With the bizarre decision to fire West Bromwich Albion head coach Darren Moore despite the club effectively punching above its weight in fourth place in the Championship table, the words out of The Hawthorns since have pretty categorically showed that financial concerns were the driver and that should be a massive worry for fans as we don’t have to look far (Aston Villa) to see how quickly finances can go belly up
Especially given reports of Companies House documents on social media that seem to suggest we have already factored off next season’s Parachute Payments for use now, and we all know how many deals fell down last summer/January that left Moore looking at free agents and old friend Tyrone Mings to try and make us competitive.
With his association with the club Michael Appleton is a pretty obvious go-to and he has told Sky Sports that West Brom know where he is if they want to talk.
He also didn’t hide his shock at the weird decision to sack Moore given our overall improvement, despite another wobble.
“The reality is, I know a lot of people at West Brom, from the chief executive down to the people who work on a matchday. They have all got my number, it has not changed in all that time, so we will watch this space really. You have only got to see what the likes of Stoke who came down last year, have found it difficult. It is not as easy as saying ‘we are going to finish in the top two and go straight back up’. Ultimately there is more than one way of getting promoted. Obviously you would like to finish in the top two and be part of the automatic promotion, but you do get a second chance and that’s the play offs. Darren was probably looking at it thinking, ‘well, if we are not going to get in the top two, as long as secure a play off spot there is an opportunity to get promoted’.”
Appleton probably identifies the problem now that any potential manager has to look at. If fourth place given the lack of investment in the side as we balance books as a priority isn’t good enough, what exactly is?
So are we just going to get on the managerial merry-go-round, not build a plan, not build an ethos again for the future and just employ people who know they won’t be backed, or given time to save the blushes of others?
And then, how much will we spend on compensation when it could’ve gone into the squad?
