Jeremy Peace: Why Albion sacked Anelka
Chairman Jeremy Peace has lifted the lid on how West Brom's reputation was repaired after their 'annus horribilis.'
The Baggies needed to address the damage done after a damaging season which saw the sacking of Nicolas Anelka.
The short reigns of head coaches Steve Clarke and Pepe Mel also ended before the controversial appointment of Alan Irvine, with star striker Saido Berahino reported as having inhaled 'hippy crack' laughing gas on a night out.
Speaking for the first time publicly about the decision to cancel Anelka's contract last March, Peace told of how the striker's refusal to apologise over his controversial 'quenelle' gesture led to his dismissal from the club.
He said: "It was such a huge issue for the club in terms of our standing. We got Nicolas in here with his advisers. Richard Garlick (Albion's technical director at the time) was dealing with him.
"I was in my office in the room next door. I said I want him to say 'I am sorry to all these people.'
"They tried to draw up a statement. There was a mealy-mouthed paragraph and I said (to Garlick): 'He hasn't apologised, get him to apologise.'
"It was quite clear he wasn't going to so, bang – out. Right, sever the contract, cut it. It was gross misconduct, because of the damage he'd done.
"It struck me he was a man of few words, but an intelligent man. "He should have apologised.
"I feel extremely strongly about that because of the damage (he caused) to everyone, to the community he affected, the embarrassment he caused to the club.
"We stand for diversity. I watched that team (of Regis, Cunningham and Batson). I know Cyrille and Brendon. Hopefully we've been seen to deal with it properly."
Albion couldn't deal with Anelka until the FA acted and the governing body found him guilty of an aggravated breach of FA Rule E3, banning him for five matches and fining him £80,000.
In a candid, far-reaching interview, Peace talked about thoughts on selling the club, the reasons behind the appointment of head coach Irvine, scrapping its academy and the controversial pinstripe kit.
Albion reported a £6 million profit for the year ending June 2013, but Peace admits he could sell up and move on.
He said: "If there was a big investor who put more money into the club generally, into the local community, it would be great.
"It depends what they say about the future of the club. It's finding the right person. It's West Bromwich Albion, not very fashionable. It's not in London."
Peace also defended the decision to appoint Irvine ahead of Tim Sherwood, who many fans wanted ahead of the former Preston and Sheffield Wednesday boss
The chairman said: "We first met Alan first in 2009, he came through our interview process very strongly.
"Tim's got a lot of strengths but we thought with Alan's coaching, given the way we're now structured, with Terry (Burton, technical director) at the top, he'd fit in very well."
The only arrival with Irvine was Rob Kelly who came in as joint-assistant head coach alongside Keith Downing, whereas Sherwood wanted to bring a whole new backroom staff.
Peace said: "We wouldn't have had a problem with that, but we felt the fit with Alan, Rob, Keith, Dean (Kiely) and Terry was good for us.
"We got a frosty reception from the fan-base but Alan's very thorough. I just hope he gets the rub of the green because it's all so marginal."
Sherwood would have cost more, but not markedly. Albion's wages have increased 10-fold in the 12 years Peace has been in charge. But he insists the players remain grounded.
He said: "The top-paid player was on £4,500 a week in the Championship, at that time."
Now Albion's best-paid player is on £50,000 per week, Peace saying: "It's more than that, if you chuck a load of bits and pieces in.
"We performance-orientate them. They like to have appearance money. We have a retention-of-status bonus so we stay up, they get a certain amount per point, and that's healthy.
"We have 'flex-downs.' If you get relegated, you have the downside covered on the commitment on the wages.'Oh, they won't accept that,' people said.
"It stuck. The players we've got now are quite grounded. Saido was thrust into it last season. He's been through quite a sharp learning curve over the last year but he's come back a changed boy.
"You see him praying before games. Somebody's said to him: 'If you want to get on, you've got to focus.' Chalk and cheese from last season. He let himself be a bit misled.
"It's brilliant for us having somebody coming through our academy into the first team."
Berahino is the most successful player to come through Albion's academy.
But Peace briefly considered binning it, so frustrated was he at losing players to bigger clubs for cheap prices, which was allowed under the Elite Player Performance Plan scheme.
He said: "Gross expense is £3m a year and we have a subsidy of £800,000. So it costs £2.2m net.
"Up until last season you've had Liverpool knocking on our door saying: 'We'd like Jerome Sinclair please, we'd like Yan Dhanda please.
"How much? £200,000? There you go'. We're training them up for somebody else to take them.
"We said: 'What can we do? Can we completely disband it?' That's too radical. We are regarded as the No 1 in the Midlands in terms of the academy."
Peace defended the all-white home jersey after fans voiced their disapproval.
He replied: "The shirt is our best-selling shirt – record sales!" he replied. "But next year we're going back to traditional blue-and-white stripes."
During Peace's time, the club switched to a continental style of management which has been replicated all over the country in recent years.
He said: "I said we have to change the way we operate. I'd sat with Gary (Megson) and Bryan (Robson), and they'd say: 'I want that one' about a player.
"I said 'I can't run this business like this any more, we've got to have choice.' I spent time going around Europe – I went to Porto, Udinese, Rennes, and had a chat about how they were structured.
"Germany was interesting. Their clubs have a supervisory board that sits over the top of the football operation. That's the way we're evolving."
Peace also responded to suggestions that Albion were slow to support the Astle family's campaign for detailed research into concussion, after the legend's death was linked to heading heavy balls.
He explained: "I said 'We'll get Laraine (Astle's widow) in with (daughters) Claire and Dawn, have a meeting, find out exactly what they want to achieve.
"We saw them three times over the summer. It helped them to focus on what they really wanted to do.
"We said we'll give them a (match) day so the 'Justice for Jeff' campaign can be launched properly."
