West Brom's time of Peace through Jeremy
Jeremy Peace's arrival as chairman of West Brom was initially meant to appease footballing rather than financial matters at the Hawthorns.
But the 14 years that followed saw him become the most powerful man at the club, finishing and ending his tenure with a Premier League team.
An equally-notable takeover by a Chinese investment company will bring to an end his reign in the role and as owner, writes Craig Birch.
These developments have seen him call time on a 16-year involvement at the Hawthorns, with his 88 per cent stake in the club going to Guochuan Lai.
The 42-year-old entrepreneur is a controlling shareholder in Yunyi Guokai Sports Development Limited, a new company focused on the sports industry.
Lai built his career developing Palm Eco-Town Development Company into China's largest landscape design and construction business.
Palm is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of £1.8billion. It generated revenue of £500m in 2015.
Former Blackburn Rovers chief executive and chairman John Williams is coming to replace Peace, who first started working with Albion in 2000.
His first role was as a non-executive director, at the age of just 44. West Bromwich born-and-bred, his education had come at the Shrewsbury School.
He was already a successful businessman who lives, as he still does, in London. Growing and developing small companies had made him wealthy.
He was in the background for the first 18 months at Albion, as a bitter feud between manager Gary Megson and chairman Paul Thompson rumbled on.
Megson got them promoted to the top-flight, but the rift couldn't be mended. Thompson resigned in May 2002, to safeguard the manager from quitting.
Clive Stapleton took over as acting chairman, but there was every chance of an extraordinary general meeting called and that Megson would walk away.
The crisis was averted when Stapleton and Barry Hurst decided to step down as directors, paving the way for the time of Peace to begin immediately.
The duo's exit extinguished any chance that Thompson would return, with Megson pledging to sign a new three-year contract which he did the following month.
Managing director and club legend John Wile also left his post. The one transfer deal they had lined up, to bring in £2million defender Sean Gregan from Preston, went through anyway.
Peace, then aged 45, was only two years older than Megson, at the time, and their own relationship had soured by the summer of 2004, with Megson leaving that October.
After a poor start to the 2004-05 season, Megson announced he would not sign a new contract, if he was offered one. Peace took that as him choosing to resign.
West Brom were taken private in 2005, with Peace the majority shareholder. His stake grew to 59.9 per cent by 2013 and further up to the level he enjoyed before the sale.
He's overseen three promotions and the same number of relegations during his time as chairman and leaves the club on a level playing field - in the Premier League.
He's gone through nine managers - plus five caretakers - before choosing head coach Tony Pulis, whose job initially appears to be safe under the new regime.
Being the smart cookie he is, Peace also departs with a size-able return on his investment. Feeling he's taken the club as far has he could, it's now over to Mr Lai.
