Following his departure from Palm, Lai focused on private investment, but remains heavily connected to the company and serves as a director of a number of its subsidiaries.
[4] In July 2016, Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited, headed by Lai, agreed to purchase West Bromwich Albion F.C.
[8] Replacement Alan Pardew was unable to arrest the slide in results that the club had been experiencing and presided over embarrassing off-field controversies.
Chairman John Williams, CEO Martin Goodman, and Technical Director Nick Hammond were sacked by Lai due to issues relating to transfers in the build up to the 2017–18 season, and their decision to appoint Alan Pardew as manager.
During this time Albion had gone unbeaten, and enjoyed victories over Tottenham Hotspur at The Hawthorns and Manchester United at Old Trafford, only narrowly missing out on survival in the Premier League.
The decisions to appoint Moore and Li were part of Lai and the board's desire to re-establish a connection with the fans and establish greater control over proceedings at the club.
[13] Slaven Bilić took over as boss on 13 June 2019,[14] and led Albion to automatic promotion back to the Premier League during the 2019–20 season.
[20] The board, led by Technical director Luke Dowling, chose to name Chris Wilder as the club's new manager.
[24] At this time, Lai named himself chairman, and Ron Gourlay became the club's CEO, with Xu Ke being moved down to a non-executive director position.
[29][30] The club's financial situation began to receive national media attention, having already been commented on frequently in local press.
[31][32] Supporter action groups and in-stadium protests by fans to raise awareness of the club's off-field issues took shape during the season.
[33] On 29 June 2021, FIFA stated they would begin an investigation into the attempted brokering of a £25m transfer of West Bromwich Albion player Matheus Pereira to an unnamed Chinese Super League club.
The proposal reportedly sought to avoid the payment of tax in China and the UK, enabling the club's majority shareholder, Lai, to personally keep proceeds of the sale.
[34] Following the late release of club accounts for the year 2020–2021, it was revealed that Lai had loaned £4.95m from West Bromwich Albion to another of his companies, Wisdom Smart Corporation Limited, during the COVID-19 pandemic with a fixed interest payment of £50,000.
[43][44] Supporter action groups and in-stadium protests by fans to raise awareness of the club's off-field issues took shape during the season.