Kevin Phillips blast West Brom chief Xu Ke over Javier Pereira interest
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 has called Javier Pereira a “complete novice” after the Henang Jianye manager was linked with the job at West Brom.
Earlier this week, TeamTalk reported that Albion are “now looking closely” at the 55-year-old Spaniard, who’s been working in Chinese football for the last three years.
It is understood that with chief executive Xu ‘Ken’ Ke taking charge of the Baggies’ manager hunt after Luke Dowling left, the Chinese businessman has turned his attention towards his homeland in the bid to find Sam Allardyce’s successor.
Ex-Hawthorns star Phillips holds major reservations about Pereira though and really doesn’t like the idea of the former Alaves manager taking the job in the Black Country.
Speaking to West Brom News, Phillips said: “I’m not going to lie – it would worry me.
“I want someone in there that knows the league and knows English football. Coming from the Chinese league, there’s just no comparison.
“The Championship is a difficult league, we know that, and it’s a good league as well with some quality in there.
“For someone to come in who’s a complete novice, it might work but we’ve not seen it work very often.
“It takes time for someone like that to come in and, not just get used to the football, but adjust to the lifestyle. You have to take everything into consideration.
“In terms of the football side of it, I’d be very concerned if this guy was to come in.”
Pereira’s career has taken him to England in the past when he served as Watford’s assistant manager in 2014/15 and Fulham’s assistant manager between 2015 and 2018 when Slavisa Jokanović was at those clubs.
However, being an assistant and being a full on manager are two different jobs so we can understand Phillips’ concerns about him being a rookie in management in English football.
We really don’t want someone who is currently managing a sub-par team in the Chinese Super League. No thank you.
In other West Brom news, there’s been an update on speculation linking Tony Pulis with a shock return.
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