Revealed: Jeremy Peace's £2m payday for his last year owning West Brom

He sold his 88 per cent stake in the club to Chinese tycoon Guochuan Lai for £175 million in August after 14 years as chairman.

The latest accounts for West Bromwich Albion Holdings Ltd, the club's parent company, show Mr Peace – the sole director – was paid £1.95 million in the 12 months to the end of June.

That's an £833,000 hike on the £1.12m he was paid the year before.

But he left behind one of the most financially stable clubs in the country, which recorded overall pre-tax profits of £4.8million for the 2015/16 season – down from £7.6million the year before. The club made £2.5m less on player deals during the year, ending with a profit on sales of £2.8m

Turnover for the year rose to £98.3 million, up from 96.2m in the previous 12 months.

The club also increased its spending on players. During the financial year it forked out £28.2million - a huge jump on the £19.6m it spend the previous year.

And there was further spending over the months following the end of the financial period.

Accounts filed at Companies House show that the Baggies, under head coach Tony Pulis, spent another £24.5 million.

It added another £25.1million to the club's future liabilities for team player wages, which stood at £102.4 million by September 1.

Albion broke their transfer record for the third season running when they signed attacking midfielder Nacer Chadli from Tottenham in a £13million deal.

Their summer purchases also included winger Matt Phillips and defender Allan Nyom for fees in the region of £4million and £3million respectively, while long-serving midfielder James Morrison signed a new long-term contract worth around £60,000-a-week.

The club and its other businesses, including its player academy, was officially transferred to Mr Lai's Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Ltd on September 15, when Mr Peace formally quit.

The accounts have been drawn up by the new team at The Hawthorns. In his brief business review, new club director Pi Yue Li said the season saw West Brom accumulate 43 points from 10 wins and 13 draws, including home wins against Arsenal and Manchester United as well as "a satisfying away victory over our local rivals Aston Villa".

The club finished 14th in the Premier League.

"The board is aware of the risks which affect the company," said Mr Li. "It has analysed previous seasons spent in the Premier League and has tried to implement lessons learnt from this experience.

"The long term policy of the club is to improve the playing squad and its infrastructure year on year."

The accounts also show that average attendances slipped to their lowest in more than five years, down to 24,600 per game, while the number of season ticket holders was also down, to 17,925, from 18,300 the season before and 19,200 in 2014.