West Brom needs new owner to ‘give the club 100 per cent’ – Ally Robertson
Speaking to the Express and Star, West Brom legend Ally Robertson has claimed that the Baggies’ new chairman must give their all to the club to get back to the Premier League.
The club is currently owned by the controversial Guochuan Lai, who is looking for £60million to sell the Championship side, £140million lower than he bought the club for in 2016.
According to Robertson, the club’s new chairman must be committed to taking the club out of the second division with a more hands-on approach than Lai.
He said: “We want somebody to come in that wants to look after the club. He has more or less said that he wants rid of it now and that is not somebody we want.
“We want somebody that owns the club that wants to give the club 100 per cent and to help us get back to where we were.
“Lai, over the last few years, doesn’t seem to have been involved in anything to do with the Albion and that’s not what we want.”
Time for change
West Brom fans have had a torrid time under the ownership of Lai.
Since their relegation from the Premier League, they have struggled to gain any momentum having only managed 9th and 10th-place finishes in the second division.
Robertson’s view is an understandable one. Promotion to the Premier League is tough, especially next season when the likes of Leicester City and Southampton will be pushing to go straight back up.
Their plight is not helped by the lack of Premier League parachute payments this season, as the club enters their third season in the Championship.
Lai has been an absent owner at best, and a terrible one at worse. His controversial loan of £20million for the running costs of the club left fans bewildered, angry and untrusting towards their chairman [The Athletic].
West Brom’s suitor list is not long, however. An investment group consisting of Egyptian businessman Mohamed Elkashashy and Manchester-based sports lawyer Chris Farnell reportedly entered talks to buy the club last month [The Athletic], but no progress has been made since.
Fans appear dead-set on change at the top of the club. West Brom supporters group Action for Albion told The Athletic: “We will continue to scrutinise our current ownership and will work with other like-minded groups to continue to demand they act in the best interests of the club both now and in the future.”
While the future is looking slightly bleak, the relatively low asking price for a club with a large fanbase and recent Premier League experience may entice the hands-on owners that Robertson thinks the club needs.
In other West Brom news, details emerge about the club’s kit deal with Puma.