West Brom began the search for their third head coach this season as Eric Ramsay was dismissed just six weeks into his tenure.
West Brom pulled the plug after a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Charlton Athletic stretched Ramsay’s winless record as head coach to nine games.
Shilen Patel’s latest roll of the dice in his blinkered view of spreadsheet football failed once more as West Brom begin the search for a third ‘head coach’ of the season.
Attention must now turn to experience, a manager who understands the realities of a relegation dogfight if West Brom are going to survive in the Championship.
James Morrison will take interim charge of the side ahead of the trip to Oxford United on Saturday afternoon and is an early frontrunner to take charge, at least until the end of the season.
Here we look at those in the running to take on the poisoned chalice that is West Bromwich Albion Football Club.
James Morrison
‘Mozza’ as he is affectionately named by players and fans alike, embarks on his third stint as West Brom’s interim head coach, currently the favourite to permanently take the reins with various bookmakers.
The result on Saturday afternoon against Oxford will likely determine whether he could be the man to steer the ship, at least for this season. Despite being another name with limited experience, Morrison has enjoyed relative success in his brief stints in charge. In the three games he has overseen, Albion have won one and drawn two, an unbeaten tag that looks difficult to maintain based on current performances.
He personifies stability; he is the obvious “club-man” replacement. Morrison knows this squad very well, he is well-liked and you would think he could get an instant response.
The downside is his lack of experience, Patel would be taking a huge gamble handing yet another young British coach their first permanent head coach position in one season given the current predicament.
I’m a football romantic and would love to see James Morrison solidify his club legend status, but this season has shown us it would be unlikely. He has been involved in the background for a long time, it’s a tired narrative that he would have had much say under Mason and Ramsay, but this is a club that needs a complete overhaul with fresh ideas.
Verdict – Maybe
Russell Martin
During the early stages of a manager search we seem to see the same old names mentioned with little to justify it. Russel Martin falls into that category.
Yes, he is respected in Championship circles for what he achieved with Southampton, but the style of play he tries to implement would not fit this current squad and it’s just not what West Brom needs at this current moment in time.
He also has a reputation to rebuild after what happened at Rangers and sources from the club suggest players found Eric Ramsay just tried to do too much too soon. Martin would just offer more of the same.
This wouldn’t work, he’s been mentioned before, and there is a reason it never comes off.
Verdict – No
Slaven Bilic
Once more, the same recycled names of former players and ex-managers. Patel has already fallen for the same mistake twice with ‘project’ appointments and he’s already tried going back to old faces in Tony Mowbray and look how that turned out.
Bilic had real quality players in his West Brom side that were promoted from the Championship in 2020, he wouldn’t have that now.
After a blistering start, performances dwindled and in truth, the side crawled over the finish line that season.
Verdict – No
Sean Dyche
Now we’re talking. A no-nonsense, old-school manager who plays to his team’s strengths. He is one of the most refreshing British managers who gets a bad rep because of how his teams have performed, but he doesn’t gloss over the fact that football has become unnecessarily complicated.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying West Brom would snap his hand off, but I’d imagine he sees himself managing at the top level.
He’s only recently left Forest and will be on no rush to jump into the burning flames of West Bromwich Albion. I also don’t imagine he would get on particularly well with West Brom’s hierarchy throwing data at his door every five minutes, and rightly so.
Football is about people management at its very core and he would get this club back on track; I just fear it’s unrealistic.
Verdict – YES!