West Brom fan survey 2018/19 results – Supporters aim criticism at club hierarchy

Disgruntled Baggies have expressed concerns over the club’s hierarchy in our annual end-of-season survey.

Ninety per cent of respondents do not have faith in Lai while 87 per cent do not have confidence in the board.

Two-thirds of voters are not excited about next season, even though 65 per cent of supporters did enjoy the season just gone.

Albion are currently managerless and fans are beginning to grow frustrated at how long the search for a new head coach is taking.

Darren Moore was sacked in March, but supporters remain split on that decision.

Just over half of respondents (52 per cent) think it was the right choice, while the same proportion of voters also think the club should not have appointed him in the first place.

After Moore was sacked, caretaker boss Jimmy Shan cemented Albion’s place in the top six.

Shan impressed players and staff behind the scenes, but nearly two-thirds of voters thought leaving the caretaker in charge until the summer was the wrong decision.

More than 3,000 fans voted in the Express & Star’s end-of-season survey, and it was the hierarchy who bore the brunt of the criticism.

Lai was blamed for Albion failing to win promotion, picking up 37 per cent of the vote for being most at fault.

Albion’s owner has not invested any extra funds into the club since his takeover, when he confirmed he wanted it to be ‘self-sufficient’. He only attended one game last season.

The players were next in line, with 20 per cent of people arguing they were to blame for the Baggies failing to go up.

Chief executive Mark Jenkins received 18 per cent of the vote, while Moore only picked up eight per cent. Moore’s assistant Graeme Jones was blamed more, picking up 14 per cent of votes.

Dwight Gayle was voted both player and signing of the season, with Harvey Barnes coming second in both categories, despite returning to parent club Leicester City in January.

Defender Ahmed Hegazi is the current player fans want to keep the most.

Less than a third of supporters were happy the Baggies finished fourth in the table, and 64 per cent of voters think top six is a minimum expectation next season.

Analysis – Why are fans unconvinced?

The results to our end-of-season survey lay bare the current disconnect between Albion supporters and club hierarchy.

Perhaps such stark numbers were to be expected from a rudimentary Yes/No questionnaire, but they showcase the uncertainty many currently feel.

Even though Lai stated when he took over the club in 2016 that he wanted it to be self-sustaining, there are still concerns about his ambitions and his motives.

Having spent a huge £200million on his majority stake in the first place, no wonder he doesn’t want to throw any more of his money towards the Midlands.

His financial absence is frustrating, particularly when compared to Albion's neighbours, but it can be understood. It's his physical absence which rankles more.

Lai only watched one game last season, an uneventful 1-1 home draw with Brentford in December. He didn’t even stay for the derby against Villa four days later.

His chairman, Li Piyue, is just as invisible. That level of disinterest concerns supporters who, by their very nature, are fanatical about the club they love.

At boardroom level, chief executive Mark Jenkins and technical director Luke Dowling are bearing the brunt of a vacuum of visible decision making.

When the season finished, Dowling urged fans to ‘trust’ the board. But the reality is, until they deliver a new manager and a vision for the future, fans will remain unconvinced.

Much of this can be fixed by a fruitful summer. An exciting managerial appointment followed by a refreshing rebuild will change the mood.

A good start to the season will help too. After all, it’s what Albion put out on the pitch that truly matters.

Mike O’Leary was Baggies chief executive between 2002 and 2004 when Jeremy Peace first became chairman.

“People’s opinions do get regularly affected by results,” he told the Express & Star. “People can make a right Horlicks of governing but if you win six games you’re a god.

“Or you can be doing a great job, but if you lose six games they want to kill you.

“Every single fan has the right to an opinion. If you’re a member of the board you can’t keep them all happy.

“But you want to make decisions that people can trust, understand, and support.

“I do think they’ve made some wrong decisions over the last 12 months.”

O’Leary, who worked for free under Peace, believes the key is holding your nerve, but also keeping supporters informed.

“You’ve got to be able to be level headed when people are screaming at you,” he added. “I was lucky, most of the time I was there, we were doing well and fans were supportive.

“The communication we had with supporters was very good, we were talking with them all the time, we made a lot of effort to do that.

"I think the current board could be a lot better in that respect. Fans don’t understand what’s going on, that makes it worse.

"If you understand the difficulties, it’s easier to be more supportive. If you’re left in a vacuum you’ll draw your own conclusions.

"Who knows why Lai made the investment in the first place, who knows what he really wants out of it?"