Pulis does not expect WBA change despite takeover

Matt Stead

Tony Pulis does not expect much change at West Brom following the takeover of the club.

There had been speculation that Pulis might leave The Hawthorns in the build-up to Thursday’s completion of a takeover by Chinese group Yunyi Guokai Sports Development Limited – led by Guochuan Lai.

But Pulis on Friday declared himself “pleased” the deal was done and said he had no problems working under foreign ownership.

It is understood that former chairman Jeremy Peace will remain available in a consultancy role while chief executive John Williams was announced as the new chairman last month.

On the pitch, Pulis, who is in the final year of his contract, expects an air of familiarity to remain there too.

“I don’t think the new owners will change too much from the way Jeremy has run the football club,” Pulis said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s home game against West Ham.

“They’ve bought into Jeremy’s model so I don’t think there’s going to be a great change in the way the club’s run. I think they are going to try to run it on similar lines.

“I’m pleased, the chairman and the new owner are pleased to get the deal done. It’s been going on for a while so they’ll be pleased that it’s all sorted and done.

“The way it drifted and moved, you get involved in it, no question of a doubt. So it’s pleasing for everybody that we now know and we can move on from here.

“I still think Jeremy is going to be involved a little bit. John Williams now has moved in as chairman so there will still be that continuity but obviously now the Chinese own the football club and are the shareholders so it will be interesting to see how it works.

“I’ve worked under foreign owners before so I have a good understanding of how it works, both with Icelandic owners and Milan (Mandaric) at Portsmouth.”

Asked if he had chance to speak with the new owners yet, Pulis said: “That will come, I think. What Mr Lai has done more than anything, and the people around him, is just concentrate on getting the deal done and getting it through.

“John (Williams) is in today so I will sit down and have a chat with him later.”