West Brom boardroom changes in pipeline - but no immediate plans for Technical Director

The former Chelsea and Reading chief executive was appointed Baggies CEO last week following the demotion of Xu Ke.

Gourlay’s appointment was confirmed shortly after Steve Bruce became Albion’s new boss – with the 61-year-old getting the title of ‘manager’ rather than ‘head coach’.

Alongside those changes, owner Guochuan Lai became chairman as he takes on a more hands on role at The Hawthorns.

And Gourlay says more changes are coming – although there are no current plans to being in a technical director.

“Steve comes as a manager,” Gourlay said when asked about the change in title. “The way we are structuring the club going forward, it’s not in the immediate plans to appoint a technical director.

“We will assess the situation as we move forward but it’s not a priority at the moment.

“But we will be bringing some quality into our hierarchy at board level to help with the decision making process.

“Over the next few weeks we will be explaining why and when this will happen.

“We need to look at how the football club is run today. We need to boost our board.

“I’ll be meeting the media again over the next few weeks to go into more detail in regards to those plans.”

Prior to be becoming CEO, Gourlay was working as a consultant to Lai at Albion.

“My role in the club has been to observe and that is what I have been doing,” he continued.

“But there comes a point where the observation stops and you have to highlight the issues and the challenges we have at the football club.

“We have some great people here, great people.

“But we have to look at how the club is run.

“I think there are a few underlying issues that have been coming to the surface.

“And we have to be very open, there is no reason for us not to be open.

“This club is a sustainable football club. That is the way it has to remain.

“But we have the capability of moving forward in that model.”