I have been an Albion fan since 1979. In that time I have seen some terrible coach/managers. Gould, Talbot, Little etc. But in all those cases the club itself was also a basket-case. Now we have a solid club, built on excellent foundations. However we seem to have an acute blind spot when it comes to appointing a First Team Coach. What leaves me baffled by the appointment of Irvine is that he is almost identical to Clarke. I suspect he's a top fella and really good on the training ground but he's no leader of men.
We have flirted over recent appointments with experienced foreign coaches and of course hit the jackpot with Roy - so with that in mind why go with a great back-room guy who hadn't been near management in 5 years.
One thing I have always liked about the Albion is that overall we have tended to show patience with managers. That is until very recently. I am at a loss to think the Pepe Mel would be making such a mess of things as Irvine is. We may well have lost a couple but I guarantee we would have come away from those of games and felt like we wanted to win and win in swashbuckling way. With pace, aggression and passion.
The truth is that we have now got an inferior Steve Clarke. Look at Hull with Steve Bruce, Palace with Pulis - if you want to grind out safety go for experience. If you want to play expansive, attacking football go abroad (and stick to your decision).
Relegation is probably a certainty this season - unless we move very quickly and have a proper plan. What kind of football does a West Brom team play now? It used to be Mowbray and Di Matteo leading the way with attacking football - sadly now we're miles behind progressive clubs like Swansea, Hull and Southampton.
Peace has got it wrong and he needs to go back to a model where we groom the next generation of Football Directors (Ashworth, Ashton etc) and the next generation of coaches. Currently we're been lead by yesterday men. It's very, very depressing.
I am going to the Burnley game and I actually think we'll get beaten. Sean Dyche would have been a much more forward thinking choice.....