Following the departure of Darren Moore as West Bromwich Albion’s head coach, Preston North End manager Alex Neil has long been a name referenced by the media as our ongoing search for a new man to fill the dugout continues.
Neil has been coy about interest so far from the words I’ve seen when broached about the topic of making the switch to The Hawthorns, but a recent report from Sky Sports claims that not only will West Brom have to sanction significant compensation to do a deal with Preston, Neil himself would want significant assurances about budgets and his control at the club.
Compensation may have woken our owner up given everything is financial here, but disguised in the fact fourth place in the table and a Play-Off spot being almost guaranteed wasn’t good enough, but I honestly can’t blame any new man looking to protect themselves before even truly entertaining the idea of the job.
We all know our finances are stretched and we all know the trouble Moore had getting targets in over the summer (unless freebies or loans) and if fourth place wasn’t good enough then, what exactly will be good enough next season when the budgets will be further trimmed and the Parachute Payments (if they haven’t already been appropriated) reduce further?
The fact it’s Preston next makes it even more interesting.
