Eric Ramsay appeared resigned to his fate as the ex-West Brom head coach spoke to the press just minutes before he was sacked after being held to a draw by Charlton.
West Brom drew 1-1 with Charlton on Tuesday night, knowing a draw probably wouldn’t be enough to keep Ramsay in a job.
Despite the mounting pressure on Ramsay, the 34-year-old insisted he was “at peace” and that he had “turned every stone” in an effort to pull Albion away from the relegation zone.
Eric Ramsay’s final words as Baggies boss
Speaking after the game, he said: “I’m generally pleased with the level of competitiveness. I think if you look at the past four games, that is a team that is competitive with the full range of teams in this division.
“It’s tough because you take that game in isolation, and I don’t think it’s a major problem, but we’re at the stage of the season where we have to be ruthless, we have to step up, and we have to fight more. We’ve reached the point where we have to be ruthless in front of goal.
“Nobody in the dressing room is content with the point, content with dominating games because it’ as much about results as it is performances at the moment, and we haven’t been able to get over the line.
“I would never bill a game as must-win. I’m at peace with what is being controlled at the moment from my perspective and the coaching staff’s perspective. The time will come where we have to be decisive.”
Speaking specifically about his future, Ramsay was eager to push a positive spin on the situation.
He said: “The question around my job is not one that I can ever answer or even attempt to answer. I will only do what I can do over the course of a day and put my head on my pillow at night feeling like I’ve turned over every stone.
“I’m not saying that every button I’ve pushed has been the correct one; I’m not saying every setup that we’ve rolled out has been perfect, far from it. But, I can only feel that I’ve controlled what I can control, and I think today [Charlton] was a very obvious showing of that.”
Moments later he and assistant Dennis Lawrence were invited to the boardroom, where Shilen Patel told them it was over just six weeks into a two-and-a-half-year deal.
Discussions had already taken place after the defeat to Coventry City, where it was made clear anything less than a win was unacceptable.
It had almost become impossible to justify his reign continuing; Albion were 18th with a seven-point cushion from the drop zone when he was appointed in January.
They now sit just one place and one point above, saved only by Leicester City’s six-point deduction.
After two failed experiments already this season, Patel must now search for the answer, knowing if he gets this one wrong, attention will turn on him, as it’s started to already.