Owner Guochuan Lai adds another Chinese business associate to West Brom board
Chinese owner Guochuan Lai has strengthened his ties with Albion by adding another business associate to the board.
Ke Xu has been made a director of West Bromwich Albion Group Ltd ahead of a summer rebuild.
Xu is a 29-year-old executive assistant who has been part of Lai's team dealing with Albion since the eco-town entrepreneur took over the club nearly two years ago.
Known as 'Ken', he has attended games and meetings about the Baggies but now his role has been formalised with a recent appointment.
He is the second of Lai's business associates to be named on the Baggies board after Li Piyue.
Li, 45, worked with Lai at eco-town business Palm for 17 years and has been the owner's conduit with the club for the past 18 months. He is expected to be named chairman once the season finishes.
After a disastrous season that prompted Lai to sack three board members including the chairman, chief executive, and technical director, Albion's Chinese owner wants to have more control over club affairs.
The Baggies are owned by West Bromwich Albion Group Ltd, but that company is controlled by a separate one called West Bromwich Albion Holdings Ltd that own an 88 per cent majority stake.
Chief executive Mark Jenkins recently terminated his association with the Holdings company, leaving just Li and Lai as directors of that controlling company. Jenkins remains a director of West Bromwich Albion Group Ltd.
Albion's new-look board are set to appoint a new head coach next week, with Brentford manager Dean Smith the favourite to land the job.
However, Darren Moore's remarkable form as caretaker boss has given them pause for thought.
Although the board are wary of the differences between the caretaker role and full-time job, Moore could now keep Albion up against all the odds and is being strongly considered for the role.
Smith responded to the links with the Baggies over the weekend.
"I’m enjoying my time here (at Brentford),” Smith told West London Sport. “If you leave it’s not always rosy and the grass isn’t always greener. There has to be a good reason to leave rather than moving on all the time.
“There’s always going to be speculation about managers or players when a side does well, particularly when it’s a club our size.
“But there is a long-term plan at this club and I’m acutely aware of what I have got here and that is always a big factor. It is a proper family club.”
