‘Villa seem obsessed with us’ – West Brom Super Fans react as staff member reportedly quits
This is part of a regular series from our panel of West Brom Super Fans. Each week, our Super Fans will deliver their verdicts on the biggest talking points and news stories around The Hawthorns.
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West Brom head of academy recruitment Steve Hopcroft has reportedly quit his role at the club after handing in his resignation on Friday.
The Birmingham Mail has reported that Hopcroft has been placed on gardening leave while a separate report claims that the youth recruitment expert is being eyed up by rivals Aston Villa.
West Brom’s academy set-up has changed drastically over the last year with Mark Harrison, Mike Scott, Jamie Smith, Jimmy Shan and Mark Naylor all leaving.
Since being appointed technical director at The Hawthorns, Luke Dowling has made a lot of changes to the academy at West Brom, with one of the main things being to completely separate the senior squad from the Under-23s players, staff and the rest of the academy.
It does not seem as though it went down that well among those who’ve now left, with Hopcroft being one of the last men standing amid last year’s exodus.
Our panel of West Brom Super Fans are divided on whether or not Dowling’s changes would have caused Hopcroft’s exit but nevertheless, they’re still sad to see him go.
Harv Plant (@harvplant)
Jon W (@JonW1995)
Dylan Ashmore (@WBADyl)
Luke Stokes (@lukestokes84)
Luke Pollard (@LukeyP_wba)
Jamie Rossiter (@Jay89R)
Connor Moore (@Connormoore_wba)
West Brom fans have always been proud of their club’s academy.
While it’s not like there have been any huge superstars to have come through at the club in recent years, there are still some very talented players rising through the ranks.
Louie Barry’s move to Barcelona and Morgan Rogers’ move to Manchester City last summer shows just how highly-rated some of these young players are.
It remains to be seen whether the exodus of staff members will change these results in the future but Hopcroft is bound to be missed and hard to replace.
In other West Brom news, Darren Bent is stunned that West Ham didn’t recall Grady Diangana in January.