West Brom chief set to leave for Championship rivals next month

West Bromwich Albion chief commercial officer Simon King is understood to be joining Stoke City this summer according to our colleagues at StokeonTrentLive.

King has spent five years at The Hawthorns since arriving at the club from Hull City in February 2017 but is believed to be serving a notice period ahead of joining the Championship rival next month. Stoke have been rearranging the structure of their hierarchy in recent months following the departure of long-time chief executive Tony Scholes to the Premier League.

The Hull-native is a part of the club's management team alongside recently-appointed CEO Ron Gourlay, who arrived in February after the departure of Valerien Ismael. King was involved with setting up the sponsorship deal with current shirt sponsors Ideal Boilers and the introduction of the Boilerman mascot at home games.

Back in February, after the appointment of Steve Bruce as the club's new manager, King attended an Albion Assembly meeting alongside Gourlay and operations director Mark Miles. That Monday night meeting saw the CEO take the lead and explain the decision to appoint Bruce as manager.

Before arriving at Albion and working at hometown club Hull, King entered football for the first time by fighting against administration at Stockport County while they were still a Football League club in Leagues One and Two, which was described as a "great grounding".