West Brom boss revelling in work alongside new club owners

The Hawthorns head coach is in weekly contact with Andrew Nestor, who has assumed the role of sporting director with Albion and is chief executive of ownership group Bilkul.

Owner and chairman Shilen Patel is never far from the phone for Corberan where the former is at his Tampa home. It is a far-cry from the invisible presence of his predecessor Guochuan Lai.

It is understood Nestor, who has previously been based in Florida and New York, is Bilkul’s permanent presence on the ground in the Black Country as he, Shilen and the owner’s cousin Ashish, also a Bilkul board member, plot strategies for the short and long term of the club.

Corberan, explaining the dynamic between himself, the ownership and existing directors, said: “My relationship with Ian Pearce has not changed from my first moment here. When I arrived Ron (Gourlay) was the CEO, Ian Pearce the head of recruitment. After Ron moved it was Mark (Miles) as managing director and Ian was head of football operations. There was no change in our relationship.

“Now Mark is still here, Ian is still here, we have the same relationship as before. Now with Shilen as an owner I have that contact, that I probably didn’t have before with the (previous) owner.

“Andrew is a sporting director who didn’t change any type of communication between any people working here – he added to it as someone who I have a weekly conversation with, normally. We are talking in detail and when they come here I always spend time with them, I like to spend time with the people in charge and they want to spend time with me.”

Corberan will telephone or video call Patel or Nestor while they are Stateside. The former has several other businesses to oversee at home as well as a young family. Nestor – for whom the Covid lockdowns offered an opportunity to come together with Patel and confirm their desire to work in English football – oversees day-to-day operations in all departments, not solely involving the first team, women’s and academy.

Nestor has already met women's head coach Siobhan Hodgetts-Still on multiple occasions and even liaises with the chef at the club's training base in Walsall when it comes to nutrition and preparation.

“We like to spend time talking about the vision and the project and evaluating things we do as a club,” Corberan continued.

“These conversations I have with Ian I have always had, you always need contact with the recruitment department to try to create a clear connection with how we see football and how we want to cover needs.

“With Andrew it’s the same. I am enjoying a lot working with him.”

Nestor was involved in Patel’s £60million February takeover from Lai and Yunyi Guokai from the outset and was present in the prospective owner’s early visits to the region as negotiations got under way.

Entrepreneur and investor Nestor has a background in the sport. He was a chief executive, president and general manager of Tampa Bay Rowdies and was director of Italian outfit Bologna for a couple of years at the time Patel became a minority shareholder a decade ago.

Nestor is no stranger to the game in England and has previously been in the country on scouting missions and transfer negotiations. He carries a big influence in the use of data and analytics in sport and his firm Cerro Capital, founded with Ashish Patel and another partner, invests in ‘technology-enabled companies’ looking to upscale them globally.

“My work is now,” Corberan added. “Their work is the future. Their work is the future while analysing the present. My work is to be fully focused in the present.

“My longest vision can be three days ahead when you play three games in a row. You cannot move from that, then you make a mistake.

“But you need to understand the full picture of the people in charge. It is important to be aligned with the project and some decisions in the short-term.”