Barber spoke at the club’s Social and Economic Breakfast event on Thursday morning, where it was revealed that Albion had contributed £212 million to the local economy in 2017/18, and explained the importance of having a chairman that has the club’s best interests at heart.
He said, “To go from being a League One club that didn’t have a stadium or training ground with crowds of 6,000, to the Premier League with a new stadium and training ground with crowds of over 30,000, is a remarkable journey.
“It’s down to a lot of hard work, a bit of luck (which everyone needs in top-level sport from time to time), and continued support from Tony Bloom. Tony’s investment in the club has transformed it and made a huge impact on the city, and the wider region’s economy too.
“Tony and his family have been involved at board level of the club for four decades, and we’re very fortunate that they’re great fans of the club and the city.
“He loves the football club, and it’s a very significant part of what he does. That matters, because as much as he has the money to support the club, he cares and wants it to do well.”
The Albion CEO explained that the hard work does not end now, and says it is vital to continue the momentum that has been built in recent years.
“We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing as well as we can, which is to fill the stadium, look for opportunities to improve our commercial revenues, and find more ways to compete with the biggest clubs.
“It’s not easy, but we’re in a city of 250-300,000 people, so relative to the size of our city, ten per cent or so of those people come to our games every other week, which is fantastic.
“We’re very excited about the future and have a younger generation of fans in our city that are wearing our shirts, as opposed to those of: Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal or Tottenham.
“That wasn’t the case ten years ago, as those fans were starved of top-level football and inevitably migrated to those bigger clubs, but now they have a Premier League club and are loving every minute of it.”
Attention turned to transfers, and Barber explained the challenges of getting the best quality out of an increasingly inflated market.
“It’s very difficult; and it’s not just about the transfer fee, it’s about wage demands, agents’ fees, and all the other things that come with it.
“The competition is frustrating as well, with a number of clubs interested in the small group of very good players that we can afford to buy.
“You get competition for every player’s services. That’s inevitable, and if we do end up selling one or two players, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of demand for them too. The market is as tough as ever and we have to compete as well as we can.”