After, give or take a month that West Bromwich Albion sacked Steve Clarke, they have finally appointed his replacement. I’ll get onto him in a second, but first when the decision was made, most agreed that West Brom could have made a mistake. At the first hurdle of Steve Clarke’s managerial career, he’s sacked. Any West Brom supporter will know that Chairman, Jeremy Pearce is the kind of man that only wants the best and is ruthless for success. Maybe the huge success they had last season after being near the top of the 2012 year, that success possibly came back to haunt him.
On the 9th January, West Brom appointed Pepe Mel former Real Betis manager. Most of us who don’t follow other leagues in too much detail, will not know him as a man or a manager. So here’s a profile for you;
Full Name: Jose Mel Perez.
Birthplace: Madrid
Pepe Mel, was a product from Real Madrid’s youth system from the age of 11. He played for the C and B teams before leaving in 1987. He then went to a number of teams before retiring aged 35 in 1998. (Osasuna, Castellon, Betis, Granada, Benidorm, Getafe, Ecija Balompie and French club Angers.
As a manager he has taken control of 9 different clubs, starting at Coslada then Merida and Real Murcia. He then went on to replace Rafael Benitez at Tenerife, who went to manage Valencia.
In the early 2000’s between 03 and 06 he coached Getafe, Deportivo Alaves and Polideportivo Ejido in Spain’s second tier.
Mel went on to win promotion to the second division with current Primera Liga outfit, Rayo Vallecano in 2007/08 in a four year period. With the same team he almost gained a successive promotion but in the end finished 5th. In more recent years he has been at Real Betis in which he was first appointed in July 2010 and steered them as champions to the top flight in his first year. He took them to 13th in their first season and 7th place in La Liga in the second year. This put them into the Europa League, and they beat Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid 1-0 on the road to gain that position, and in the Copa del Rey was a huge stumbling block for Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, even though they lost on aggregate.
After Financial struggles for Real Betis, Mel parted company with them in December.
West Brom has given him an 18 month contract, and it has been reported that his style follows that of the times, with high pressure and attacking football. Similar to what we have seen from Southampton, and their manager Mauricio Pochettino. He can also work on a budget. We shall see how long this new head coach gets and how far he can take West Brom in 2014.
Source: DSG
