Jeremy Peace

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Jeremy Roland Peace
Born August 13, 1956 (1956-08-13) (age 51)
West Bromwich, England
Title Chairman,
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
Predecessor Paul Thompson

Jeremy Roland Peace (born 13 August 1956 in West Bromwich) is an English company director. Since 2002 he has been the chairman of West Bromwich Albion F.C., a professional football club in the West Midlands, England.

[edit] Biography

Peace joined the board of West Bromwich Albion in December 2000.[1] He was elected to the position of chairman in June 2002 following the resignation of Paul Thompson. When Peace took charge of the Albion boardroom, the club had just won promotion to the Premiership after almost 20 years outside the top flight. He was unable to provide manager Gary Megson with the funds to stay up in 2002-03 and quickly fell out with him over transfer policies. Albion won promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking. After a poor start to the 2004-05 season and continued friction with Megson, Peace decided it was time for a change and replaced Megson with former Albion player Bryan Robson. The gamble paid off initially, as Albion avoided relegation from the Premiership - although their record was the worst of any team to avoid relegation from the top division: six wins, 16 draws, 16 defeats and 34 points. However, during the following season (2005-06) a perceived inadequate investment in the January transfer window left Albion relegated.

One silver lining is that, as befits a Chairman who runs his own investment company, the club is financially secure and hope to bounce back to the Premiership at the earliest opportunity without compromising profitability and cash-flow.

On 18 September 2006 Bryan Robson left the club under mutual agreement after a disappointing start to the season.[2] Although it was stated that he left under mutual consent, it is widely believed that he was sacked by Jeremy Peace. Peace then took some time to consider potential replacements before deciding to approach Hibernian for permission to talk to their manager, Tony Mowbray. Mowbray was confirmed at the new manager on 13 October 2006.[3]

More recently Peace has been under investigation by FIFA and Lord Stevens' Quest team surrounding a number of issues surrounding transfers back in the summer transfer window 2004 and the use of certain agents that he chose to employ on behalf on the club.

In September 2007 Peace acquired additional shares in West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited, taking his total stake in the company to 50.56%. This triggered a requirement, under the Takeover Code, for him to make a mandatory cash offer for the remaining shares in both WBA Holdings Ltd and WBA Ltd.[4] Peace stressed that he was not actively looking to sell the club.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Press Release (pdf). West Bromwich Albion F.C. (2007-09-17). Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  2. ^ "Robson and West Brom part company", BBC Sport, 2006-09-18. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  3. ^ "Mowbray leaves Hibs for West Brom", BBC Sport, 2006-10-13. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  4. ^ "Jeremy Peace statement", West Bromwich Albion F.C., 2007-09-17. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  5. ^ "Peace NOT looking to sell club", West Bromwich Albion F.C., 2007-10-18. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
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