Why Shilen Patel's £1m West Brom training ground investment is so significant

Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury discuss Shilen Patel and his latest West Brom investment.

Transcript

00:00The news earlier this week that Shillen Patel has put £1m into Albion's trading ground.

00:12This comes on the back of the £5m loan that he paid off earlier this year. The £1m is

00:18going to go into a new top state of the art picture, the trading ground and other upgrades.

00:25Is this another way of Patel proving to the Albion fans how genuine he is and how much

00:37he wants to improve Albion as a whole rather than just on the playing surface?

00:43Yeah, Jonny. I think not necessarily done out of the want or even necessarily the need

00:49to prove himself to Albion fans. I just think this is how a proper owner with ambition and

00:58drive and determination look at where you can gain in the club. He's come in and he's

01:03got a lot to address, hasn't he? A lot to sort, a lot of things that have gone wrong

01:08in recent years to right. We'll just talk on the pitch matter that you referenced there,

01:13Jonny. The trading ground upgrade that we brought the news of of Shillen Patel's big

01:18seven-figure investment on that this summer. It was met by delighted Albion fans to read

01:26that, wasn't it? It's understandable why, because this club as a whole, on the field

01:33really and certainly off it as well in terms of facility infrastructure, has been starved

01:38of investment, hasn't it, under obviously Gauchin Lai, Patel's predecessor. We know

01:45about the struggles. We've spoke about them on videos, podcasts, stories. I've written

01:49the problems with financial fair play, profit and sustainability of ploughing money in a squad

01:54this summer. Patel and the finances he's got, it cannot be ploughed into the squad. The

02:00account showed us that. Albion haven't got scope there to do that. But gains that Patel

02:05can come in and make on the club immediately that will impact the first team are things

02:10like this. And this is no small investment, isn't it? We talk about maybe a striker that's

02:13worth a million quid. Well, this isn't the same. However, the outlay is similar. The

02:20hope and ambition is that it bears fruit, isn't it? I know Carlos Corba and the head

02:26coach, who obviously is subject of much sort of speculation and rumour and conjecture at

02:31the moment, is particularly delighted with the backing of that. And it's something he

02:36was keen for. So, yeah, look, I think we're seeing the work of how an owner should work,

02:43really. We've said for a few months, haven't we, since Patel's takeover in late February,

02:47that the proof really is in the pudding and the proper proof is in the long-term pudding,

02:52you know, years to come. But the immediate things to address, and he's got to lay out

02:58his plans. He's got to lay out how he sees the club, the makeup of a board or his associates.

03:03That will come, I'm sure, in time this summer. But the immediate impact, you mentioned the

03:07Wisdom Smart Loan, five million plus repayment investment there, you know, this here,

03:13certainly showing his ambition, I think, you know, showing that he's willing to invest how he can at

03:19the moment. And I think it's a huge, massive boost and news, really. And again, I'm not surprised at

03:26all to see fans are pretty jubilant at it because they've been starved of that kind of support from

03:33owner and chairman for a good number of years.