West Brom's new regime embracing club charity The Albion Foundation

Those are the words of Rob Lake, director of The Albion Foundation, a man proud to be in charge of the club’s charity.

After last year’s takeover, Albion’s board was given a shake-up. John Williams immediately replaced Jeremy Peace as chairman and then, in January, Martin Goodman stepped in as chief executive for the departing Mark Jenkins.

Both would have been forgiven for needing time to get up to speed, leaving the charity arm of the club to be tackled at a later date.

But Lake has been pleased with the new regime’s positive approach to the Foundation. And as he explains, it is playing an increasingly important part in growing the fan-base.

Both Goodman and Williams want to fill The Hawthorns again in the face of dwindling attendances, and they’ve recognised that the Foundation’s brilliant community work offers them a vehicle to help do exactly that.

“I work very closely with the directors at the football club and it’s a resource they can tap into,” said Lake. “Every time we’re out there we can promote what’s available.

“Fans for the future is definitely something we’re part of. There’s a long-term and short-term strategy. We can get bums on seats now.

“But also - although our ticket prices are very reasonable - in the area we live, paying £25 for an adult and bringing two children is prohibitive, so we work on a strategy that we get West Brom into their DNA at a young age.

“Then, in 15 or 20 years when they’ve got a bit of money in their pocket, when they’re doing alright for themselves, the place they’ll come back to is The Hawthorns, because they’ve been brought up with it.

“We want them involved long term and to be part of our family. Which is what the club should be and is becoming more and more. It’s more than just what happens at 3pm on a Saturday.”

The Foundation has a wide-reaching remit. In May, it launched a post-16 shadow academy designed to stop local boys slipping through the net while providing them with a Level 3 BTEC in Sport.

But it’s primary aim isn’t to get bums on seats, and it isn’t to find the next Sam Field, those are potential side-effects of its core aim, which is making a difference in the local community.

That is often done through the simple act of playing football, but the Foundation also provides education, support, and much more.

“There’s a whole load of work going on in our three areas of work - education, sport development, and disability,” said Lake. “We’re hitting thousands of kids, big numbers, but what is ultimately important is the difference we’re making in individual lives.

"We’re giving kids opportunities, and that’s hugely important to us.

“You’re talking about taking kids off the street. On a Friday night in Hadley Stadium (Smethwick) we have about a hundred 12 to 18-year-olds who, with respect, would probably be causing trouble on the street.

“They speak 22 different languages, but they come together and play football. The crime levels and the anti-social behaviour incidents on that night are greatly reduced.”

Even more impressive though, is the fact the Foundation offers many of those kids a route into further education and after that, employment.

“We’ve got kids who have been on our programmes who are now our members of staff,” said Lake. “We grow our own staff, we have a learning culture in the Foundation.

“We’ve got 56 full time staff. We’ve got about 90 part-time staff and reams of volunteers as well. It’s growing every year, it’s getting bigger.

“Big is not necessarily best, it’s not about the size, it’s about what we do and the quality of what we do.

“We want to make sure that our staff are the same as our community, so we need to improve on equality and diversity in the staff.

"We need more Asian coaches, more Afro-Caribbean coaches, more Eastern European guys, because that’s what our community is made up of.

“I’m confident that what we do is good. Are we the best in the country? No. Because I’ve asked the Premier League that question. But we want to be the best and we know what we’ve got to do to be the best.”

Lake speaks with the same determinism of any football coach striving for the top of the league, but like many coaches, he’s already immensely proud of his team.

“I’m so proud of my staff, they do incredible work every day,” he said. “They’re out there in the middle of November and December playing on fields in average facilities but they’re inspiring the kids every day. That’s the unseen stuff our guys do.

“We get the first-team players to come to events which is brilliant, but our guys are the real role models for our kids.”