Jim Driscoll leaves the Board

21 December 1999

It looks to be only a matter of time before Paul Thompson answers the prayers of many fans and takes over as Chairman of West Bromwich Albion plc. In a rather suprising move, Jim Driscoll resigned as a Director this morning for reasons that have not yet become clear, although he always said that he'd only joined the Board in order to support Tony Hale - so the reason may be simply that Hale is no longer Chairman. It is still puzzling, given that it has been Driscoll doing most of the talking with the media since Hale's resignation - especially as he stated that he had no desire to become Chairman himself, wanting just to help out with the Club's strategy and finances.

With Joe Brandrick currently acting as Chairman, it seems that he, Don Colston and John Wile are all in favour of Paul Thompson taking over as quickly as possible - perhaps to be announced as soon as this afternoon or tomorrow (Brandrick has already been in discussions with Thompson). It's also widely expected that Tony Hale will leave the Board so that Thompson has a "clean slate" to work with and can appoint Directors to help him as he sees fit - one of whom may well turn out to be his former Board colleague Barry Hurst. It's fairly obvious that Thompson and Hale will not be able to work together again after all that's happened, so if Hale really does care about the future of the Club then surely he will keep out of the way of Thompson's rebuilding job?

Farewell Then Jim Driscoll

So farewell then Jim Driscoll,
You didn't stay long but you always said,
You wouldn't 'hang-around' if you didn't get cooperation,
So you kept your word,
Which is unsual on the board
of West Bromwich Albion.
Keith's mum says you made a fortune by inventing crazy people in silly situations.
Perhaps WBA has given you some more ideas,
like that.

 - B.J. Thribb (aged 87 and a half)

Previous Stories:

  20 December 1999:  Player bust-up leaves steward out cold

  17 December 1999:  Tony Hale resigns as Chairman

  11 November 1999:  AGM votes to keep Hale as Chairman

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