View: Luke Dowling’s failures at West Brom laid bare by Cedric Kipre
Luke Dowling and senior West Brom management have a lot to answer for after comments made by outcast Cedric Kipre.
The 24-year-old is currently on a six-month loan at Belgian outfit RSC Charleroi after joining on deadline day in February.
Kipre was a summer signing from League One side Wigan Athletic and eyebrows were raised when he made a move to The Hawthorns with onlookers wondering why the club had bought a recently relegated player in the third-tier.
It proved to be as unsuccessful as expected as Kipre made just three appearances with none coming in the Premier League.
If the transfer was bad enough on its own the lack of certainty from Albion over what to do with Kipre lays bare just how mismanaged the club has been.
As reported on Belgian outlet Walfoot’s website, Kipre was left unsure over West Brom’s stance towards him.
He said: “It was quite intense. I didn’t know what West Brom wanted and I had to make up my mind at the last minute.”
Surely the West Brom management should have been firmer in their decisions over him and it is this indecision and hesitancy in the market that has defined our season.
Let’s flashback to the summer transfer window – Karlan Grant was the only new player brought in (not previously on loan) for more than £1million [Transfermarkt] – and he only joined in October after the season had already started.
The Premier League season started horrifically and it was obvious for a long time that we needed a whole host of new recruits to reignite any chance of a survival bid.
But apart from the arrival of Robert Snodgrass and reserve goalkeeper Andy Lonergan in early January, no one else was brought in until January 28 when Mbaye Diagne signed on loan before the double deadline day deal of Okay Yokuslu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles on similar terms.
They might have seen Kipre make his way out en route to Belgium as he attempted to escape a troubled club.
Yokuslu, Maitland-Niles and Diagne have all made instant impacts and offered a new dimension to Sam Allardyce’s side as evidenced in our current run of just one defeat in our last five games.
However, it has come much too early and that falls firmly on Dowling’s shoulders as technical director.
Dowling should have shipped out the likes of Kipre early doors and brought in the essential transfers within the first two weeks of the window to give us any chance of survival.
Add to that is the likes of Kamil Grosicki who is still hanging around the fringes of the squad with his big wages despite featuring just three times in the league
Dowling didn’t do enough and look where we are now – eight points behind Brighton in 17th who have a game in hand.
The game looks to be up and Kipre’s recent comments just further highlight the lack of leadership and decisiveness at the club.
In other West Brom news, John Percy gives verdict on relegation release clauses at the club.
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