Thompson to resign

Dear Supporter,

The Club is advertising for a new Chairman

I am writing to let you know that the Club will be advertising for a new Chairman and that I will be stepping down as Chairman of West Bromwich Albion when a replacement can be found.

I believe that, at this point in time, I have taken the Club as far as I can because there are currently two key issues to which no-one can find a solution. These two issues will cause damage to the Club and will hold the Club back.

Since I became Chairman 28 months ago the Club has been run professionally and has been transformed with the help and support of the Directors, the management, players and staff and the supporters and shareholders of the Club. Some of the excellent achievements in the last 28 months have been:-

1. The elimination of losses of £30,000 per week.
2. The development of a very good playing squad with £8.5 million in transfer fees invested in 17 new players.
3. The development of the new East Stand at a cost of over £6 million.
4. The purchase and development of our Football Development Centre at a cost of around £1.8 million.
5. The excellent ticketing and pricing initiatives which have been introduced for supporters.
6. The top-six finish in the 2000/2001 season.
7. Promotion to the Premier League in the 2001/2002 season.

Our Chief Executive, John Wile, has performed a key role over the past 28 months and our success could not have been achieved without John. Our First Team Manager, Gary Megson, has done a first class job in the training, organisation, tactical instruction, standard of play and discipline of the First Team Squad's professional players. On 21 April 2002, immediately after we had achieved promotion to the Premier League, I wrote to Gary on behalf of the Board to thank him for his contribution to our success and stating that in my opinion he has been the most successful manager of the 2001/2002 season.

Over the past 28 months, in accordance with his contract, Gary has assisted the Board in the transfer to or by the Club of players as part of a team which includes the Chairman, the Chief Executive, the First Team Manager, the Assistant Manager, the Chief Scout, the Scouts and the Directors. Since he joined the Club, Gary has never been in charge of transfers and he has worked as part of a team reporting to the Board. Gary has in the past done his job in the way that the Board wanted him to do and that has contributed to the Club's success. Where Gary has disagreed with the Board, the Board has made the decision which the Directors believed to be in the best interests of the Club and these decisions have subsequently been proved to be right.

When I became Chairman I said I would only stay in the job while I believed we could keep making progress. There are two key issues to which no-one can find a solution at the present time and, in the absence of a solution, I cannot take the Club any further. The two issues are:-

1.	Public comments which Gary makes repeatedly result in almost constant public criticism of the Chairman and the Board which is totally unjustified. It is never acceptable for a Manager to publicly criticise a Chairman or the Directors any more than it is acceptable for a Chairman to publicly criticise a Manager. We all have a hard enough job to do without public criticism being inflicted by our senior colleagues.
2.	a)	I have clearly stated that West Bromwich Albion's scouting system isn?t good enough. Gary has stated that the scouting system was his dad and a couple of Gary's mates. The lack of a proper scouting system has held the Club back for years.
	b)	I believe that the Club needs an integrated scouting system which involves all the senior people at the Club working together. I have not been able to convince Gary that we should develop an integrated scouting system.
	c)	Gary now wishes to control the scouting system and wishes to tell the Board which players to buy. This is a traditional approach which I believe has repeatedly failed at a variety of Clubs and which failed at this Club for 15 years before I became Chairman.
	d)	As part of an integrated scouting system, I believe that the Chairman, Chief Executive, First Team Manager, Assistant Manager and Chief Scout should meet on a regular basis to discuss players who might improve the Club's playing squad. Gary does not want such meetings to take place and will not allow the five of us to sit down in the same room to discuss players.
	e)	The absence of an integrated scouting system will hold the Club back and I hope that the next Chairman will be able to rectify this situation. It will be very difficult to survive long-term in the Premier League over the next few years in any event, but our chances of surviving long-term without an integrated scouting system are extremely slim.

We will now be advertising for a new Chairman who will, hopefully, be able to take the Club forward and build on what we have achieved over the past 28 months. We anticipate that the recruitment process will take around three months and we hope to have a new Chairman in place by the next Annual General Meeting. Until a new Chairman is appointed I will continue to do my job on behalf of all shareholders and supporters to the best of my ability. I would like to thank all our supporters and shareholders for their support and encouragement over the past 28 months. I would also like to thank my colleagues on the Board and all the management, players and staff for their contribution to achieving promotion to the Premier League.

Best Wishes.

Yours sincerely,

PAUL THOMPSON
Chairman