doubt Peace was a wealthy man anyway, but he was running a business, a very successful one, after been a chairman and developing that business into one of the top 10 clubs in the country, should he walk away and say i did it for the love of it? I dont think a chairman of any top performing business would do that.

Peace did well out of it, but it it was £1m, £10m or £1000m some people would say he had too much, he ran a successful and prosperous business and sold it on, it happens all the time, he may be a fan but he is also a businessman.

Peace wasnt perfect and made many mistakes in his time, same as every human being, but to put any blame for the clubs meltdown last year at this door i dont think is correct.

I think Lai was probably naive, he trusted experienced football people and whether it just didnt work out or these people took the p**s out of his lack of knowledge, we dont really know but it seems he didnt mess about sacking them when he realised.

Clubs like Albion have a shelf life in the premier league, it doesnt make it right but we were always going to go down at some point as we just make up the numbers, i would be shocked if in the next few years current 'established' premier league clubs like a Leicester, Bournemouth (both wealthy owners) a Burnley (similar to us) dont get relegated, its not the owners fault, it happens eventually, its how you regroup and bounce back and we wont know the answer to that til the end of this season.

[divinewind]

"Clubs like Albion?"
Thats another part of his legacy, to make us feel grateful. You won't hear Wolves fans talk like that. You are what you eat.

[paulosull]

"Clubs like Albion?"
Thats another part of his legacy, to make us feel grateful. You won't hear Wolves fans talk like that. You are what you eat.

couldn't agree more, they should have sign up over Astle gates "mid table championship club" to keep the peasants in their place.

[baggie38]

I can't stand this guy he is everything that is wrong with modern football. I would put a couple of grand on it that he won't attend any matches this season. I bet he was rubbing his hands together when he discovered Jenkins was happy to return and keep a firm grip on the purse strings.

[Albion79]

'Clubs like Albion' is the right term unfortunately.

To us fans the club is special, nobody else could care less in modern day football.

If we want to be competing with the best the premier league and europe are the place to be, next week the premier league kicks off, we all know before a ball is kicked that one of  Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham or Liverpool will win the league with three others from that group taking up the champions league place.

It will be the same next season, and the season after, and the season after. Every other club know they can finish between 7th and 20th, you are one bad season away from being relegated without ever having the chance to win the league - Bolton, Middlesboro, Wigan, Blackburn, Villa, to name a few, all established premier league clubs who went down, we followed the pattern, it happens eventually.

That isnt anything that Albion have done wrong, or the other 85 professional clubs in the country, its just since the premier league took off the door is closed at the top, Blackburn won the league when it first started and Leicester won it but in the 25 odd years of the premier league i think the winner has come from the top 6 clubs. Even more so now as they get richer but other than Leicester, i cannot think of a club outside the usual top 6 who have made the champions league in the last 10-12 years.

I wish i could see Albion teams of the 50's, 60's and 70's who won stuff, entertained, etc or at the start of the season think we may win the premier league but modern day football just doesnt allow it to be done at the very top, like say above, thats not just Albion, its the same for pretty much every other club.

When Lai took over for his first full pre-season we had just finished 10th (after being 8th for ages we messed it up last day) we added an england left back (Gibbs) one of the most successful midfielders in europe of recent years (Greg) a striker who was quality before a couple of injuries (JRod) a midfielder who had won everything and was very well respected and appreciated at every club he had been at (Barry) broke our transfer record to sign a potentially top winger (Burke) all additions that on paper should of at least cemented a top 10 finish and you would hope adding to what we had, meant we could push on in the cups.

As it happens most of those signings didnt work out, managers were sacked and we got relegated, but that was all on the pitch.

Genuine question, with modern day football how it sadly is, what do people think Lai's ambitions should be? What do fans want him to do?

As a side note regarding Wolves, said it previous, actions speak louder than words. There has been many a false dawn at the custard bowl, nobody gets carried away quite like a dingle and then goes into meltdown when it doesnt work. They added that new tier to their ground a few years ago, it wasnt until Xmas just gone it had anybody actually in it when they won a few games, Give it a season or two and if they are back down it will be empty again.

I believe FOSUN had a meeting last week didnt they and they have already started to try and calm the Wolves fans down a bit by saying they wont be chucking unlimited funds at it, they are in it for the long term, want to build and develop the club properly, etc, ie - doing what pretty much what every other club in the country is trying to do, FOSUN didnt make billions by wasting money on stuff.

That is definitely one thing Lai could do better is communicate more because some fans love to hear that sort of stuff, like i say me personally i dont care what he says, its what he does, but everybody is different so i understand plenty like to hear what he says.

[royhan]

An excellent appraisal of the situation, Albion79

[SmethDan]

1. Genuine question, with modern day football how it sadly is, what do people think Lai's ambitions should be? What do fans want him to do?.......

2. .......one thing Lai could do better is communicate more because some fans love to hear that sort of stuff, like i say me personally i dont care what he says, its what he does, but everybody is different so i understand plenty like to hear what he says.

1. Honestly don't think he's done much wrong beyond trusting the keys to the pantry to the wrong people for too long.
He and/or his eyes on the ground Li Piyue should have done better there.

2. Agree communications could and should be more effective, but we have an eloquent if strangely quite Mr Swain for that.
In Mr Swains defence though, Mr Lai made it perfectly clear from very early days that he'd continue to run the club along self financing lines.

[LiamTheBaggie]

It’s his legacy we are criticising not his management during his tenure, not that hard to grasp.

As Albion79 points out

This is Jeremy Peace's legacy:

I think Jeremys legacy will be he sold us as an established premier league club, with a nice ground, top notch training facilities, a top level rated academy, players in the squad on reputation who years ago we could only dream of.

Not the pennies and pence of selling a football club.

[P Anderson]

100% agree with your assessment of the situation Albion 79

[tommcneill]

So you’d just make sure you were as rich as possible even if the club would be better off and you’d still get £70m? What kind of fan is that? Look at Steve Gibson at Boro. Plenty of successful businessman who love their club and find a balance. Moving off topic slightly I broadly agree with your assessment of Lai and his decisions. My problem with him isn’t his management it’s that Peace supposedly sold us as he couldn’t take us any further yet Lai has no greater resources or ambition - which is more a criticism of JP.

He owned the club....it was worth 200m he got that, he does have other businesses whihc he may be sinking the money into

If you would only take 70m when offered 200m then I have really dont know what to say to that

[AlbionFan]

Good post Albion79. I do feel for our younger fans, I was privileged to see the teams of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, watched us win the League Cup and FA Cup. I have two sons, who haven’t seen us win a major trophy and they ask me what the experience was like?I have a grandson, who will be attending his first competitive game on Saturday, he is aged 4. I would love to live long enough to witness us wining a cup with him and my two sons.

[ex coseley kid]

Great post Albion 79. Spot on.

[baggie82]

As Albion79 points out: I think Jeremys legacy will be he sold us as an established premier league club, with a nice ground, top notch training facilities, a top level rated academy, players in the squad on reputation who years ago we could only dream of.

The ground is tiny and lop-sided with ugly steel girders in the East Stand. The training ground is not "top notch" - far from it. We were due to spend a further £250k on it this summer but scrapped that on relegation which sums up how small time we have been. It's average training facilities at best. The academy is a tier 1, agree with that praise, albeit I think we are one of 20 odd clubs with that. As for the squad they just got us relegated, couldn't give two hoots about "reputation", this isn't championship manager.

The lavish praise of Peace from a few is ridiculously over the top, we're a decent sized club who could be bigger, not Walsall FC. The mentality of some our fans to be grateful for ever crumb thrown down is laughable. One of the reasons West Bromwich itself is poor and a dump.

[leeiswba]

The ground is tiny and lop-sided with ugly steel girders in the East Stand. The training ground is not "top notch" - far from it. We were due to spend a further £250k on it this summer but scrapped that on relegation which sums up how small time we have been. It's average training facilities at best. The academy is a tier 1, agree with that praise, albeit I think we are one of 20 odd clubs with that. As for the squad they just got us relegated, couldn't give two hoots about "reputation", this isn't championship manager.

The lavish praise of Peace from a few is ridiculously over the top, we're a decent sized club who could be bigger, not Walsall FC. The mentality of some our fans to be grateful for ever crumb thrown down is laughable. One of the reasons West Bromwich itself is poor and a dump.

Just when you thought you had read it all  

[divinewind]

We were a big club in my time, we have shrunk over the years, none more so than under Peace. He made the club smaller, he told the fans we were a small cub punching above it's weight. Those born in the 80's and 90's believed it, because this mediocre team were the best they had seen.
The man was an illusionist.
Most of our existence  has been in the top flight. Now our young fans see Stoke, Leicester and feckin Bournemouth as bigger clubs. They haven't won as much or have a better pedigree than us all lumped together.
Stop being subservants to a money sucking leech.

I know this thread is about Lai, but what is there to say?

[Topman]

I keep hoping every time I open this thread, he’s either spoken to us, and promised to improve etc, or he’s selling up! Unlikely on both counts