[alex1]

Whilst I'm not against the idea of appointing someone who has a coaching background, far more is needed to be in charge of a Premier League club. Managing egos, having the respect of players, making tactical decisions during games, attracting quality players to the club, keeping quality players at the club.

Maybe not dissimilar to Keith Burkinshaw, who had a coaching background. Unfortunately,  that wasn't enough.
The other thing is that, if he was such a great coach, why did Moyes not take him to Old Trafford?

He's going to have to hit the ground running, and that's the understatement. Unfair maybe, but nobody'd forced him to take the job. He probably thinks he has nothing to lose, as he hasn't got a reputation, except in the lower divisions. He probably thinks at the worst, after he's been sacked, he'll find it easier to get a job later with West Brom on his CV.

[Chipperfan]

Of course it may all work out beautifully. There are no guarantees for the likes of us, no Guardiolas or Van Gaals, no Mourinhos, we shop in a different marketplace.

Perhaps the combination of a decent coach in Irvine, and knowledge of available talent in Burton and our scouts will be beneficial.

Time will tell.

[WorcsWBA]

Welcome PNEfan - thanks for taking the trouble to post here.

One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, gets very close to the players.

Trying that worked out well for Pepe Mel....

[Chipperfan]

Oh good. We can all sleep easy now. 

I can't pretend to know you, but in football matters I might be tempted take the opinion of two international players, one of whom has coached in the Premier League, over yours. 

[Atomic]

I can't pretend to know you, but in football matters I might be tempted take the opinion of two international players, one of whom has coached in the Premier League, over yours.

Did you take the opinion of all those people "in the game" that said David Moyes was the right man for Manchester United?

[WorcsWBA]

oh and I'm 100% certain season tickets are NOT refundable.

Some got refunds after Pepe Mel was sacked. If they don't refund those who request it after them appointing Irvine, I hope someone tests the water in court, if necessary, on the grounds of the Chairman's "lessons learned" propaganda being misrepresentation.

[Chipperfan]

Did you take the opinion of all those people "in the game" that said David Moyes was the right man for Manchester United?

Couldn't care less about them. Wouldn't even know who backed him or otherwise.

I'm only interested in Albion.

[jim68]

Why i'd rather have had McCinnes than this no hoper!

i said all along we have to be realistic mcciness should have been the man i know its only scottish football but he;s been quite a sucess overall /but the thing for me is a mass clearout of players is needed too many have been at the club too long and are in the comfort zone hence like last season only playing for 45 mins whichever half that was 

[WorcsWBA]

I would really like to see every name that was interviewed for the position!

Chris Lepkowski tweeted earlier: "Sherwood, McDermott, Hughton, Renard, Zola were among the others spoken to formally or sounded out during recent weeks....some of those talks (certainly with McDermott and Hughton) were merely part of due diligence and never contenders".

[Atomic]

Couldn't care less about them. Wouldn't even know who backed him or otherwise.

I'm only interested in Albion.

Nevertheless the principal is the same is it not?

For what it's worth I don't care about them either.

[WorcsWBA]

Irvine was the most negative manager I've seen in recent years at Hillsborough and believe me, we've had some terrible managers in the last 20 odd years, one of the things that he irritatingly kept doing was praising the visiting team before the game, he would say stuff like you have to watch out for their strikers (praise), pace (praise), hight (praise) etc.... he'd go on to say how we'd deal with their threat but not saying anything about how his own side would attack or be positive (maybe he didn't even know how too?)

He was absolutely clueless, and if he received criticism he turn it back to his critics by asking where their coaching badges were etc.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and share some thoughts with us. The fans of both Sheff Wed and Preston deserve better than they've got currently, so I hope things pick up for you soon.

Does what I've highlighted in bold above make anyone think of Alan Buckley?

[LiamTheBaggie]

Terry McDermott and Shaun StLedger both saying he's a top coach and a good appointment. Guess they may know more than a lot of us.

Cecil Nyoni, another player to have worked with Alan Irvine called the appointment 'interesting' with some eyes emotions.

I asked Nyoni what he thought of Irvine expecting it to be bad as Nyoni appears to be quite a character and he described him as the best manager he's ever had.

Cecil Nyoni ‏@CecilNyoni26 3m

“@LiamWBAFC: @CecilNyoni26 @SkySportsNews What's he like Cecil?” Best manager iv had tbh!!

[baggie_liam]

We need a huge player over haul this summer, what players is he going to inspire to sign for us and play for him? I can't see us signing anyone better than we already have at the club. The appointment stinks of a cheap yes man. The one year rolling contract proves all the faith in him. I see him sacked by November and us relegated by march!
Shocking choice! I can't believe he is better suited to the job than Pepe Mel? Every football fan on the outside is laughing at us! I wonder how many will enquire about a season ticket refund now 

[BB74]

Had a few hours to digest this and my thoughts are:

Alan fecking Irvine!!!!! WTF!!

[WorcsWBA]

They are also not bad when you look at them slowly

The fans of Preston and Sheff Wed seem to disagree with you. You obviously think him getting Sheff Wed relegated and then taking them into the bottom half of League One is somehow worthy of praise?

[Atomic]

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and share some thoughts with us. The fans of both Sheff Wed and Preston deserve better than they've got currently, so I hope things pick up for you soon.

Does what I've highlighted in bold above make anyone think of Alan Buckley?

Yeah, arrogance. He can have every coaching badge in the world it doesn't mean he's any good. It's a bit like exams they mean you have a decent memory, not that you can do a job.

[albionlincs]

Firstly, the idea of a head coach being appointed is strange. Someone has to be responsible for player discipline and this is a managers job so hopefully someone at the club is in place to do that.

my main worry is attracting players. We need at least 12 players for the coming season and I had hoped that a high (ish) profile would naturally attract some players but now fear that this won't happen. Whatever people say managers attract players and he won't even have a network of top class players to call on.

a desperate time for the football club

[Do I not like Wolves]

The fans of Preston and Sheff Wed seem to disagree with you. You obviously think him getting Sheff Wed relegated and then taking them into the bottom half of League One is somehow worthy of praise?

What have we done?

[botters]

I think that as an Albion supporter I have been so disappointed and dissalutioned as much as I am tonight. I just cannot believe that after last seasons mistakes, Peace and his board have made this appointment.   

[WBArgo]

Sweet, sweet irony - Joel Campbell, a player Pepe Mel would have liked to bring in just scores a cracking equaliser for Costa Rica, you can't make this up

[royhan]

We need five or more marquee signings to help us get over this shocking appointment. I have just been reading comments from fans on Albion's Facebook page and they are much stronger than anything posted on here so far.

[botters]

I think that as an Albion supporter I have been so disappointed and dissalutioned as much as I am tonight. I just cannot believe that after last seasons mistakes, Peace and his board have made this appointment.

Never been so even

[Do I not like Wolves]

We need five or more marquee signings to help us get over this shocking appointment. I have just been reading comments from fans on Albion's Facebook page and they are much stronger than anything posted on here so far.

No chance now i am afraid.

[Topman]

Someone's already left a banner up the ground. First of many?

[Greenock Baggie]

I am actually crying while typing this so apologies for any spelling mistakes.

When I come down to games its not only for the football, its to see and meet up with my Dad who's 87( season ticket holder ) and my sister ( season ticket holder ). I will be calling the club on Monday to see if I can get a refund as I will not be travelling down to see this. My dad actually gave me the money for the ticket and I will be working overtime in my pooh job to give him his money back if the club wont refund me.

I do not take this decision lightly as my dad, bless him, doesn't have long to go but this is the last f***ing straw. I'll be hard pressed to keep my cool when I do call them on Monday but enough is enough. When I first came to this forum, I posted a really long post about lack of ambition shown by the club and have finally been vindicated.

I DEFY ANYONE TO MAKE A CASE ( NOT FOR IRVINE ) BUT FOR THE CLUB IN THIS WHOLE F***NG FIASCO.

This has finally killed my life long love of WBA. My kids and wife deserve better of me than disappearing for a whole weekend every 2 weeks.

F*** PEACE AND HIS CROANIES. I've had it with the lot of them.