Luke Hatfield and Joseph Masi discussed the latest news surrounding West Bromwich Albion during the most recent edition of the Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast and the pair spent some time talking about Baggies chief executive Mark Jenkins’ retirement and his replacement, Xu Ke.
Jenkins announced his retirement earlier this month. After becoming West Brom’s finance director in 2002, he was first appointed to the role of chief executive at the Hawthorns in 2010 and he remained in that role until 2016, when he first decided to retire, as per the Express and Star.
However, Jenkins returned for a second spell as the club’s chief executive in 2018 following ‘an ill-fated spending spree in 2017,’ as explained by the Express and Star.
Upon returning to the club, Jenkins said: “I’ll be honest I’ve come back and I’m shocked at what I have found in some of the decisions that have been made.”
Albion’s new chief, Ke, who goes by the name ‘Ken‘, has been ‘backed to succeed’ by Jenkins following his retirement after the new Baggies chief ‘has effectively been learning the ropes from Jenkins for the past two years.’
Hatfield brought up the new Albion chief during this recent edition of the Baggies Broadcast podcast, saying: “A lot of people will see [Ke] as one of Lai [Guochuan]’s men and we don’t know a whole lot about him, do we? Is he going to be a step up?
“It’s a very hard act to follow, someone like Mark Jenkins, it’s one which is a little bit worrying, isn’t it?”
Masi shared his thought’s on the new Albion chief in response to that question, saying: “Yeah, it’s worrying. Ken’s 32 years old, essentially got no football administration experience, how can that be a good thing? How can it possibly be a good thing?”
Are you worried about West Brom's new chief executive?
YES, I AM WORRIED
NO, HE'LL BE FINE
TIF Thoughts…
It’s clear that Masi is concerned about Albion’s new chief executive and whether or not he is qualified for the role that he is taking on. This concern may be understandable, especially when you consider the problems that the club had after Jenkins’ first retirement.
However, given that Jenkins has backed Ke to succeed in this role, perhaps Albion supporters should have some faith in their new chief executive, especially since he has reportedly been ‘learning the ropes from Jenkins’ in recent years.