The news of Steve Clarke’s sacking on Saturday evening came as little surprise to the majority of Albion fans – especially those of us who had witnessed another abject display and disappointing defeat at Cardiff City.
I was a big fan of Clarke and spent much of last season backing him when others were unfairly criticising him, mainly because our squad during the second half of last season was too small and there was very little Clarke could do to address this until the summer.
However, it became clear after the home game against Norwich that he was on borrowed time as Albion head coach.
The positive displays of his first few months in charge had been replaced by a defensive approach, something which worked to a certain extent under Roy Hodgson but which no longer suited our more attack-minded squad.
By the end of his reign, it seemed as though he had simply run out of ideas. We have more than enough good players to pick up points at this level, but one win in our last nine and seven wins in 34 league games in 2013 is not good enough.
Any head coach who publicly questions the club’s prudent transfer policy is potentially making life difficult for themselves and once our results deteriorated, despite significant investment in the squad over the summer, there was only ever going to be one outcome.
The national press and supporters of other clubs have criticised our decision without looking at the facts.
On current form, we look set to be in a relegation dogfight and a change was needed to give us the best possible chance of pulling away from the bottom three.
Keith Downing has been placed in charge of the side on a caretaker basis and is set to be at the helm when we take on Hull City at the Hawthorns on Saturday.
What is a little more concerning, however, is that the local press are reporting he could be in charge for the entire festive period.
Downing is obviously very highly-rated at the club having outstayed three head coaches, but I am unconvinced about his ability to help us get league points on the board over a period of three or four games.
Ideally, he will be in charge on Saturday with our new manager taking a watching brief from the stands.
However, with the club supposedly starting their managerial search from scratch, the chances of a quick appointment seem fairly slim.
There are a number of names already being linked with the role, the likes of Martin Jol and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer among the early front-runners if the bookmakers are to be believed.
Gianfranco Zola resigned from his position at Watford late yesterday afternoon and other coaches being linked with the vacancy include current Real Madrid assistant Paul Clement, brother of former Albion favourite Neil.
At one point over the weekend, Roberto Di Matteo was favourite for the role, which shows just how unsure people are as to who will replace Clarke.
Of all the names being linked, the two stand-out candidates are Solskjaer and Jol, in my opinion.
Solskjaer has achieved success at Molde in Norway and has plenty of pedigree as a player and a coach after working within the Manchester United reserve set-up following his retirement from the playing side.
Jol might not be the kind of exciting appointment some Albion fans are hoping before, but I believe he would be the solid, experienced coach required to turn our form round fairly quickly and help us move up the table.
His track record at Ajax, Hamburg and Spurs is impressive, and it is worth noting that his win percentage at Fulham is better than Clarke’s with us, despite being at Craven Cottage for a year longer.
The biggest issue for the club is that there is no obvious replacement, as there was when Di Matteo was sacked and Hodgson was appointed just five days later.
We tend to take quite a while with managerial appointments at the best of times, and the fact that there are so few candidates available means that Albion fans could be in for another long wait before a new head coach is confirmed.
Whatever people’s opinions on Jeremy Peace though, his recent track record when it comes to appointing head coaches is very impressive and the very least he and Richard Garlick deserve is the opportunity to hopefully make the right choice again.
Until then, players and supporters need to get behind Downing and ensure that we pick up a respectable number of points during the games he is in charge for, leaving our new head coach with a good platform to build on and move us up the table.
Boing Boing!
Who do you think you succeed Steve Clarke? Have your say here at Baggies Banter.
Source: WBA MAD
Source: FOOTYMAD
