Albion chairman Jeremy Peace has laid down an early marker for a “no-risk” approach to the Premier League if the club go on to clinch another promotion.

With an eight-point cushion protecting their place in the automatic promotion zone, the Baggies are on course for a fourth stab at establishing the club in the toughest division in world football.

But Peace insists there will be no departure from the ‘spend-what-you-earn’ approach that has been his regime’s core code of conduct, even if the team go on to clinch the big leap over the final eight games.

He said: “Our ambition is to keep the club solvent and use our resources more sensibly. We have established a model which has worked at one level but perhaps not at another.

“But we have to be realistic about where we are and what we are as a club. It’s no good pretending we’re something else. It is our job as a board to run this club properly.

“In our last Premier League season, we spent £23million in recruitment and pre-spent our parachute payments in an effort to stay in.

“It reaches the point where you consider however much you spend, for a club of our size, it doesn’t make a huge difference.”

Peace maps out his “more of the same” plans for Albion in an interview for BBC’s regional “Late Kick Off” programme being screened tonight, in which the chairman concedes only the arrival of a major new buyer for the club would significantly change its horizons.

His belief is that the club can reasonably plan long term for Premier League safety and pushing forward towards Cup challenges and a Europa League spot – but anything beyond that is simply “not realistic.”

The focus in the meantime is to use improving scouting and research to identify better players and an improved science and rehab back-up programme to improve the players’ fitness and durability.

He said” “The days when we would run a squad of 30 players or more are gone. We shall face the challenge with a smaller group of 22 but hopefully of higher quality.

“We have to manage expectation and ensure this club remains solvent. Should a billionaire come and sign lots of players on high salaries then you have a different kettle of fish.

“But it’s no good pretending we are something we are not.”