We’re back with Matt Graham for our first oppo profile of the year as West Brom rejoice in a much-needed takeover, but wrestle with the financial mess left behind while trying to put a squad together for arguably the division’s best manager.
You can listen to this interview with Matt, and those with our opo contributors from Boro, Sheff Wed, Blackburn and Sunderland, in our two-part Season Preview show live now in all three subscription tiers on our Patreon.
How was last season?
Overall, the season was pretty strong but I think the key element in all of this is to remember the context of what was going on off the field.
We started the season with our chairman Guochuan Lai who really had no interest in the club and was running it down. There was a financial black cloud hanging over us and the auditors at the back end of the season said the club might not even exist by the end of this one. Just surviving was the key target.
That overshadowed a lot of what happened on the field, where I thought we were fantastic. I mean, you would think a third year in the Championship, Albion’s longest period outside the Premier League for 20 years, would have had the fanbase up in arms and furious. There was anger directed at the chairman but a lot of positivity towards what we saw on the pitch.
Carlos Corberan turned this into a really effective counter-attacking team. We had a really solid defensive base with Alex Palmer winning the golden glove. Over the last ten games we started to run out of steam. We had a relatively easy run in against the bottom cohort of sides but we drew with teams like Millwall and Stoke, Wednesday hammered us 3-0. I think by the time we got to the playoffs the fans saw that as success but knew we didn’t have a lot left. The first game with Southampton was 0-0 but they really should have won that, then they blew us away in the second – probably the best team we played last season to be fair to them.
Overall, a fantastic season on the pitch given the squad, and even more successful off it where we finally got a takeover done and through.
Baggies in the league 23/24…
Blackburn 2-1 West Brom Markanday 20, Leonard 22 – Phillips 50
West Brom 3-2 Swansea Ajayi 18, Rushworth og 50, Swift pen 64 – Darling 74, Wood 80
Leeds 1-1 West Brom Ayling 72 – Thomas-Asante 52
West Brom 4-2 Boro Kipre 22, Swift 28, Thomas-Asante 47, Sarmiento 90 – Lath 29, Forss 85
West Brom 1-2 Huddersfield Swift 52 – Burgzorg 33, Rudoni 90
Bristol City 0-0 West Brom
Watford 2-2 West Brom Ince 3, Martins 23 – Swift 14, Wallace 17
West Brom 0-0 Millwall
Preston 0-4 West Brom Furlong 4, Mowatt 29, Phillips 62, Bartley 87
West Brom 1-0 Sheff Wed Swift 13
Birmingham 3-1 West Brom Bacuna pen 23, Sanderson 38, Gardner 87 – Swift 5
West Brom 0-0 Plymouth
West Brom 2-0 QPR Thomas-Asante pen 59, Diangana 68
Coventry 0-2 West Brom Diangana 17, Thomas-Asante 69
West Brom 3-1 Hull Wallace 14, Phillips 65, Ajayi 71 – Coyle 41
Southampton 2-1 West Brom Smallbone 5, A Armstrong 79 – Bartley 65
West Brom 2-0 Ipswich Furlong 5, Diangana 47
Cardiff 0-1 West Brom Sarmiento 50
West Brom 1-2 Leicester Maja 89 – Dewsbury-Hall 72, Winks 90
Sunderland 2-1 West Brom Ballard 70, Neill 84 – Thomas-Asante 86
Rotherham 0-2 West Brom Diangana 54, Wallace 90
West Brom 1-1 Stoke Thomas-Asante 35 – Gooch 12
Middlesbrough 1-0 West Brom Rogers 40
West Brom 1-0 Norwich Thomas-Asante 50
West Brom 1-0 Leeds Diangana 37
Swansea 1-0 West Brom Cullen 55
West Brom 4-1 Blackburn Fellows 11, Thomas-Asante 30, 63, Hyam og 33 – Garrett 60
Norwich 2-0 West Brom Sargent 13, Rowe 71
West Brom 1-0 Birmingham Weimann 85
Ipswich 2-2 West Brom Broadhead 46, Hutchinson 90 – Fellows 18, Swift 76
West Brom 2-0 Cardiff Johnston 1, Weimann 80
West Brom 0-2 Southampton Fraser 14, Brooks 73
Plymouth 0-3 West Brom Kipre 61, Johnston 76
Hull 1-1 West Brom Carvalho 35 – Furlong 43
West Brom 2-1 Coventry Johnston 6, Diangana 36 – Wright pen 73
QPR 2-2 West Brom Field 17, 81 – Johnston 25, Diangana 27
Huddersfield 1-4 West Brom Burgzorg 30 – Johnston 51, 73, Bartley 60, Yokuslu 66
West Brom 2-0 Bristol City Fellows 45, Wallace 50
Millwall 1-1 West Brom Watmore 21 – Swift pen 67
West Brom 2-2 Watford Thomas-Asante 70, Furlong 90 – Kayembe 51, Rajovic 66
Stoke 2-2 West Brom Manhoef 68, Vidigal 78 – Johnston 24, Wallace 57
West Brom 2-0 Rotherham Thomas-Asante 23, Swift pen 45
West Brom 0-1 Sunderland Ekwah 45
Leicester 2-1 West Brom Ndidi 22, Vardy 65 – Wallace 76
Sheff Wed 3-0 West Brom Musaba 22, Ugbo 50, Windass 69
West Brom 3-0 Preston Mowatt pen 45, Bartley 61, Furlong 68
Tell us about your new owner…
Shilen Patel, from the US, big technology and healthcare investor, connections to other football clubs including a minority stake in Bologna who’ve just made the Champions League. So, he’s got a bit of pedigree. He’s come in and said all the usual right things about the community, heritage, history. That’s standard stuff but is actually a big difference to what we were hearing previously, or at any point over the last ten years.
There’s a lot of optimism around but just because he’s independently wealth doesn’t mean he can throw money around. The previous regime have left significant FFP hurdles for us to surmount. I think this is slowly dawning on the fanbase that we’re not going to be signing loads of players and throwing big wages around, we’ve got to cut our cloth accordingly. This will be our first season with limited/no parachute payments or Premier League TV revenue for more than 20 years. We’ve got players here, and have let players go, who were on significant amounts of money for the Championship – Bartley and Mowatt have both renewed for les money, others have been released.
We had you midtable last year, which reckoned without Carlos Corberan. I reckon he’s worth half a dozen places at least to whoever he’s in charge of.
Carlos Corberan is by far and away our best asset. I genuinely cannot believe what he's done to turn this squad around. It’s a pretty bang average squad – we haven’t got a forward, or a forward who stays fit at least, we’ve got ageing players, it’s not a really skilled group. He’s turned it into a super effective team, with a level of discipline. We defend brilliantly and attack with purpose. We’re well coached. It’s amazing what you can do if you coach your team properly. I think if another club, with a bit more money, comes and takes Corberan we’d be in so much trouble because I don’t know how you replace him. He signed a new contract the last time Leeds came in for him, and there’s a chunky release clause within that. Everything he’s said to this point says he’s committed to the project of turning Albion back into a Premier League team.
Summer transfer business so far…
As said, we are massively constrained by the financial legacies of Lai’s stewardship of the club. At the moment we’re reducing the wage bill and selling anybody we get offers for, and the incomings really hark back to Dan Ashworth’s time at the club where we’re picking up unknown players from European leagues. That is probably something we should have been doing anyway. Torbjorn Heggem is a big Norwegian who can play anywhere on the left side of defence. We’ve also signed Ousmane Diakite from Austria who was inbcredibly highly rated before he suffered a couple of bad injuries. Everything I’ve read about him and the highlights I’ve seen look exciting, but it’s not a good fitness record. Unfortunately he’ll have to replace Yokuslu in midfield as he’s gone to Trabzonspor – a Rolls Royce footballer, so good, but struggles to do 90 minutes. Taking the money and getting maybe £2.5m off the wage bill there is good for us overall. The only other incoming is Paddy McNair who’s going to do a few months on loan before going to the MLS.
We’ve signed a lot of defensive players and, apart from Devante Cole, not a lot of forwards. This is a problem for us, because Brandon Thomas-Asante was top scorer last season and he’s already gone to Coventry. Dike I think we’re on the verge of giving up on now after two serious injuries. It was heartbreaking to see him go down at Ipswich the way he did, but we can’t rely on him. Corberan sold Karlan Grant at Huddersfield and hasn’t had any time for him since he came here. So that only really leaves Josh Maja as a fit and available striker. Grady Diangana is out for the first six weeks of the season. Mikey Johnston was great on loan from Celtic and there is a keenness from Albion to bring him back, but Celtic want some actual money so that’s probably us out.
We need at least two forwards and probably a left winger. We’re well set down the right where Jed Wallace is still catching people out with that one trick of his – you think the Championship would have learned by now – and Tom Fellows looks really good.
Ins >>> Torbjorn Heggem, 26, CB, Brommapojkarna, £600k >>> Devante Cole, 29, CF, Barnsley, Free >>> Ousmane Diakite, 23, CM, Hartberg, Free >>> Joe Wildsmith, 28, GK, Derby, Free >>> Paddy McNair, 29, CM, San Diego, Loan
Outs >>> Brandon Thomas-Asante, 25, CF, Coventry, £3m >>> Okay Yokuslu, 30, DM, Trabzonspor, £1.5m >>> Conor Townsend, 31, LB, Ipswich, £500k >>> Cedric Kipre, 27, Rush Goalie, Stade Reims, Free >>> Nathaniel Chalobah, 29, DM, Sheff Wed, Free >>> Matt Phillips, 33, RW, Oxford, Free >>> Ethan Ingram, 21, RB, Dundee, Free >>> Zac Ashworth, 21, LB, Blackpool, Undisclosed >>> Josh Griffiths, 22, GK, Bristol Rovers, Loan >>> Yann M’Vila, 33, DM, Released >>> Adam Reach, 31, LW, Released >>> Eric Pieters, 35, CB, Released >>> Martin Kelly, 34, RB, Released
How do you see this going?
I’d generally put us anywhere between sixth and tenth. Nothing is ever certain but if we sign a couple more forward players and keep Corberan then I think w can finish in the top six again. If we don’t strengthen, and/or Corberan were to leave during the season, then I think the best we’ll get is solidly mid-table. It all depends on the next two or three weeks really. As it stands the squad is far too thin and unless we add some quality players I don’t think we’re going to do any better than that. I saw one prediction had us third… what are you talking about? We ain’t goinna be third. Sixth is a solid prediction. It’s a rebuilding year and a manager like Corberan can elevate you several places.
Links >>> Official Website >>> Independent West Brom forum — Message Board >>> Boing — Blog >>> Express and Star — Local Paper >>> Birmingham Mail — Local Paper
The Twitter/Instagram @loftforwords, @SAhistoryMatt
Pictures — Action Images