Jeremy Peace

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

Biography

Jeremy Peace is a chartered accountant by training. Having established himself as a stockbroker he became a specialist in the Alternative Investment Market, working with companies such as Singer & Friedlander, Morland Securities (later re-named Access Satellite International), and the US-based internet bank e-primefinancial. In 2001 he was named as "One to Watch" by market observer Growth Company Investor.[1]

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.^[2] When Peace took charge of the Albion boardroom, the club had just won promotion to the Premiership after 16 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 were relegated at the end of their first season in the Premier League, but made an immediate return by winning promotion again the following year (2004). After a poor start to the 2004-05 season, Megson left in acrimonious circumstances and the board appointed former Albion player Bryan Robson to replace him. 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. But Albion failed to build on this success and were relegated again at the end of the following season (2005-06). Many fans blamed Peace for lack of investment in new players during the January transfer window[2]; others however have maintained that by erring on the side of caution the board, under Peace's leadership, has ensured that the club remains in sound financial shape.[3]

On 18 September 2006, Bryan Robson left the club "by mutual agreement" after a disappointing start to the season.^[3] 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.^[4]

More recently Peace has been under investigation by FIFA and Lord Stevens' Quest team over 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.^[5] Peace stressed that he was not actively looking to sell the club.^[6] Peace announced in June 2008 that he was willing to sell his shares in West Bromwich Albion to make way for new investment, but that any proposals must be received by the end of July.^[7] When this deadline arrived however, Peace announced that no firm offer had been received and the club would not be sold.[4]

References