[NJS]

They have big early calls to make, there are so many players out of contract that their futures need addressing. I think some of the kids decisions will be really interesting.

Players out of contract in the summer:

Alex Mowatt, Cedric Kipre, Matt Phillips, Erik Pieters, Ethan Ingram (on loan at Salford), Jovan Malcolm, Adam Reach, Martin Kelly, Kyle Bartley, Nathaniel Chalobah, Yann M'Vila, Reyes Cleary, Ted Cann, Josh Shaw, Reece Hall, Jamie Andrews (on loan at Grimsby), Brad Foster, Aaron Harper-Bailey, Layton Love, Narel Phillips, Fenton Heard and Ruben Shakpoke

Alex Mowatt - keep
Cedric Kipre - keep possibly increase terms
Matt Phillips - not unless he accepts reduced terms i.e. based on the actual weeks he's available on past seasons?
Erik Pieters - no
Ethan Ingram (on loan at Salford) - ? doesn't seem to be pulling up any trees
Jovan Malcolm - no
Martin Kelly - no
Adam Reach, Kyle Bartley, Nathaniel Chalobah - keep if not too expensive.  You may not think these are future EPL players but we're far from the EPL and Financial Fair Play rules means that we have to retain some sort of squad
Yann M'Vila - no idea, will he even make the bench this season?  If he's cheap he could replace one of  Reach or Chalobah
Reyes Cleary -  - see Matt Phillips.  I think he lacks the intensity off the ball to suit CC.
Ted Cann - keep, sell Griffiths
Josh Shaw, Reece Hall, Jamie Andrews (on loan at Grimsby), Brad Foster, Aaron Harper-Bailey, Layton Love, Narel Phillips and Ruben Shakpoke - no idea this is really up to CC and team to judge whether any of them have potential for further, late development 
Fenton Heard  - keep

Dike  - Has he become a distraction?

[Albionic]

I suspect an American owner will see a USA international as a major marketing opportunity, and do all he can to maximise his support

[johnny Cash]

I don’t know why Dike is thrown in the equation. I can’t see how he can go anywhere. Injured until the end of the year, two years left and probably uninsurable for any new club. We would have to give him away and pay him up

[costa blanca baggie]

I suspect an American owner will see a USA international as a major marketing opportunity, and do all he can to maximise his support

All well and good if he’s ever fit to play. Which he isn’t. Maybe he has connections with sport related injuries in the U.S.

[mulliganstired]

I would be busting a gut to keep Kipre and Mowatt, but Phillips' time is surely up.

[MarkW]

We have another thread for discussing which players should be kept or not. Let's not derail this thread

[liverbaggie]

I wonder what our new owner is thinking after this last week, what are his plans?

[timdon]

I wonder what our new owner is thinking after this last week, what are his plans?

I imagine he is thinking that we were lucky to get a point against QPR, that the first half today was awful, and that the second half today was very good, pretty much the same as 98% of the rest of us. As for his plans, mmm, we'll just have to wait and see 

[Fritzl Palace]

I imagine he is thinking that we were lucky to get a point against QPR, that the first half today was awful, and that the second half today was very good, pretty much the same as 98% of the rest of us. As for his plans, mmm, we'll just have to wait and see 

Sums it up fairly nicely 

[liverbaggie]

Perhsps hes thinking we got 4 points out of 6

[baggiebof]

There's an hour long interview with him being aired this week on Wednesday, 7pm, Radio BBC WM.

[kris_boing]

Looking forward to that. Would be good to hear his plans for us.


Phase 1 has to be invest in the squad to get us back in the Premier League.


Phase 2 is to establish ourselves there again.


Phase 3 is hopefully a stadium move to 35k-40k capacity which I think we could fill on the Premier League with the team going well and with the right pricing.

[SmethDan]

I doubt I'll be spending an hour glued to BBC Radio WM so any written summaries would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile re the thread title....... it's Bilkul. Or rather it should be.

[halifax_baggie]

I doubt I'll be spending an hour glued to BBC Radio WM so any written summaries would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile re the thread title....... it's Bilkul. Or rather it should be.

It ought to be changed then to be grammatically correct 👍

[SedgleyAlbion]

12 months ago today we all came together for the love of our football club. Make no mistake, we all played a part in getting us to where we are today. As I’ve said repeatedly, we might have disagreed on the route, but we all wanted the same destination. Thanks to everyone for their incredible support. Always remember clubs belongs to its fans 💙🤍

[Albionic]

Looking forward to that. Would be good to hear his plans for us.


Phase 1 has to be invest in the squad to get us back in the Premier League.


Phase 2 is to establish ourselves there again.


Phase 3 is hopefully a stadium move to 35k-40k capacity which I think we could fill on the Premier League with the team going well and with the right pricing.

with you on 1 & 2 but not 3 sorry.
Hawthorns expansion yes, moving No!

[beechyboy90]

Good interview with Mr Patel on Wm yesterday. It's still available on the BBC. He came across well and seemed a pretty genuine bloke, good communicator, savy and realistic and he gets the club

[buzzingbaggie]

Good interview, came across extremely well... interviewer appeared a little star struck and perhaps could of proved a little deeper.

What took me was how long he's been a fan of football... He's not a man who's taken a blind punt on football (aka Lai). It appears a deep rooted interest with knowledge of the game.

Time will tell but first impressions are good👍.

[GunnarGT]

Good first impression, but when he revealed that he listens to Iron Maiden, it became a very good first impression

Well spoken and reflected. It will be interesting to see what changes he'll implement during the summer.

[deebo]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hh9988

Link to the interview.

[alex1]

An interesting man and come across as very genuine. Has pretty much a global perspective, so when he started talking about academies, I wonder if we might see an Albion academy in Africa or wherever.  A co-operation with Bologna may be more likely in the shorter term.   Its good to see him making a real effort to getting to know the about the club's culture and even subscribing to WBATV! Just hope he's not going to over stretch himself with all his interests and projects around the world.

Just as an aside, I wonder why the interview had to be at a 'secret location'. Its not as if it was going to be monitored by MI5 or anyone.

[KN22]

I felt that he came across very well. Clearly an intelligent guy who has a track record of running successful businesses. Having listened to him, I feel much less concerned about the fact that he is choosing not to pay off the MSD loan at present. He claimed that there is nothing to be gained by doing so and that it will be dealt with as and when it needs to be.

[Jeremy Roland Peace]

with regards to the loan, much like your own mortgage there will probably be penalties in paying it off early due to the interest that is on it.

[gazberg]

with regards to the loan, much like your own mortgage there will probably be penalties in paying it off early due to the interest that is on it.

He's renegotiated the interest to more favourable terms for us apparently

[BaggieBoy04]

Looking forward to that. Would be good to hear his plans for us.


Phase 1 has to be invest in the squad to get us back in the Premier League.


Phase 2 is to establish ourselves there again.


Phase 3 is hopefully a stadium move to 35k-40k capacity which I think we could fill on the Premier League with the team going well and with the right pricing.

We can't move from the Hawthorns it has been home for over 100 years. Expand yes but only after a few issues have been sorted
1 The M5 J1 Island with the A41 In theory the Ground is in a great location right next to the Motorway and on the busy A41 with the Midland Metro down the road and a frequent bus service outside but on Matchdays the M5 is our biggest issue how would this cope with say 30-35K crowds. Unless we ask Sandwell Council and Highways England as a matter of urgency to upgrade J1 but this would cause years of disruption alas J10 which still isn't really finished. You would make the Traffic even worse through Smethwick and Great Barr already.  We could try and ask NX for any spare Preferably Double Decker buses to park outside the Ground  after a match and provide a shuttle to West Brom Town centre. As the 74 is diverted away through Smethwick. We could also ask WMR or the Midland Metro to run Match day Trains or Trams. Train to either Smethwick alight for WCML or Birmingham and Stourbridge/Kidderminster/Worcester non pick up only so stopping but to let people off. Or a Tram from Wednesbury to Birmingham or The Hawthorns to Wednesbury and Birmingham. In theory Wednesbury being the last West Brom fan area anyone like me who lives in Darlaston or Bilston could get the next Tram or walk to the 79.
2) Because of these issues we can't fill our Ground even if we charged £100 Adult Season tickets because people might find getting to the ground is an issue
3) How would we expand you have the Brummie Road and houses to consider unless we tunnel Halfords Lane and part of the Brummie Road over the West Brom bound carriageway.
4) If we were to move where, West Brom doesn't have another Hawthorns peice of land anywhere and if it does it is probably embarked for housing.