Lai Guochuan

Lai Guochuan (Chinese: 赖国传; pinyin: Lài Guóchuán; born 1974) is a Chinese billionaire businessman and investor, and the majority shareholder of championship football club West Bromwich Albion.

Lai is the controlling shareholder and director of private investment firm Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited, and the owner of West Bromwich Albion F.C..^[1] Lai gained his wealth through his position as general manager and shareholder of Palm Eco-Town Development Company, which he developed from a small plant nursery business into China's largest landscape development and construction firm over his two decade long stewardship.

Following his departure from Palm Lai has focused on private investment, but remains heavily connected to the company and serves as a director of a number of its subsidiaries.^[2]

Lai is largely a private person, however according to a report by the Birmingham Post, a conservative estimate of his total wealth is £2.8 billion.^{[citation needed]} He resides in Guangzhou, a city in the Guangdong province of China, and only attends West Bromwich Albion club matches occasionally, leaving the day-to-day running of the club in the hands of long-term associates Li Piyue, who serves as the club's chairman, and Ke Xu, who is Chief Executive Officer.^[3]

Life and career[]

Lai was born in Meizhou, Guangdong, China in 1974.^{[citation needed]}

He served as General Manager of Palm Eco-Town Development Company Limited for over 20 years. He helped grow the company from a plant nursery into one of China's largest and most successful landscape development and construction companies. Lai stepped down from this role in 2014 to focus on private investment projects, yet retains a close link with Palm and remains director of a number of subsidiaries including Belt Collins International (HK) Limited, Palm Landscape (Hong Kong) Limited, Hangzhou Nanyue Palm Landscape Construction Limited and PALM Design Holding.^[4]

West Bromwich Albion[]

In July 2016, Lai agreed to purchase West Bromwich Albion F.C. from Jeremy Peace for a figure reported to be £200m. The deal was completed on 15 September 2016^[5] and Lai appointed former Blackburn Rovers chairman John Williams as the new chairman of the club. The Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited group was formed with the purchase of the club in mind, with the group's funding coming from three different sources: the majority of the funds equating to 59% of the total were provided by Lai himself, 23% of the funds were provided by Chinese investment group Yunyi Investment and the remaining 18% were provided by Lai's former firm Palm who later acted as the club's shirt sponsor for the 2017-18 season (before this deal prematurely ended with the club's relegation in that season), and are the current sponsors of the club's training ground, which has been renamed the .^[6]

Lai's first season as Albion owner was a largely successful one, with the club managing a 10th place finish and Lai personally endearing himself to fans in the early days of his ownership, through his decision to give every fan at the first home game of the season a free scarf, and every fan travelling to the first away game of the season a free drink.^[7] However the following season was marred by various issues both on and off the field; including opposition from the fans towards head coach Tony Pulis due to the style of football the club exhibited under his leadership and a decline in results, and the failures associated with the tenure of his successor Alan Pardew. Pardew was unable to arrest the slide in results that the club had been experiencing and presided over embarrassing off-field controversies, most notably what became known as 'Taxi Gate', when four senior players were alleged to have stolen a taxi during a mid-season training break in Barcelona.^[8] These failures contributed to an overwhelmingly negative season which ultimately culminated in the club's relegation to the Championship. Chairman John Williams, CEO Martin Goodman and Technical Director Nick Hammond were sacked by Lai due to issues relating to transfers in the build up to the 2017-18 season, and their decision to appoint Alan Pardew as manager.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to their first season in the Championship, club legend Darren Moore, who had enjoyed a successful playing career with the club (gaining promotion to the Premier League in the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons), was appointed as the club's new head coach (following a spell as caretaker manager towards the end of the club's relegation season during which Albion had gone unbeaten, and enjoyed victories over Tottenham Hotspur at the Hawthorns and Manchester United at Old Trafford only narrowly missing out on survival in the Premier League) and Li Piyue, an associate of Lai's, was appointed Chairman of the club. These decisions were part of the club's desire to re-establish a connection with the fans and establish greater control over proceedings at the club, coming alongside a promise to return to an attacking style of football. However Moore was controversially sacked during the 2018-19 season with the club sitting in 4th place in the Championship table. The club was then led by first-team coach James Shan for the remainder of the season, with Albion losing in the play-off semifinals to rivals Aston Villa. In preparation for another season in the Championship, Slaven Bilić was appointed head coach on 13 June 2019.^[9] Lai had previously been interested in appointing Bilić following the sacking of Tony Pulis during Albion's relegation season^[10]

References[]