West Bromwich Albion head coach Darren Moore will have been diligently preparing the players for tonight’s Championship clash against Brentford at The Hawthorns and the gaffer will have a special guest in attendance if reports are to be believed for the game.
The Birmingham Mail reported late last week that our owner would be gracing us with a rare appearance for the game.
Yes, Gouchuan Lai seems to have remembered that he actually owns us and he’s set to meet with our Board for the first time since we were relegated from the Premier League – so rejoice!
In fairness, in this day and age, he doesn’t need to physically appear as communications aren’t the same as the 1950’s BUT perception is everything. He can facetime, facebutt, skypee and all of the other things, but fans want him to be engaged and that means being here, in person, seeing what we see.
Better late than never maybe? It does also tie in nicely with potential January strengthening but given it’s already been confirmed, as per the above report, that he heads back out to China prior to the Aston Villa derby – well that has not gone over well because it means he doesn’t get the club and simply strengthens those who argue it’s about turning profit rather than making us successful.
As somebody who doesn’t get football and maybe understandably looks at it purely from a business perspective, in my humble (based on his own actions), this is another nail in the coffin when it comes to the optics of things in life. Staying for Villa at least would boost his reputation and I’m not alone it seems.
Isn’t that the guy we loaned out to Bremen?
— Sammy Six (@Sammy_Six) November 30, 2018
Tell him to bring his wallet and leave the cash to buy Barnes and Gayle!
— Steve Bloxham (@SteveBloxy) November 30, 2018
I find it incredulous that he will not even stay for the Villa match – if he wants to comprehend what this club is about, its local rivalry and passion, he'd be at the Hawthorns for that. How often do other clubs' foreign owners watch their clubs? Far more.
— Conrad Chircop (@conradchircop) November 30, 2018
I bet he forgot he owned us
— Ryan ☃️ (@ryannwbafc) November 30, 2018
#notinterested just bothered as business not like Leicester owner gave his life for the club #shameful
— Darren Pemberton (@Dazbaza) November 30, 2018
Hope he remembers the way.
— Kathryn Langran (@KathrynLangran) November 30, 2018
The absent landlord
— Davo (@alb1on68) November 30, 2018