Ashworth happy with additions

07 September 2010 13:45
Sporting and Technical Director confident Albion can compete Dan Ashworth believes the men he helped bring to the club can help the Baggies be competitive this season. The Sporting and Technical Director played a major part in recruiting ten first-team players during the summer transfer window. Albion added much needed Premier League experience to the squad which gained an automatic promotion last season. Ashworth believes the capture of seasoned internationals such as Steven Reid, Pablo Ibanez and Peter Odemwingie will give the Baggies a better chance of survival when the club chose a policy of recruiting younger players. "We've brought in ten players in and given seven other players new contracts," said Ashworth. "If we get a bit of luck with injuries and within games, I certainly think we've got a competitive squad in an extremely competitive league. "Everyone else has strengthened since we were last up two years ago. "It is the best league in Europe and incredibly difficult. "I think the gap has got bigger because you've got the likes of Blackburn. "The Blackburn secretary is a friend of mine and when I saw him on Saturday night he was saying they haven't done a great deal in the transfer window, but what they have done is had eight or nine years worth of adding one or two players and only re-doing contracts. "The problem with being a newly-promoted team is that we've had to bring in ten new players, which when you're limited to a 25-man squad, means almost half your squad is new. "Robbie, Eddie and Appy have got to get the new players to gel and get the balance right. "Some of the players have only just walked through the door. "Some of them have to settle in a new country, some in a new area. "There is a transition for the squad and players. "But if all that goes well I think we've made ourselves competitive."

Source: FOOTYMAD