West Brom comment: Just who is left to fight for Albion now?
It will take some time to digest the bombshell that Ron Gourlay has resigned as Albion chief executive.
His departure 15 months into the role does not just ring alarm bells, but it removes what feels like the final layer of security during the biggest period of uncertainty and upheaval in the history of this great Football League founder.
Gourlay, when asked in an interview in January – less than a year into the job – when he would say ‘enough is enough’ and move on, answered: “Good question! I’m not a quitter. I’m not at that stage at the moment.
“I think, in my view, I think and it’d be supported internally by my peers, the club is in better position with me here than me not here.”
The bottom line and biggest question when the Scot departs the training ground in Walsall for the final time on Wednesday, June 14, is – who is going to fight for Albion, the football club, and their fans now?
This latest development, albeit one Gourlay triggered more than two months ago with his notice, could very well be a devastating one for Albion. There is no sugar-coating it.
Gourlay, 60, had his critics and that was fair enough. Some calls, mostly centred around Steve Bruce’s hiring and delayed firing, were miscalculated. To counter that, on the football side, he recruited the club’s best asset – Carlos Corberan – and added security with a new deal amid Leeds interest.
Where his exit leaves Corberan, amid more attention from the Whites who still like the Spaniard, is anybody’s guess. The pair had a very strong working relationship. But, more important than any of that, is that at ground level at both The Hawthorns and in the training complex, Gourlay was working for the club and its fans.
Amid all the desperate helplessness and uncertainty borne out of Guochuan Lai’s botched ownership and apparent lack of any care of any repercussions regarding his absence or an unwillingness to invest, Gourlay was at least there to try to do the right thing by the club.
He – regularly – chased up the missing £5million Wisdom Smart loan. Regularly gave assurances – that he himself had from his bosses – it would be repaid. Hope is almost totally extinguished there now.
He raised questions and points with the ownership and with Xu Ke, his predecessor and sole WBA Group director.
OK – his level of influence can be questioned and was probably limited for big decisions, but he was there, fighting for the fans.
He vowed in January: “If more money went out of this club, you’d know because I won’t be here.”
What changed in the weeks leading to March? What caused him to be a quitter? The accounts to June 2022, published in April, are currently the subject of a potential legal transparency battle between Ken and minority shareholders.
Gourlay created a transparency with fans. He attended Albion Assembly meetings, met with Action for Albion and had a strong relationship with Shareholders for Albion. He met with local press.
That stuff isn’t a given. That might not be the same approach by his replacement – whoever that may be.
Yes, the club have had some time now to sound out a replacement, but who on earth is going to want to take on this messy role? A thankless task is an understatement. What would there intentions be? Could it be another individual related to Lai and Ken?
At least Gourlay was there to give an answer. To fan groups, minority shareholders, media, fellow employees.
He was right – Albion was a better place for at least someone willing to do the right thing.
Without him, who is there to fight the wrongs for the club’s precious future?
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