A look at the Albion situation.
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00:00Charlie, looking at West Bromwich Albion and the current manager situation,
00:04obviously we mentioned, you know, the terrible Christmas gift that Carlos
00:08Corberán gave the Albion fans.
00:10I mean, in all fairness to him, he gave them a fantastic, you know, spell at the
00:14club with a real shoestring big budget and, you know, got them out of a lot of
00:19situations, obviously got that playoff run, which wasn't to be, but, you know,
00:24it was an amazing time for them.
00:26And they were, it's the first time in quite a long time that they've really
00:29experienced a decent slash top manager, you know, obviously parted ways.
00:34So it is sort of a bit of an awkward position for them.
00:38You know, they are doing well in the championship, well enough to certainly
00:41push on and get the playoff places come the end of the season.
00:44And what's the latest you can tell us on maybe names that are linked or, you know,
00:48obviously Chris Brunt turned down the option of taking it on full time.
00:53You know, it's an awkward position for Albion fans.
00:56What's the latest you can tell us?
00:58It is an awkward position, as you say, dragging on for weeks upon weeks
01:01without a manager is never an ideal situation.
01:04And there've been so many different names linked and spoken to, but none
01:07of them quite cutting through.
01:09Raphael Wicke, who was most recently at Young Boys in Switzerland, seemed to be
01:14the man as West Brom had advanced talks with him, potentially going to employ him.
01:18But then it broke down over talks about backroom staff and work permits for
01:22his backroom staff, lots of compensation needed as well.
01:25Just wasn't quite the right situation there.
01:28So that one has fallen through.
01:29Tony Mowbray is my understanding anyway, that West Brom have spoken to him about
01:35the possibility of coming back to the club many years on from his departure.
01:38But his recent health scare, the reason he left Birmingham City in 2024, it means
01:44that he's not quite in the position just yet to come back into management.
01:47He'll be speaking to his doctors and trying to work out when he wants to get back.
01:50He does want to get back into football at some stage, but obviously these things
01:54take time and you need to be patient and respect that.
01:56So don't think Mowbray will be the man.
01:58Sean Dyche, recently relieved of his duties at Everton.
02:02Potentially, could he be the man to take the reins at the Hawthorns?
02:05I'm just not too sure he'd want to take that step down to the championship.
02:09And when you've just been relieved of your duties, do you really want to take
02:12on a club mid-season, limited budget?
02:15I'm not sure that one will quite work.
02:16And then Renner Harker as well, the former Man United assistant under Eric
02:20ten Haag, spoken to, but then West Brom didn't quite see eye to eye.
02:24And then Stephen Schumacher, the former Plymouth and Stoke boss, talks very
02:28briefly with him, but doesn't seem to be the one that they'll be advancing with.
02:31But who knows?
02:32Things can change in the next few weeks.
02:34And I think West Brom fans just want to see the manager's situation resolved,
02:38to be honest, because when you're in a playoff race, you need someone at the
02:41helm who's experienced and knows exactly what they're doing.
02:44Yeah, obviously it's only about, you know, six points from sixth to 12th
02:48in the championship.
02:49So tight again.
02:51The more it drags on, the worse it sort of gets for Albion.
02:54They need to make sure that they are still picking up wins despite having a
02:57vacant managerial position.
03:00Yeah, we've seen quite a lot of squeaky bum time in recent matches, haven't we?
03:04Lots more draws.
03:05In fairness, that happened on the call at Carlos Corbijn, especially at the Hawthorns.
03:09So it's not too much of a change there.
03:11At least they're not losing too many matches.
03:14That's still the same position.
03:15They need to start picking up more wins.
03:16They need a bit more direction.
03:18And Chris Brunn, as much as a club legend and as much as Damir Abella is a very
03:23good analyst and someone who can coach the players in certain areas, I just don't
03:27think that that's the way to lead them forward until the end of the season.
03:30They definitely need someone else in there who knows a lot more about coaching,
03:34who's got that experience and someone who can really guide them in the right direction.
03:38I can understand the patience of trying to get the right man, but you do need someone
03:41in such a high pressure situation to take on the job full time.
03:44So hopefully Wes Brunn can find that man soon.