West Brom fans can look forward to an exciting new era for the club after the latest update on its future.
On Wednesday night, it was confirmed that Shilen Patel’s company Bilkul Football has now completed his takeover of the Baggies.
The Florida-based investor is now set to take up a new role as chairman at The Hawthorns.
His appointment brings to an end a spell of over seven years in charge of the club, by Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai.
Now it seems as though Patel is already keen to do things in a different way to his predecessor while he is in charge of West Brom.
Shilen Patel keen for West Brom communication
With Patel having now taken over at The Hawthorns, it seems as though he is keen to keep everyone connected with the club in the loop.
Following completion of his takeover of West Brom, the club’s new chairman has given an interview about his plans for the Baggies.
During that, he was asked about whether he intends to integrates fans and keep them informed of what is going on.
Responding to that question, Patel told West Brom’s official website: “I’m a big believer in transparency and communication. I think it’ll be up to me to learn more about everybody involved, but I think my goal is to be communicative and open.
“I think that the plans that we have for the club are plans that everyone should be excited about and that everyone should have a relationship with.
“I look forward to having an ongoing dialogue with the fans and all of the other stakeholders of the club.”
After recent events, those comments will surely be welcomed by supporters of the Baggies.
Changes on the way after Guochuan Lai departure
If Patel is indeed set to be open with his communication to the fans while in charge of the club, it will be something of a change.
Under Lai, West Brom fans often had to settle for relying on reports from elsewhere, to get an idea of what was going on at The Hawthorns.
That did not help with the mood around the place. Indeed, not knowing what was going led to a great deal of uncertainty when it came to recent rumours that the club was in an uncertain position financially.
As a result, the fact that Patel is keen to keep lines of communication open, will be welcomed by supporters of West Brom.
With that, they will at least have clarity over any situations they feel they need to know about. In turn, that ought to help ease any concerns they might have about the future of the club.
Indeed, judging by what Patel has said so far, West Brom fans have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the coming years.
His comments here about communication with supporters, is certainly one such cause for confidence going forrward.