[Topman]

Without doubt I have a really sad feeling towards Albion at the moment. I will always support the club and whilst there is a chance of the playoffs I will be there supporting them. However, with the news of the loan today, I’m finding harder to support the club as a whole if that makes sense, whilst it’s being run this way. The kind of news we had today is news that happened to other clubs, not us. This bloke has been a disaster and I’m praying he sells up sooner rather than later. If as expected we don’t go up this year, I cannot see anywhere else but total meltdown which could lead to administration. I would love to know what Jeremy peace really thinks of the mess of a club he built up has become. I know people blame him, but he took years to build us up correctly and here we are potentially months away from going bust

[tex]

He sold it to Lai, he knew what the guy was. This defense of Peace kills me, he sold the club made a fortune and put us on this path. His treatment of shareholders was appalling and yet some still think he was good for us.

[gazberg]

Easier said than done as it’s not “his” money.  He owns just over 55% of the 88% shareholding, so only effectively owns around 48.4% of the club.  The minority shareholders own 12%, so there’s shareholders in China owning around 40% of the club. He can’t just “take it on the chin” without upsetting a lot of other investors.

I understand that but ultimately they are all going to be taking a lot more on the chin if they continue to hold the club for longer.

[gazberg]

Jeremy Peace doesn't care. He made his money and sold to the highest bidder regardless.

[skyclad99]

He sold it to Lai, he knew what the guy was. This defense of Peace kills me, he sold the club made a fortune and put us on this path. His treatment of shareholders was appalling and yet some still think he was good for us.

Absolutely correct tex, But I will say that he was good for the club insofar as he modernised us and made us a lot more professional which allowed us to compete in the premier league. However, unbeknown to us he was doing everything for his own personal greed, including the shafting of shareholders.

He most certainly put us on this path and he cares not a jot for us. So much for the ‘lifelong baggie fan’.....

[gazberg]

I don't know, it was pretty clear he was building the club to sell for his own gain to most fans I thought.

I did think he would take some care over who he sold it to when he was done but when he rejected offers from lower bidder's who intended to invest in favour of an anonymous frontman from China who offered the most money my belief was crushed.

[skyclad99]

I don't know, it was pretty clear he was building the club to sell for his own gain to most fans I thought.

I did think he would take some care over who he sold it to when he was done but when he rejected offers from lower bidder's who intended to invest in favour of an anonymous frontman from China who offered the most money my belief was crushed.

That was apparent towards the end, but I strongly suspect it was the only thought in his head when he slithered through the boardroom door 22 years ago

[gazberg]

That was apparent towards the end, but I strongly suspect it was the only thought in his head when he slithered through the boardroom door 22 years ago

Yes i agree he weaseled his way in to get rich from the start. I didn't think he would be THAT greedy at the exit door though.

[tex]

It’s the hypocrisy of his “I am a fan” statement that stings. If he was such a fan why did he not sell to someone who would take the club on upwards instead of a Chinese investor group that no one knows who is behind. He was the epitome of greed, this is a community asset that he managed to scrape an extra few million for in the sale just to offload it to an investor group not even interested in the area or the club.

[baggie82]

It’s the hypocrisy of his “I am a fan” statement that stings. If he was such a fan why did he not sell to someone who would take the club on upwards instead of a Chinese investor group that no one knows who is behind. He was the epitome of greed, this is a community asset that he managed to scrape an extra few million for in the sale just to offload it to an investor group not even interested in the area or the club.

Spot on, Peace had no regard for the future of the club when he sold it. Traitor.

[chippyclarke]

If Peace was a true supporter of Albion, he would make a donation of a few million out of his £175million.

[iwastherein68]

I sit end of row , back row , lower tier , East Stand.
On the day that SGM led us to the Premier League. I stood watching my kids and thousands of other people celebrating on the pitch.
I glanced to my right and there next to me stood Jeremy Peace. We shook hands and I congratulated him.
He replied " congratulations to you too, you now support a Premier League team "
I asked " are you going to look after our club Jeremy ?" he said " i most certainly am " despite doing some good work, He lied.

[throstle]

I don't know, it was pretty clear he was building the club to sell for his own gain to most fans I thought.

I did think he would take some care over who he sold it to when he was done but when he rejected offers from lower bidder's who intended to invest in favour of an anonymous frontman from China who offered the most money my belief was crushed.

JP rejected a Chinese offer (Lai?) in July 2015 because they wanted a payment schedule and wouldn't pay all up front.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/west-broms-150m-chinese-takeover-6133867

Meanwhile the move to Jersey predated the sale.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/west-brom-owner-jeremy-peace-7340161#amp-readmore-target

[zippyandbungle]

If Peace was a true supporter of Albion, he would make a donation of a few million out of his £175million.

Easy to tell someone else how to spend their money Isn’t it  ?

[throstle]

Easy to tell someone else how to spend their money Isn’t it  ?

Except £3.75m of it is the club's money.

[zippyandbungle]

Except £3.75m of it is the club's money.

“The clubs money”
So someone else’s?

[tex]

I doubt Peace has any intention of paying or giving any money back. The issue was when he made the deal to sell the club. If he could have resisted being quite so greedy perhaps, we would be in a better position right now.

[ashdoy]

I envy other clubs right now. Action 4 Albion or whatever they are called are ridiculed for their lights etc but I can’t help but think this forum and every other Albion fan who truly care about our treat club need to stand up and throw some major protest at this.

5 wins in a row doesn’t hide the fact we could be without a club in 5 years.

No performance on the pitch should hide the nightmare off it.

[gazberg]

JP rejected a Chinese offer (Lai?) in July 2015 because they wanted a payment schedule and wouldn't pay all up front.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/west-broms-150m-chinese-takeover-6133867

Meanwhile the move to Jersey predated the sale.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/west-brom-owner-jeremy-peace-7340161#amp-readmore-target

Thanks for the articles, i believe there other offers in 2016 as well as Lai which Peace rejected as he did not want the clubs future gambled ie: they offered less than Lai

[skyclad99]

JP rejected a Chinese offer (Lai?) in July 2015 because they wanted a payment schedule and wouldn't pay all up front.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/west-broms-150m-chinese-takeover-6133867

Meanwhile the move to Jersey predated the sale.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/west-brom-owner-jeremy-peace-7340161#amp-readmore-target

The earlier Chinese offer of £150m slightly puzzled me. Surely if this was Lai he would have come back and paid that amount up front and not agreed to a £25+m increase on the price? If he did then he is an even worse businessman than we thought, which takes some doing.

Could this have been a Fosun offer?

[gazberg]

I really don't get the 'Lai is innocent/not to blame'  type comments that pop up from time to time on here.

Lai is a grown adult. He was considered a successful businessman prior to taking over here so a level of intelligence is assumed.

He knew what he was buying and was happy to pay it. If he didn't do his research on the club/deal that isn't the fault of Peace. JP didn't force him to complete the deal.

I can only assume his shadow partners are equally as clueless as they have had offers to sell up and take the loss and move on, they refused and now they are looking at a  near total wipeout of their purchase.

[throstle]

The earlier Chinese offer of £150m slightly puzzled me. Surely if this was Lai he would have come back and paid that amount up front and not agreed to a £25+m increase on the price? If he did then he is an even worse businessman than we thought, which takes some doing.

Could this have been a Fosun offer?

It could well have been Fosun who bought Wolves in July 2016 or Tony Xia who bought Villa in May 2016.

[throstle]

Looks like it was the Chinese group who eventually bought Villa.

They were after Villa or Albion in 2015.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-takeover-chinese-consortium-5555974

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/west-brom-close-sale-after-5993918#amp-readmore-target

[KN22]

I have no time for Lai whatsoever and rue the day that he ever made contact with the club. What I will say though is that I have some understanding of why he has refused offers to buy him out for a value way below that which he paid. Why would he do that? Again this is not support of the man in any way but maybe just a little context. Because of this I cannot see any way in which he leaves in the near future.

[gazberg]

I have no time for Lai whatsoever and rue the day that he ever made contact with the club. What I will say though is that I have some understanding of why he has refused offers to buy him out for a value way below that which he paid. Why would he do that? Again this is not support of the man in any way but maybe just a little context. Because of this I cannot see any way in which he leaves in the near future.

Because as a businessman it's better to lose 40-50m than 100m surely?

If he takes out loans to keep the lights on then it's value will decrease and he will rue the day he turned down the chance to take a 50m loss over a 150m loss.