West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace has given would-be investors until July 31 to buy his shares.

Peace said: "It would seem appropriate to open our doors, for a finite period, to anyone who wants to have a chat with us.

"Then in six weeks, when we've closed the door, we can turn around to everyone and say 'we explored this route and there was nothing out there'. We do not want a Birmingham City situation where something drags into next season.

"From August 1 it will be all about preparing for the Premier League, which we are still doing now anyway."

Peace said: "This is a long -term plan where we want the club to be more secure in the Premier League as opposed to being where we are now, knowing it will be tough along with nine other clubs.

"In the meantime it will be business as normal. There will be no freeze on recruitment. We know we have to compete so our foot is hard down on the accelerator at the moment in that respect."

Peace, whop owns just over 50% of the Baggies, accepts that the prospect of selling up or attracting investors is slim.

He said: "The chances of someone putting money into the club are remote and it's likely that come August things will be exactly the same.

"If someone says 'we want to buy the club' then we have to make sure it's a big, serious investor.

"There may be people who want the whole lot and will bring in their own team, there may be others who might think that we run the business well and if we work with them over a period of time then they may get greater value out of their investment.

"If we get an inquiry then they will be dealt with by other board members because I'm conflicted. If it's not in the best interest of the club then it won't happen."