01-03-2024, 13:08
![[Image: Shilen-Patel-Gallery5.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/YQzgYTj/Shilen-Patel-Gallery5.jpg)
Last weekend's hard-fought draw at Hull, a decent result all in all, naturally takes a back seat to the magnificent news this week that Shilen Patel's takeover of the club has been completed, and a new era can begin. It's a colossal vindication of the campaign led by supporters' groups like Action For Albion to hold Guochuan Lai to account: having gone about that objective in exactly the right way, keeping things legal, self-disciplined and non-disruptive to the club's on-the-pitch activities, is both a credit to Albion and an example to other supporters who find their clubs in a similar position. With that in mind - and not forgetting for a minute that Lai also made all the right noises when he came in, right down to claiming he'd supported Albion since the 1978 China tour - we can only welcome Shilen Patel to the Hawthorns, applaud his statements so far, and hope he'll be willing to work *with* Albion fans in the years to come, not against us.
Of course, we're also welcoming Coventry to the Hawthorns tonight, and as always in football, the talking ultimately has to be done on the pitch. Coventry have neither won a match nor scored a goal in West Bromwich since December 2007, and Albion still have the sixteen-month record intact of not losing two in a row on home soil under Carlos Corberan; however, the Sky Blues have also been on a relative run of form on the road since Christmas which they maintained a fortnight ago with victory at Stoke, so it's by no means a foregone conclusion.
Nevertheless, if there's such a thing as new owner bounce then Albion should be due one this week, and have to look for the win. Let's turn over a new leaf in style.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley
