Danny Wright

Tue 23 March 2021 10:26, UK

Every week we’ll be asking West Brom fans on our Facebook account for questions that will be answered by editor Danny Wright. You can join in by following the West Brom News Facebook account and watching out for weekly mailbag posts.

West Brom have nine matches left to out-do their 2005 Great Escape if they want to ensure they’re not playing Championship football next season.

Albion are 10 points behind 17th-placed Newcastle, who also have a far better goal difference in comparison to Sam Allardyce’s side, and also have a number of tough fixtures on the horizon.

It seems inevitable that the Baggies will be a Championship club again next season with the yo-yo years seemingly set to return to The Hawthorns.

We reached out to West Brom fans to see if they had any questions for West Brom News editor Danny Wright and one wants to know whether the club can instantly return to the Premier League next season.

We’ll definitely be among the favourites to win promotion next season, especially if the core of the squad is kept together in the summer transfer window.

I’d be shocked if Sam Johnstone is still a West Brom player come the start of next season with the in-form goalkeeper entering the final year of his contract and reportedly attracting interest from Tottenham in light of his recent call-up to the England squad [The Sun].

Conor Gallagher, Mbaye Diagne, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Okay Yokuslu will see their loan deals expire in the summer while Kieran Gibbs, Hal Robson-Kanu, Kamil Grosicki, Kyle Edwards, Branislav Ivanovic, Lee Peltier and Andy Lonergan face the end of their contracts. Cedric Kipre, Rekeem Harper, Kenneth Zohore, Alex Palmer and Callum Morton are currently out on loan and could feature in the senior squad next season and some of them can be seen as replacements for those who are out of contract.

Semi Ajayi, Dara O’Shea, Kyle Bartley, Darnell Furlong, Grady Diangana, Callum Robinson and Karlan Grant are unlikely to attract attention in the summer transfer window because they haven’t exactly performed well in the Premier League but all of them are proven in the Championship and will be key for us next term.

My big worry is Matheus Pereira because although he’s struggled at times in the Premier Legue, he’s clearly someone who’s too good for the Championship based on what we saw last season. If we keep him then I’ll be confident about winning promotion – but if we lose him, I’d worry.

Albion should have a competitive transfer budget for the summer which could be boosted by selling Johnstone but we’ve seen this season how tightly-packed the top-end of the Championship is.

Norwich and Watford are starting to run away as the top-two but Swansea, Brentford, Reading, Bournemouth, Cardiff and Barnsley have all shown their promotion credentials this season. And, of course, Sheffield United and one of Fulham or Newcastle look set to join us next year in the second-tier.

If we go down this season – and I realise it sounds stupid saying ‘if’ – then winning promotion is likely to be tougher than it was last season but I do think it’s very much within the realms of possibility for this squad as long as they get the manager decision right and Luke Dowling strengthens the centre of the midfield.

In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips expects this £7million-rated ace to quit the Albion in the summer.

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