Hodgson guided Albion to an 11th-place finish for the 2010–11 season. Then followed an eight-season continuous run in the Premier League. It included an 8th-place finish in 2012–13 under Steve Clarke, and 10th-place finishes under Roy Hodgson in 2011–12 and Tony Pulis in 2016–17. On 5 August 2016, it was announced that long-term owner Jeremy Peace had sold the club to a Chinese investment group headed up by Lai Guochuan. By this time, the club had already begun to fall into a state of torpor, and were relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2017–18 season, ending their eight-year Premier League stay. Pulis and his replacement Alan Pardew were both sacked during the season. Albion finished fourth in their first season back in the Championship under the management of Darren Moore, and later, caretaker manager James Shan, losing the Championship play-off semi-final against Aston Villa on penalties. Slaven Bilić took over as boss on 13 June 2019, and led Albion to automatic promotion back to the Premier League during the 2019–20 season. After a poor start to life back in the Premier League, Bilić was sacked on 16 December 2020. Sam Allardyce was appointed as his replacement the same day.