Jeremy Peace

Jeremy Roland Peace is the chairman of West Bromwich Albion Football Club, a professional football club in the West Midlands, England.

He was elected to the position of chairman in June 2002 following the resignation of Paul Thompson. When Peace took charge of the Albion boardroom, the club had just won promotion to the Premiership after almost 20 years outside the top flight. He was unable to provide manager Gary Megson with the funds to stay up in 2002-2003 and quickly fell out with him over transfer policies. Albion won promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking. After a poor start to the 2004-2005 season and continued friction with Megson, Peace decided it was time for a change and replaced Megson with former Albion player Bryan Robson. The gamble paid off initially, as Albion avoided relegation from the Premiership - although their record was the worst of any team to avoid relegation from the top division: six wins, 16 draws, 16 defeats and 34 points. However, during the following season (2005-2006) a perceived inadequate investment in the Christmas transfer window left Albion relegated. One silver lining is that, as befits a Chairman who runs his own investment company, the club is financially secure and hope to bounce back to the Premiership at the earliest opportunity without compromising profitability and cash-flow. However, many fans believe that if he doesn't loosen the purse strings and sanction the purchase of a striker before the transfer window closes the chances of automatic promotion this season are slim. More recently Peace has been under investigation by FIFA and Lord Stevens Quest team surrounding a number of issues surrounding transfers back in the summertransfer window 2004 and the use of certain agents that he chose to employ on behalf on the club. On the 18th September 2006 Bryan Robson left the club under mutual agreement after a poor start to the season. Although it was stated that he left under mutual consent, it is widely believed that he was sacked by Jeremy Peace. Peace then took some time to consider potential replacements before deciding to approach Hibernian for permission to talk to their manager, Tony Mowbray. Mowbray was confirmed at the new manager on 13 October. More recently Jeremy Peace has been under investigation by FIFA and Lord Stevens Quest team surrounding a number of issues relating to transfers going back to the summer transfer window of 2004. The investigation is allegedly looking at West Brom's use of certain agents that Peace chose to employ on behalf of the club who were also employed by the managers and players.