A decade of Jeremy Peace for Albion

It's a more relaxed Jeremy Peace who will mark a decade on the Albion board this year making his fifth attempt at trying to establish the club in the Premier League.

The city financier who has done most to lead the club from a previously dormant 20 years and shaped the Baggies' huge transformation throughout 'the Noughties' is calm and confident about what lies ahead.

There will, as if it needed to be said, be no change in the Albion's reach and methods. The club will pay for what they can afford and reach for what they can grasp. They will endeavour to do so with a style of football which will be true to the club's ancient heritage.

But in an age when owners have arrived in football as indulgent parents, treating supporters like children they do not want to disappoint, Peace remains the rather unfashionable dad who has made sure Albion's tie is straight and the homework has been done, while refusing to risk the family budget on extravagant gifts it cannot afford.

It has not always made him popular. Even now, he is braced for the groans from the 'want it all, want it now' clans demanding more spending and sexier signings. It ain't gonna' happen, folks.

Peace has been accused of ruthlessness by Albion's old guard, still resentful of the shares manoeuvres which have made him the controlling owner of a club once run by a scattered family of supporters steeped in the club's traditions but falling off the pace of the game in this millennium.

But you simply cannot argue with his results. The Hawthorns has been up-graded and superbly-maintained, a perfect setting for a rousing atmosphere. The training ground and community facilities are in a state of constant, progressive investment.

And the football? Five Championship seasons which have brought four promotions and a play-off final defeat and, of course, those Premier League excursions which have largely ended in disappointment, but still earned the club huge respect for its refusal to bend to the hysterical spending demands of this era.

There are supporter groups all across the land who would have killed for that journey.

Now Albion are about to go again with Peace kicking back and maybe loosening his tie a little. His faith in his new chief executive Mark Jenkins, along with technical and sporting director Dan Ashworth is immense and he is content to "let them get on with it."

Sharing his time between his London family home and million-pound pad in Little Aston, Peace now sees himself as "strategist" behind the day-to-day running headed-up by Ashworth and Jenkins.

It's taken him 10 years to feel this relaxed and positive about Albion's direction.

He said: "It's a fascinating business to be involved in and we're doing it the right way for us.

"If you've got a wealthy benefactor then you're Chelsea, we simply don't have that person.

But it's actually quite a satisfying thing to do it this way. We're not chucking money at it.

He said: "We've made a lot of errors over the years but as we get more experience we are getting smarter. We take a longer term view and I would much rather get it wrong for the right reasons then get it right for all the wrong reasons, knowing that there are going to be huge problems just up ahead.

"I think the fans, the vast majority of them, are pretty much with us. There are always going to be those who complain, who wants us to spend money we haven't got, but the majority accept the reality of our size and position.

"And I think they are enjoying the challenge as much as we are. They know their club is being properly run and will still be here in the future."

Ashworth's role in threading together the many strands of the club's ultimate purpose - winning football games - is key in all this. He's been nicknamed 'Marco Polo' by non-executive directors, because of the miles he has spent clocking up trying to dig out the players for Roberto Di Matteo's squad.

Albion remain committed to this combination of head coach and football director.

Peace said: "To be honest, I don't really have a big relationship with Robbie - when I do see him we get on fine. He occasionally needs to feel loved like we all do and we sit down and have a chat, no problems.

"But I really leave all that to Dan now. This has been a year of a major transformation at the club, during in which I have tried to take a step back and let people in whom I have faith get on with it."

The transformation over his first 10 years has been no less dramatic during which lessons have been learned.

He said: "We had to get shrewder and smarter - and we are. We have wasted money in the past, a lot of money, but each time we learn from our mistakes.

"We know we will get the DVDs which will show players scoring wonderful goals to a background of stirring music.

"But now the chances are we already have our file on these players and know what he's about. I'm sure - in fact I know - we've done things in the past we wouldn't do now.

"It's been really simple basic stuff - like sorting out where the scouts are going to be, why they are going there and what we need from them.

"In the past, there's been an old boys network who have treated scouting like a grand tour of sunny climates. 'And oh yes, Mr Peace, I need to take my wife with me, is that alright?'

"Not any more I'm afraid. You're there to work - not have a holiday.'

"Things like that."

If Albion are to reach the next step in the journey mapped out by their sober chairman, it will be with all these virtues intact.

The Baggies spent big on their last effort to stay in the top flight with former boss Tony Mowbray but, as they will accept, not as well as they might have done.

They spent £24million in fees, £24million in wages. Result? Relegation again.

That expenditure will largely explain a £10million deficit which will be shown in June's accounts.

"We have to get back in kilter," warns Peace.

So there will be no big fees this summer. Ashworth instead is searching for those out-of-contracts nuggets or possible loans to supplement Di Matteo's hand.

Will they get their foothold this time?

He said: "Who knows? The Premier League is so tough. We've taken five points out of 96 in all our games against the big four since we first got promoted. We haven't even scored against Liverpool yet! That tells you what we're up against.

"But the key for me is that we don't fear relegation. We know we can handle it. We know we can get back. It may sound strange but that's our great strength.

"We're going to go up there, have a good go at it, enjoy ourselves - I hope - knowing we have nothing to fear.

"That's worth something I believe."

By Martin Swain