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West Bromwich Albion FC / The Director of Football debate

« on: October 11, 2022, 04:17:06 PM »

Thought it might be worth starting a thread on Director of Football as it gets a mention in various other debates. My feelings are it's an absolute necessity and we are one of few clubs of our size without one.

Only clubs in top 6 of Championship without them are Sheff Utd and Burnley (who had Wilder and Dyche in long-term management roles where they were top dog in a 90's style Ferguson role). Not the direction of travel any longer.

Based on a quick google, 18 out of 20 Premier League clubs have a Director of Football (or equivalent), with West Ham and Everton being the exceptions. All last seasons three promoted clubs have them, while over half of the Championship do.

Luke Dowling was the last man who held the position but we have since discarded it in favour of a CEO + manager double act... with questionable results. Dowling was the wrong man in a role that needs filling.

A good DoF (in the Dan Ashworth mould) would be vital in bringing some stability to the club. They are almost more important than managers/head coaches in the modern game, with more medium to long term focus.

For me, the ideal set up would be a Head Coach (a proper tracksuit coach on the training pitch taking the lead role in training, not handing over day-to-day responsibility to their staff), alongside a Director of Football appointing the Head Coach, appointing staff, overseeing recruitment (alongside Head of Recruitment/Scouting), overseeing youth team, helping youth players integrate into first team squad, keeping an eye on potential next managers.

Then a CEO to handle non-football matters - a CEO is a corporate role and they should have no business passing judgement on football matters. They're people with business/marketing/financial backgrounds and they should keep their focus on that. CEO's shouldn't be the lead voice on football matters. Only successful exception I can think of is perhaps Karen Brady. And even then, patchy record in her 30yrs experience. Beyond that, nada. I stand to be corrected.

On recruitment - any DoF worth their salt would look at Ian Pearce's track record and get him to pack his bags and replace him with someone suitable. A club of our size needs a pan-European scouting network, backed up by data and analytics.

Brighton and Brentford are testament to its success and it's a mark of how far we behind the times we have fallen that we are now looking at clubs of their historic stature as an example. 10 years ago we were the blueprint of how to run a medium sized football club courtesy of Dan Ashworth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X7ElEXFKiE&ab_channel=BTSport - Dan Ashworth's take on his own job. What I'd give for this club to have a man with his competence in a senior position.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Rest of the season - points to make the Play-Offs

« on: February 15, 2022, 08:52:23 PM »

Been looking into what it takes to reach the top 6 for anyone interested. It has required an average of 74 pts to finish in 6th place since 2004.

We are currently on 46pts from 31 games. An average of 1.48 ppg. Across 46 games will earn 68pts.

We have gained 18pts in the last 17 games. Will earn you 49pts across a season. (We have been in form that averages 21st place across a season since the 3-0 defeat to Fulham in October).

To reach 74pts we need 28 points, averaging 1.86 ppg from our remaining 15 games. This form will earn you 86pts across a season. (Automatic promotion usually requires 88).

Conclusion? We're in absolutely rank form (worse than I'd realised over a longer period than I'd realised), it will take a hell of a turnaround to make the top 6 and we need to be one of the form teams in the division for the next 3 months.

Never say never in football, but it's a real ask when all the evidence points in the other direction. If the required points gets above 2pts per game, I think we can probably wave goodbye to the play-offs.

My own personal feelings are that I'm not too far away from writing off this season. Hopefully the club learns the lessons it needs to learn, we go again in the summer, build an exciting, dynamic team around Dike and get rid of the one-paced plodders (Livermore + Phillips), sell one or more of Grant (most sellable asset?), Robinson and Diangana and invest in new players - including x3 central midfielders.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Character of the squad

« on: January 29, 2022, 05:41:37 PM »

There is an end of days feel about Ismael at this point and there are 200+ pages on this forum about his failings - which are undoubtedly numerous. But I wondered what the consensus is about the squad and what can be done about it?

Changing the manager or not, there is no way we are good enough to go up this season. For me, nothing is solved until the summer. And in order to turn this boat around, time and long-term planning need to be instituted. The club reeks of complacency and malaise.

In many ways Ismael is right about us being in transition and things taking time to turn around. Whether he is the man for the job is its own question. For me, serious consideration needs to be given to the characters that join this football club when the desperately needed squad overhaul takes place.

In another thread I referred to our 'leaders' as journeyman jobbers on long-contracts, well versed in failure - with a nod to Phillips, Livermore, Bartley, Gibbs and Robson-Kanu (the latter two have obviously left but were undoubtedly senior players and instrumental in shaping the recent culture at this football club). Bit harsh on Bartley perhaps? For me, not a particularly good defender who waves his arms aggressively to no-one in particular, and has done for 4 years.

The bunch we have had in this last 5 years have downed tools for multiple managers and it points to weak characters. Wallflowers who cower under pressure.

I don't get much of a sense of character from any of our senior pros. Quiet son-in-law types? Ajayi, Grant, Mowatt, Clarke, Diangana, Furlong, Townsend, Robinson. Would have said the same about Johnstone until he gave Ismael an earful.

O'Shea has a bit about him and he'll be a welcome return. Snodgrass is a good egg by all accounts but has been bombed out.

When you compare it to the McAuley, Olsson, Foster, Brunt, Morrison, Mulumbu bunch it's chalk and cheese. Good characters who cared about this club who you trusted, for better or worse, to give their best.

Our current bunch have clearly downed tools based on the last two performances and many of them have done it with previous managers. They should be ashamed of their efforts this week.

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General Football & Sports / Quevin Moises Castro

« on: July 13, 2021, 10:53:48 AM »

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/breaking-albion-quevin-moises-castro-21038295.amp

Birmingham Mail reporting we have signed a young Portuguese lad. Development squad or straight into first team?

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Games in February

« on: December 08, 2018, 08:08:57 PM »

After seeing Norwich and Leeds win again, I had a quick look at when we next play them and noticed our fixtures in Feb.

After Norwich at home on January 12th, followed by QPR away and Bolton at home, we have;

02/02 - Boro h
09/02 - Stoke a
12/02 - Forest h
16/02 - Villa a
23/02 - Sheff Utd h
02/03 - Leeds a

Tasty looking fixture list and a potentially season defining spell - 3 at home, 3 away. If we do any business in January (right back and centre mid hopefully) they’ll have to hit the ground running.

Still a few weeks away but something to look forward to/dread depending on your outlook!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Flex-down contracts

« on: August 03, 2018, 06:52:52 PM »

Hi all - just had a quick thought about the contracts of the players who had flex-down clauses after relegation. Does anyone know if they go back up IF we get promoted?

On relegation, I think the majority were cut by 50%? If we get promoted, do they revert back to what they were in the Premier League? If so, presumably it will impact how much we are paying new signings in wages this summer as we know Jenkins is obviously much more financially prudent than the shower of s***e he replaced.

If that's the case, it makes sense that we'd be after players like Conor Townsend and the Luton and Yeovil players we've been linked with in the past couple of weeks, in addition to the loans. Lower wages and less financial risk to the club if the wages do hike back up.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / IF the worst happens...

« on: February 03, 2018, 05:55:56 PM »

If this season does go the way it is heading and we're back in the second tier next season, the club have got to take the lessons from other clubs who've been in our position.

We've been in the league for 8 years and teams who get relegated after reasonable spells in the Premier League (6/7+ seasons) have a terrible record of getting back up.

Bolton - 11 seasons - relegated in 2012, never come back.
Blackburn - 11 seasons, relegated in 2012, never come back.
Wigan - 8 seasons, relegated in 2013, never come back.
Fulham - 13 seasons, relegated in 2014, never come back.

Not to mention the likes of Coventry, Leeds, Forest, Sheffield Wednesday - big clubs who struggled to deal with relegation and haven't recovered. Sunderland look to be heading that way. Newcastle have bounced back and Villa are doing okay but it's taken 18 months.

Whenever we have gone down before, we've kept the majority of the core of the squad together and improved year on year. This time around we've got an awful lot of players on £40-50k+ a week and players who have little to no Championship experience.

I really do fear for us if we go down and we'd have a huge amount of work to do in re-shaping the squad and purpose build one fit for the Championship ala Newcastle or Villa.

Garlick, Williams and the owners have a huge job on their hands and you have to hope there is work going on behind the scenes to prepare us for relegation in terms of recruitment, offloading players and crucially, trying to prevent the atmosphere at the club from turning poisonous in the event of relegation - (potential pitfalls include attitude of players, angry fanbase, style of play, getting off to a slow start results-wise, etc).

On a more positive note, I think we CAN still stay up but the margin for error is almost zero. We're going to need 5 wins and 3 draws from the remaining 12 to give us a shot and we HAVE to beat the teams around us. 10 points needed from the next 4 home games, minimum. 

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West Bromwich Albion FC / A little bit of perspective...?

« on: December 17, 2012, 04:36:11 PM »

I think a lot of people are being far too harsh on us. We're missing Foster, Reid, Ridgewell and Yacob. Due to Yacob's injury we are playing Morrison deeper than we'd like to so he is having far less of a creative influence on the side.

On top of the players we are missing we are obviously low on confidence. It is no shame, every side gets stuck in a rut for a period during a season - even the best (United have in years gone by, Chelsea went 7 without a win and Norwich, who are being hailed as the best thing since sliced bread, didn't win until 20th October in the league spanning 8 winless games).

We need some semblance of perspective. Things aren't falling apart, we aren't on a downward spiral and our season isn't going to cave in. We are in a patch of dodgy form with injuries and low confidence. When these two factors are compounded by bad refereeing decisions (such as Arsenal away) then it's going to start to look a bit bleak.

We've got a good squad and we'll be fine. When the entire squad are playing at the peak of their powers for 3 months then it is only natural that they will get burned out as they aren't world class players - if they were brilliant every game then they'd be plying their trades at bigger and better clubs than ours.

Steve Clarke isn't suddenly a manager who has been "sussed" because we've not won in 4. Not winning in these games has, in my opinion, a lot to do with the absences of Foster, Yacob (4 games missed, 4 games not won) and Morrison having to play deeper (out of necessity because we are a defensive midfielder short). He makes us tick going forward and we really miss him when he isn't having that creative influence higher up the pitch with his dribbles, close control, quick feet, movement and vision.

I hope we don't get on top of Clarke/the team over the next couple of games. Norwich are the form side in the league and QPR have a new lease of life under Redknapp so they won't be easy games. 2 or 3 points would be an okay haul in my eyes. If we get to January around 7th or 8th place and players are coming back to full fitness we can get strengthen with an extra player or two then we can push on again. Any top half finish would be another great achievement for this club and we shouldn't forget that.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Scharner leaving at the end of the season is confirmed

« on: May 08, 2012, 08:11:12 AM »

http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/west-bromwich-albion-fc/west-bromwich-albion-fc-news/2012/05/08/west-brom-thanks-for-the-memories-baggies-paul-scharner-97319-30922151/


Thanks for the memories Paul. The goal against the Villa will be remembered for years to come!

It's a shame that he is leaving; the fans love him and I feel he could have offered something next season. However, he would be little more than a squad player and being one of the highest earners, his wages could be better used - a new contract for Olsson/new signings.

Even so, he's been a magnificent player and a fantastic character to have at the club. Not enough characters in the game these days and he certainly is one!

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Which has been the most special to you?

« on: April 21, 2012, 02:02:35 PM »

As it is the 10 year anniversary of our first promotion to the Premier League, today is a day of sentiment for all Baggies. So, which of the above was your favourite/most cherished?

All of them have their own merits. Massive travelling support at Oldham and Pompey, 40,00 at Wembley, the elation at Valley Parade, the joy of sealing our first Premiership season by beating Palace and the Great Escape under Robson.

Boing Boing

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General Football & Sports / Alternative teams?

« on: November 12, 2011, 09:07:46 PM »

Since the Albion weren't playing this weekend did anyone go to any games? I went to see Worcester beat Altringham. There were a few ex-Baggies on show actually, Rob Elvins, Danny Carey-Bartram and Simon Brown (who looked like he was capable of playing at a far higher standard) scored a pen in a 3-0 Worcester win.

Nice afternoon, £7 entry and I was pleasantly surprised with the standard - I'd definitely go again when the Albion aren't playing. Anyone else go to Worcester, or any other games? I heard Stourbridge took close to 1,000 fans down to Plymouth this afternoon which I thought was a top effort - any Baggies make the trip??