Guochuan was always going to be a silent partner except for cross-branding with his Chinese businesses. He is totally reliant on the UK management for footballing expertise. It's generally a good thing when the chairman does not interfere in such matters.
Ken just seems to be an interface.
Thus the club solely relies on its UK board and its director of football for playing the game of association football. Guochuan, being a rookie owner, possibly thinks that changing head coaches is the answer and keeps pressing Dowling for answers. Surely at some point he will realise that LD is coming up with the wrong answers?
Couple of points:
GL isn't the chairman, Li Piyue is
GL is a shareholder with a controlling interest. It's Li Piyue's job to look after the interests of the shareholders.
Ken is Chief Executive Officer, in old money, Managing Director.
The board of directors, listed at Companies House, consists of Li Piyue, Ken & Mark Miles.
Luke Dowling, although having the word director in his job title, is listed on the WBAFC website as part of the management team.
Returning to GL's input into the running of the club, I'd say he doesn't get involved much in the day to day, but has a massive say on strategies & policy.
The one question I'd want answered is:
Under Lai's ownership we've changed head coaches & different playing styles numerous times. In that time we've accumulated players who suit one playing style but not another, so are, in effect, redundant.
I'm not sure how much that policy has cost the club, but in the case of Olli Burke, we lost around £13 million.
So, although changing coaches mid term might give us a short term fix, apart from Pulis, the strategy doesn't appear to be sustainable.
Wouldn't it be a good idea, to formulate an identity for WBAFC, & then work on a series of strategies & tactics to achieve that?
