Viewing the Tony Brown tributes this week (which were superb and very enjoyable) it was interesting to hear the Bomber chatting about John Giles first season as Albion manager, and the fact that half way through that first season we were way off the pace and close to the relegation zone, only to turn it around and gain promotion back to the old First Division.
As Tony Brown commented, the chances are that these days in the modern game he'd have been given the boot in similar circumstances by many clubs.
Being an old git I can recall those days, albeit as a youngster, and although we were all in a bit of awe of Giles who had a very high playing profile at that time, the football itself wasn't great for the first few months, and it was around 4 months until things really started to click into gear, but I don't recall people having much of a moan and everyone seemed patient and content to give the bloke time.
The only reason I'm commenting on this thread, is that on hearing those comments it struck me how entrenched the views of some Albion fans have been with AI virtually from day one. Thankfully it seems to be a dwindling number now, though as always we know that come the next defeat those who have no confidence in him will be out in force and at times it feels as if he's paying the price for having a low profile in the game, by Premiership standards, as much as anything else.
Appreciate the Giles era is a very long time ago, but for me, the principle of giving a new Coach time stands true and, talking generally rather than about the Albion, the short termism in football these days, when two or three consecutive defeats is considered a "disaster / disgrace" blah blah, has surely on many occasions been self defeating for many clubs.
