Love, Honour, Disobey: West Brom fans "Lai Out" protest march.

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Tom Reed

人要脸树要皮

Men can’t live without face, trees can’t live without bark. (Chinese proverb)

Faces are important in football, whether they are faces of fellow fans in the crowd or the pictures of players in team photos, they create a sense of knowing and belonging.

Some supporters you won’t know by name and may only recognise by sight and there’s players you can’t quite recall the name of but seeing a player portrait in an old programme and understanding that they put on the shirt is comforting.

The concept of face or “Mianzi” is crucial in Chinese society and losing face for being blamed for something publicly is one of the most keenly felt forms of shame.

West Bromwich Albion fans brought together one of the largest protests marches in English football history on Saturday, as thousands of West Brom supporters joined together to demand the removal of club owner Guochuan Lai.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. West Bromwich Albion.

A leaflet printed by the Action For Albion Group had an image of Lai’s visage with a red warning sign superimposed, noting his actions might not befit the great team from the market town in the Black Country.

This focus on Guangzhou based Lai, has come with Baggies fans pointing to an outstanding £4.95 million loan.

Observers from business orientated China would have been impressed with the professionalism of the Action For Albion organisers, whose leaflet laid out, in straightforward terms, their issues with the man who acquired the Hawthorns club in 2016.

“Since Guochuan Lai was announced as Albion’s controlling shareholder in 2016, the progress our club has made since the turn of the century has gradually been eroded. A succession of managers, numerous relegations and an alarming lack of dialogue with supporters has led to increasing concerns over the management of the club for the long-term.” said the pamphlet.

“More importantly, £12 million worth of loans, have been taken out of or passed through the football club to the detriment of its day-to-day running. In December 2022 it was confirmed that Guochuan Lai has failed to meet a second self-imposed deadline to repay a £4.95 million loan to the club.”

“A loan of £20m has now been confirmed as having been taken out by the football club to cover its ‘day to day’ running. This loan is secured against the Hawthorns, our and your home of 123 years.” the brochure, handed out to marchers, concluded.

While the Chinese have a notion of face, the Black Country have a concept of “not taking the piss” and thus, there’s a feeling of resentment at the man whose offer of free scarves and pints when he first took over was warmly received.

“We had an idea of handing the scarves back” said march organiser Alistair Jones, an eloquent ginger giant of a man, with the mad concept of a March In March and taking to the street with the snow on the roads just about thawing.

Madder still, with West Brom pushing for promotion to the Premier League ahead of the match vs Huddersfield but the feeling that the situation goes far beyond form is strong here.

In many ways, the march, which set off from the local cricket club with its outfield blanketed in snow and a short sharp shock of a stroll to the Hawthorns ground wasn’t just about Lai, it is a question of sovereignty and the people taking back the game of the people at the highest ground above sea level in England.

You get a sense of gravity at the Hawthorns, of prestige, five times winners of the FA Cup don’t you know and a club that has drawn far higher attendances than the modest population of West Bromwich would suggest from this footballing weight of expectation.

You can feel it as you walk up the road from the Hawthorns train station, past the houses that skirt this proper football club, past the pork scratching stalls and their white paper bags.

Yet, the march came the opposite way this time, blocking off the dual-carriageway and startling the bleary eyed fans queueing for a burger that hadn’t got the memo.

The exact numbers on the march, thought to be in the several thousands, was by the by, as an event comparable in size to the Blackpool and West Ham direct action coiled up the road, cobra-like, further than the eye could see.

The track of choice on the West Brom protest playlist was “Chirpy, Chirpy Cheep Cheep” by Middle Of The Road, apt considering the route the march took, except the words chanted this time by the crowd were “Where’s the money gone?” with a refrain of “far far away”.

A drum beat gave a pagan intensity but the message was Church Of England.

The lord's my shepherd,

I'll not want,

He makes me down to lie,

In pastures green,

He leadeth me,

The quiet waters by.

Came the communal call, sung by West Brom ever since their last FA Cup win in 1968 and said to be on the Wembley hymn sheet in the year Europe and America went to the barricades in student uprisings.

Yellow smoke rose from the floor, up the ground that the Baggies love and the marchers stopped under the big sign with the throstle bird on it.

A banner came to rest with Mandarin characters saying simply “Shame On You”, summing things up in a language that just might reach Guangzhou.

Back in 1885, West Brom used to operate from a pub called the Plough and Harrow and the landlady there kept a thrush, for which the Black Country term is the said throstle, the bird which came to represent the club.

The players believed if the throstle was chirping happily in its cage, a good result was imminent.

West Brom fans on Saturday were singing a sad lament with the incoming Independent Regulator for football too late for them but at least they have face.

Trust can sometimes be regained slowly, with the right moves and West Brom’s Chinese owner can tag up a club hovering outside the playoffs to the Premier League after Saturday’s win as a positive.

Yet, as long as supporters feel the need to hit hard winter pavement to protest, just as players’ studs crackle against crisp March mud, it seems a long way back for Mr Lai.