Lewis Cox comment: West Brom are night and day after one year of 'custodians' Bilkul

The first-team may find themselves on the cusp of the play-offs – pretty much where they were 365 days ago – but beyond the men's senior squad, the change could hardly be more stark.



A club's first-team is the tip of an iceberg. It is the part people see, at the stadium on a weekend or midweek night, but so much of of a club exists beyond.



Naturally, many would argue the first-team is all that matters. Or certainly the main thing that matters. We are all guilty of seeing three points as everything. Ask the manager or head coach and both Carlos Corberan or Tony Mowbray would tell you that, regardless of who owns the club, three points are everything.



But a year or so ago, without the intervention of Shilen Patel and his father, Dr Kiran Patel, West Bromwich Albion were in freefall and with little hope of avoiding a financial Armageddon. Interest-loaded borrowing was all that was paying the bills and the fear of administration, consequent job losses and other asset-stripping was very real.



Mercifully, from early talks around September 2023, there was a glint of a hope at the end of the Guochuan Lai and Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) spiralling nightmare.



The Patels were white knights and Albion's decision-makers, managing director Mark Miles at the forefront, knew the Florida-based family featuring a business investor with a family background in medical philanthropy had to be the answer.



Patel's first words upon his £60million takeover from the Chinese disaster was how Bilkul would become the club's custodians.



For Albion supporters worldwide, given the very real threat Lai's rudderless fronting brought on the club, the word custodian should stand above and clear of any on-field success.



The Tampa family bought into a club wrapped with debts and immediately cleared Lai's controversial £5m 'Wisdom Smart' millstone. Loans from United States lender MSD, which were keeping the club afloat, totalled around £30m and were taken under control.



Control of the whole financial structure of the club, bringing with it stability, is the single most influential element of Bilkul's first year at the helm. That alone has cleared the great, historic club of fears for its future.