1

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Tony Mowbray appointed as Head Coach

« on: Today at 09:23:21 PM »

We’re going to attack, we’re going to be positive, we’re going to go and play and hopefully get the fans out of their seats and win some games.

Hell yeah, Tony.  Not sure how that's going to turn out with this squad but whatever lets go. Welcome home.

2

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Do you REALLY want us to be promoted this season?

« on: Today at 04:48:49 PM »

https://bsky.app/profile/gamestateuk.bsky.social/post/3lfwbrbgcbs2f

Linking to images is hard so this will have to do.

Basically it just shows the gap between being relegated from the Prem and being a Championship side, with or without parachute payments

Thanks for that it is pretty stark demonstration of why if we can get a promotion we grasp it with both hands and worry about what we do in the PL when we get there.

Across 2 years of 1 season in the PL and 1 in the Championship that equates roughly to £180m of revenue there is no way that does not make a material difference to the club. While costs rise and we would have to pay something to Lai etc... there is no amount of smart trading and management that leaves us where we should be in year 3 even if we didn't manage to bounce straight back to the Premier League.

3

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: Today at 06:45:18 AM »

Mark Venus is his long-term assistant and he has worked with him at every club since Hibs. I would fully expect Venus to return along with Mowbray but as for the rest of the coaching staff I don't think there is a team Mowbray.

4

General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL CHAMPIONSHIP THREAD

« on: Today at 01:57:16 AM »

Fans always want to hear from their clubs owners. One of the many complaints we had about Lai was the virtual absence of communication. However when your owner is as barking mad as Chansiri maybe less engagement with the fans is the way to go.

As for the comments by Richard Stanford he probably shouldn't be in a job in the morning although he probably will be unlike the poor Head of Comms.

5

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: Yesterday at 10:08:04 PM »

I am pleased that it looks likely that Mowbray will return. While we know being in talks is not the same as being appointed I think Mowbray wants the job and Nestor is probably under a bit of pressure to make an appointment so I would imagine a deal will be done.

He is not the same coach that left 16 years ago too many tough gigs not to develop a more pragmatic streak but his teams always try to play attacking football and generally are better than the sum of their parts.

Looking forward to welcoming him back to the Hawthorns.

6

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: Yesterday at 02:09:18 PM »

The only name that has been confirmed by a reliable source is Wicky and yes we got to final discussions with him. Hake was under consideration and some discussions have been held with Mowbray and exactly what was said or not said in those discussions remains between the parties involved.

As for anybody else it is speculation and often badly informed speculation. There isn't a different name every day.

In terms of where we are in the process unfortunately if there was an easy option for the club to pivot to that had been under consideration when Wicky withdrew,  my guess is that appointment would have been made by now. It would imply that we are having to cast the net wider or look at candidates where compensation would have to be paid that were discounted in the initial process.

This is unfortunate because our eggs were in the Wicky basket but it does not mean the club has managed the process badly. It would have been worse if they had made a panicked appointment when the Wicky deal broke down. 

7

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 15, 2025, 04:39:39 PM »

I don't see Mowbray as a stop gap appointment and I am sure he doesn't see himself that way. If he does come I'd expect him to be on a minimum of an 18 month contract probably longer.

8

General Football & Sports / Re: Transfer Window Watch (Non Albion)

« on: January 15, 2025, 04:24:29 PM »

I understand that Leicester City are making a quick profit on Tom Cannon and that might be all there is to it. However we seem to have a group of the leading Championship clubs falling over themselves to sign a player for a significant fee who might be good enough to get them to the Premier League but does not appear to be good enough to keep them there.

Or at least that what Leicester seem to think given they aren't blessed with a surfeit of strikers and those that are getting regular minutes (Vardy and Ayew) are both at the veteran stage of their careers and are bundling Cannon out of the door.

The window is still open of course and Leicester may yet bring in a striker but at this point it seems an odd deal to be making.

9

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 15, 2025, 03:27:19 PM »

No Head Coach gets total control on transfers like they may have done 20 years ago. However nor do they get presented with a disparate collection of players, they will have some input into the recruitment process. How much will vary from Coach to Coach and club to club.  I suspect that our Head Coach will get an input as to what we need to recruit but ultimately a limited say in who is recruited.

I suspect the bigger issue for most perspective coach's is that the squad will have to be rebuilt on a tight budget and it won't be possible to retain the better players from one season to the next.

 

10

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Josh Maja joins Albion

« on: January 14, 2025, 11:35:14 PM »

The player we least want to lose. We absolutely don't have anything close to a like for like replacement not just in terms of quality but the type of player he is. It requires a complete restructuring of the team just to get some of the attributes that he brings onto the pitch and ultimately no matter what we lose his goal scoring ability.

I don't want be overly gloomy but I fear that our play-off challenge will be over before we get him back on the pitch. This would be a tricky issue for any coach to address but even tougher for a guy just walking into the building or the relative rookies in the interim team.

11

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 14, 2025, 01:23:20 AM »

If Mowbray is fit then I would have him back in a heartbeat. He is 61 and while he is no spring chicken he is one of those coaches that lives and breathes football I think he has a good 4 or 5 years left in the game so I wouldn't regard him as a stop-gap appointment. I am not sure whether or not I am being unusually sentimental but his record stands scrutiny and he has taken on some challenging positions. It speaks volumes for the man that is generally well regarded by every club he has worked for.

If vibes alone could carry us to promotion the return of the Mogga would have us 10 points clear by April. Unfortunately the rather awkward fact is that he hasn't got a team anywhere near as good as the one he lead to title and vibes don't cut it.

12

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 13, 2025, 08:48:40 PM »

Okay I am comfortable with missing out on Wicky this entirety down to him. What the hell else can the club do?

Moving on candidates that weren't remotely realistic a week ago aren't anymore realistic today as such I don't need to enter the Dyche debate.

I hope we aren't back to square one but that is better than making an appointment on the fly

13

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 13, 2025, 05:13:27 PM »

 You go to bed with the World looking a certain way and then you get up and it has changed.

Catching up with a lot. The issue it would seem is that team Wicky is unable (work permit) or unwilling to move to the UK (they live in Switzerland I kind of get that). Wicky is loyal to or overly wedded to said Assistants  depending on your outlook but has pulled out because he is not prepared to come without a particular assistant.

Rewind to where we were on Friday night. "The club is thought to be in advanced talks with Wicky" to paraphrase Percy and others. This is not a formal announcement but an indication we are about to appoint Wicky, but the phrase advanced talks does not mean we will appointment him at that point there are still issues to be resolved. At that stage the club might not have been aware as to how absolutely determined to bring his own backroom staff with him. Or maybe Wicky was able to cope without one of his Assistants but not both. It never ceases to amaze me in general how some football people can't seem to cope without "their people" following them from job to job. Corberan was in a similar position with Abella but moved on although he was able to take the bulk of his staff with him.

The question now is how does the club move on? Having gone through a lengthy process and for it fall at the last hurdle is difficult not to now do something in a hurry. Do you return to other candidates who made it through to the last stage of the process or start again with a blank sheet of paper?

Earlier when the choices had boiled down to Wicky, Hake and Fischer (not sure he was in the frame at all) I said I was indifferent with I think a slight bias to Hake. As such I would be happy if the club pivots to Hake or Fischer but I don't think we can keep going with Brunt and Abella for much longer as an appointment is becoming pressing.

14

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Josh Maja joins Albion

« on: January 13, 2025, 12:42:15 AM »

Chelsea and Spurs really? Chelsea as far as I can make out have recruited exactly 1player  from the Championship in the last decade. Spurs have a little bit more of a track record of picking up youngsters who have had a break out season at Championship level (Gray and Clarke spring to mind) yet Maja doesn't fit that profile he's 26 for a start. In short this is bunkum.

15

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Caleb Taylor

« on: January 13, 2025, 12:20:19 AM »

Caleb Taylor is either ready now or he will never be. More League 1 football will just turn him into a league 1 footballer. Great for him because that is a steady career, maybe not one he dreamt of but better than most kids that enter the game full time at 16.

He has a pathway into the first team for remainder of this season he will pick up minutes from the bench and on rotation. Ajayi and Holgate are both likely to leave the club and he will take their minutes and ultimately replace Bartley as he develops. It it is either that scenario or he fails is replaced in the squad and moves on.

16

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: John Swift

« on: January 12, 2025, 01:02:47 AM »

I think it is easy to under estimate how difficult it would be to replace our better players while we are in the Championship even if we have some money to spend on fees. On the other hand I think I could find two players for Swift's wages and there is a good chance that both would make bigger contributions although there would need to be money for fees to achieve that.

17

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Do you REALLY want us to be promoted this season?

« on: January 12, 2025, 12:46:42 AM »

I like the idea building a better squad in the Championship and getting promoted with it and using that as the basis for establishing us in the Premier League.

However football doesn't work like that. It will be really difficult to retain our better players in this Division. For instance we could quite easily lose Maja and Fellows in the summer even if we got good fees replacing them in the Championship will be difficult . Using the fees well we may improve the squad overall but we are unlikely to be much stronger or at least close the gap on those with parachute payments,  but equally we could end up in a worse position.

Promotion on the other hand means we have a better chance of retaining our better players and critically we can attract better players than we can in the Championship. Even if we get relegated after just one season we end up with a better squad than we would have done had we remained in the Championship.

Being the whipping boys in any division is miserable I get it but slowly drifting into mid-table Championship mediocrity isn't much fun either.

18

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 10, 2025, 05:04:45 PM »

I find it amazing how hypercritical posters are regarding our potential coaches. Wicky has a record of winning cups and titles with two of the bigger clubs in Switzerland which in coaching terms is a little bit "so what". Whereas he didn't do anything much at Chicago Fire a club which is perpetually mediocre and that is a "failure" although he got them within a point of the play-offs which might be as good as anyone has done with Chicago Barely Smouldering.

Getting something out of a squad without a talent advantage it might be argued is better and more relevant to the circumstances he will find at the Hawthorns.

19

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 09, 2025, 05:07:59 PM »

IF Jose is taking over at Everton, as per rumour, that's everyone who potentially would consider Cooper for me, having rolled their dices.

Wonder if there is a limit to the amount of GL he can be on.

No amount of wishful thinking is going magic up Cooper, sorry.

20

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 09, 2025, 12:38:58 PM »

My gut feelings on this is we will have an announcement today or tomorrow and it will be Hake, Fischer, or Wicky.  There really is nothing to say anybody else is in the frame and it is even debatable as to whether Fischer is.

I can make some sort of case for and against all 3. There seems to be a certain amount of negativity toward Hake and I can see why but he has taken on some really tough jobs in particular Twente and done well with them, context is everything here. As such he might even be my first choice for the job.

PS

Sorry if my earlier post caused any confusion I forget not everyone has spent too much of their lives among degenerate gamblers. 

21

General Football & Sports / Re: Transfer Window Watch (Non Albion)

« on: January 09, 2025, 10:24:04 AM »

As for the LeFee deal Sunderland are paying his wages in full, no other loan fee - Romano

WTAF that's north of £60k a week in the CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! To justify that they have to get promotion. What the hell happens if they get promotion without much of a contribution from him??

You have to hope the obligation to buy comes with some minimum appearances clause.

If you were getting the best player in the league this would be risky but there are some question marks about how good this guy actually is.

22

General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL PREMIER LEAGUE THREAD

« on: January 09, 2025, 03:01:27 AM »

Potter has a big challenge that West Ham squad is old thin and injured. It is only 14th because the some of the teams behind them are shockingly bad. Get things wrong here and he will have a relegation on his CV.

23

General Football & Sports / Re: Transfer Window Watch (Non Albion)

« on: January 09, 2025, 02:50:57 AM »

Worlds gone mad parts 1 & 2.

LeFee on the back of two good seasons for Lorient gets a move to Stade Rennais for 20m Euros where he has a bit of a mixed season but Rennais manage to unload him to Roma last summer for 23m Euros. Roma don't fancy him much and now get their money back if Sunderland get promoted. It is now 18 months since his good spell and he is moving to his 3rd club.

I suspect when the music stops Sunderland might be holding the parcel.

And as Philogene I hope it works out for Ipswich and the player but you fear it might not,

24

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 09, 2025, 01:17:22 AM »

Odds courtesy of Bet Victor as at Midnight 9/1/2025

Rene Hake 4/5
Urs Fischer 5/2
Raphael Wicky 3/1

6/1 Bar

We are only aware of these names because they have appeared the betting markets and been backed down to short odds. There is nothing out anywhere that ratifies this as our short list and absolutely nothing to say where the club ranks the 3 candidates.

That said we will be making an appointment shortly and at least some people are prepared to bet it is one of the above.

 

25

West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Next Head Coach Thread

« on: January 08, 2025, 10:15:07 PM »

It is not unreasonable to take time over an appointment. It doesn't matter how quickly or slowly you appoint Frank Lampard he still is going to be Frank Lampard. '

I take all reports of conversations with any potential candidate with a huge pinch of salt because the only people that put a name out there are agents who let's face it have their own agendas and are only on nodding terms with the truth. The only time the club has confirmed or denied any link was with Luke Williams and only then because the situation was getting embarrassing.

On the subject of embarrassment the fact that Potter was lined up for the West Ham job was splashed all over the media 48 hours before the club fired Lopetegui was classless. Equally very  early in Patel's ownership there was a rumour circulating that we were lining up Torino's coach to replace Corberan.

How well prepared can a club be when talking to an agent to confirm a potential replacements interest in the job turns into a "West Brom line up coach X to replace Corberan" headline?