Kevin Phillips disagrees with Richard Keys over West Brom ambition
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips disagrees with Richard Keys after the ex-Sky Sports presenter blamed the West Brom board for their relegation this season.
Writing on his own personal blog, Keys claims the three clubs who were relegated from the Premier League “got what they deserved”, accusing the Baggies of lacking “any kind of ambition”.
While most fans would side with Keys on that, Phillips doesn’t.
He feels it would be too simplistic just to blame the West Brom board because there was money available to spend last summer.
However, the ex-Albion striker does feel the sacking of Slaven Bilic could have been premature.
Speaking to West Brom News, Phillips said: “Everyone has to take a proportion of the blame.
“They managed to hire Sam Allardyce so the intent and ambition to stay in the Premier League was there but I think a lot of people were disheartened when Slaven Bilic got the sack. Maybe he would have kept them in the Premier League.
“He went a time when the players were right behind him so maybe they pulled the trigger a little bit too early.
“It’s always hard to say they lack ambition, I’d like to divulge a little bit more on what Keys means by that because money has been spent but not on the levels you would expect of a Premier League side to try and fight to stay up.
“They spent a lot of money on Grady Diangana so there was money to spend.
“Maybe not at the levels Richard is suggesting but ultimately it has cost them.”
Phillips does make a good point because while there wasn’t much money to spend last summer, there was still enough to secure some big-money deals.
Diangana came in for a club record fee and while Karlan Grant’s £15million fee will be spread out over a long time, it just showed that deals like that were possible.
However, Luke Dowling and Bilic wasted what little funds they had on players who’ve ultimately struggled.
In other West Brom news, Phillips wants Albion to sign this exit-bound Sheffield United star amid reports Chris Wilder is close to arriving.
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