I don't actually have a huge issue with Lai. My only real concern is that he doesn't really seem to care or be bothered about the club and I'd prefer a more hands on owner like Peace. However I'd much rather him leave the running of the club to others rather than try to interfere, especially from afar. Off the top of my head theres at least half a dozen other owners in the league I'd like less than Lai. For example I'm sure Fulham fans are buzzing this morning, but I'd take Lai over that clown any day.
Again, possibly not a popular opinion (especially the way the game is going) but I've never been bothered about an owner investing his own funds in to the club. As long as the club spends the money it self generates sensibly then I'm happy enough. If we have £40m to spend I'd be just an angry if we spent £80m as I would if we spent £20m.
More of an issue for me is how we go about our business. I still believe (possibly naively) that clubs can self generate their own funds and run without a billionaire throwing money around and can still compete in the PL. However it's borderline farcical that we have such a limited budget, but yet shop almost exclusively in the most expensive market in world football.
Whilst we will never be a top 8 side running like we are at the moment theres no reason why we couldn't be a solid mid table team. However to do this we would need to sign good youngish players from cheaper markets, develop them for 2/3 years and then sell on at a huge price before reinvesting. I know some fans think talk like this is negative and as we are the mighty Albion we shouldn't be talking about selling players but ultimately thats the best model for us long term. If you look at all the players we have signed in the last few years then theres only really Pereira, Diangana, Furlong, Ajayi and Kipre who even have the potential to be sold on for a profit.