Neil Reynolds, chairman of Shareholders 4 Albion: I trust Jeremy Peace if he sells up

An Albion shareholders spokesman has backed chairman Jeremy Peace to leave the Baggies in safe hands if he decides to sell.

Neil Reynolds, chairman of Shareholders 4 Albion (S4A), believes Peace would only pass his controlling stake in the club to the right buyer.

Peace has launched an appeal to find new investors which could theoretically lead to a takeover.

Many S4A members have clashed with Peace in recent years over his buyout of many shares, but Reynolds believes his members still trust the chairman to make the right decisions for the club.

"I'm not surprised by the news and I'm not worried," said Reynolds.

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"If he does ever sell then I would thank him for all he has done for the club because there is no doubt it is a much better club now than the one he took over.

"I think most Albion fans and shareholders, even the ones who haven't agreed with everything he has done, would thank him for that.

"And I would trust him to find a new investor with the best interests of the club at heart."

Albion's appeal to City experts for fresh investment follows the announcement of the Premier League's new £5.14bn broadcast rights deal this week.

Reynolds said: "I am not surprised at the timing of this.

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"The new deal might be bad news for fans because it will mean more kick-off times being moved, but financially it will be good news for shareholders because it will increase the value of Premier League clubs." Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, a member of the Football Intelligence Group at the University of Liverpool, said: "I was at a football presentation by Deloitte at which they were saying they believe it is the best possible time for serious investors to get involved with a football club in the Premier League or Championship on the back of the new Sky deal."

But Mr Maguire said that the fact that Albion were not guaranteed to stay in the Premier League was a drawback for a buyer. Only seven relegated Premier sides had bounced straight back in the last nine years.

"There will be considerable interest from overseas and the main area of interest in Albion will be from Asia. There is a lot of interest in the game, but there is the danger that this type of investor is not in it for the long haul," he added.

Mr Maguire said a buyer would be attracted by opportunities for commercial income and an Asian buyer would look at potential shirt sales in their home country and other benefits.

Albion fans giving their views on the news at www.expressandstar.com also had mixed views.

"It is obvious that we need more investment if we are to satisfy our (the supporters) demands for Premiership football and progress in the Cups," said simmo54.

"It might be that JP has just about had enough now following the last 2 awful seasons."

daveyp1983 added: "Personally I would be gutted too see jp sell up. He has turned our club into one of the country's best."