There have always been similarities between WBA and ITFC. With the Baggies in town this evening, Baggie ST holder and Tractorphile Darren Baker looks at why those similarities still exist, despite being at opposite ends of the Championship table.
It’s been a turbulent few years at Albion, 11 managers in the last 10 years plus a couple of caretakers. Albion are a club that used to enjoy its anonymity and unpopularity with the media but in the same period were thrust into the headlines thanks to the transfer saga with Peter Odemwingie, the walking controversy that was Patrick Anelka and the Marmite Tony Pulis, who must be the most divisive character in the Beautiful Game. Add to this the ego that is Alan Pardew, a club seemingly out of touch with its fans and a relegation from the ‘big league’ and you can see why there has been a tense atmosphere at the Hawthorns in recent times.
A founding member of the Football League, Albion are a club with a passionate fan base, fans that work hard all week to be cheered-up at the weekend (or on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday night!). A club with a rich history and honours that are proudly lauded if not by remembered the majority of the fan base.
Enter Guochuan Lai, a Chinese businessman with a reported personal fortune north of £3 billion. He became owner of my beloved WBA in the summer of 2016 when he acquired the controlling 88% share from his predecessor Jeremy Peace. (Peace ripped his hands off to the tune of £180m and put his trotters up somewhere warm!)
Mr Lai makes his money in construction, champions new ‘eco-towns’ in China and is reportedly building WBA ‘sports villages’ in his homeland – idyllic sounding and could not be further away from downtown West Bromwich, which was the 2nd most ‘deprived Town’ in the country according to a 2016 Office for National Statistics official study.
With an ageing squad (9 of which are 29+), our 2 best players, Barnes and Gayle, being loans and a few that are simply not good enough there is investment required in January to make a genuine promotion challenge and huge future investment required to have any chance of a lengthy return to the Premier League. Will Lai invest? The evidence isn’t good. Our relegation saw player sales generate £25m whilst we spent half of that on incomings. The parachute payment (first year) will pay off the overdraft of £40m, a priority according to our CEO and notoriously Scrooge-like Mark Jenkins. So we should have next year’s parachute of £35m plus the £15m profit from player sales to spend, right? Right!
Lai's tenure promised to "maintain the club’s stable structure and respect its heritage, establishing the club in the top-half of the (Premier League) table". After achieving relegation within 18 months, Albion now find themselves owned by a super-wealthy man who brings with him a Scarlett Pimpernell-esque legend. The club have long since ceased representing or respecting the fans, but have made small steps of recovery recently.
Ever since my University days where I shared halls with a Town fan (the same Town fan who asked me to write this article incidentally!) I've waxed lyrical about the similarities of our great clubs and delighted in who we've shared, amongst others; Sir Bobby, Gaardsoe, GMac, Mogga, Graham Harbey! In fact I am sure I remember a game of post-it note tennis we shared, sticking notes to each other’s doors in the early hours each time raising the kudos of our boasts; 1 FA Cup v 5 FA Cups, 1 League Title v 1 League Title, 1 League Cup v UEFA Cup (OK you win!)
It seems now the men pulling our strings are as far removed from the inner workings of the clubs as they could be. Lai has been to 4 games in his 2 1/2 year stint, all of which n the top league against top 4 opposition so I doubt we'll see him at Rotherham away this season.
There is hope though for both clubs as in Lambert and Moore I see two men who are inclusive leaders and respected football men, transparent and fair in their approach and I can see them both doing good things to sow the seeds of a recovery from unpleasant recent times.
Albeit the two clubs are seemingly striving for different goals, let's hope they can both do the jobs the fans deserve them to do!
I’ll end with two wishes, an Albion promotion and Town comfortable safety this season and that tonight won’t be as cold as the last time we met back in 2010!
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