Tony Bloom has praised all the staff at the Albion after a testing season caused by the Covid-19 lockdown.
He said, “I am very impressed by everyone at the club. It starts with Graham, the staff and the players who have been very focused during those few months when they didn’t know what was going on. They were training at home initially and then were allowed into the training ground.
“Psychologically it’s tough - it’s tough for everyone in the country, and the world for that matter. But they had to stay focused on the job at hand because when games restarted they came thick and fast so they needed to be ready physically and mentally.
“Then our wider staff had a huge amount of protocols to get ready to return. There was huge amounts of work by so many people behind the scenes, so credit to them in trying circumstances, both at the club and also privately. It’s not easy sometimes working from home, juggling with kids, perhaps looking after elderly relatives. I have been massively impressed by everyone, who have been brilliantly led by our chief executive Paul Barber.”
Given the issues that have arisen because of Covid-19 Bloom is expecting the financial landscape within the game to have changed significantly, and thinks this will become more apparent in the coming weeks and months.
“The financial challenges are significant, although we are certainly looking better today than we were in March, April and May when we weren’t quite sure what the future held,” Bloom added.
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“Covid is still with us so we’re not playing with fans which is a significant loss of revenue. We had hits with the broadcasting revenue from the season because we weren’t able to finish the season in the allocated time.
“It’s not easy but we just have to manage our budget as best we can although it is perhaps going to impact the following season with future transfers. There are a lot of pieces of the puzzle to juggle. It’s a challenge for not just us, but all the teams in the Premier League, even the bigger clubs.”