Ismael refused to change plans despite West Brom senior players worry
West Brom and Valerien Ismael parted company on Wednesday (2 February) to end a turbulent, but short, time together at The Hawthorns.
The Frenchman had won just once in his previous eight games in charge of the Baggies and the club’s board couldn’t justify him staying in his post any longer.
Assistant manager Adam Murray was also given the boot as the club now search for a new manager to reignite their promotion challenge.
The former boss fell out with goalkeeper Sam Johnstone after leaving him out against Preston and also saw his relationship with Robert Snodgrass turn sour before he exited.
A report from The Athletic suggests that Ismael was the making of his own downfall as he also ignored concerns from senior players at the club regarding his tactics.
They report that “other senior players aired their opinions, too, that Ismael needed to be more adaptable in his methods but the head coach was steadfast in sticking to his plans.”
A forgettable season
Every time West Brom find themselves in the Championship, their only aim is to get promoted as soon as possible and they hoped Ismael was going to be the answer.
But just because he did wonders at Barnsley, it didn’t automatically mean he would do it again with the Baggies.
He has found that out to his cost and now even the playoffs could be tough to achieve with the second division as tight as ever approaching the run-in.
The stubbornness Ismael reportedly showed was an early indication that things were never going to improve and the board were left with no choice once star signing Daryl Dike got injured against QPR.
Whoever takes on Ismael next needs to be fully invested in his style of play because that is the only way it will ever work.
West Brom and its players lost faith in the system and that is why it fell apart as quickly as it did.
In other West Brom news, the Barmy Army had a hilarious reaction to this manager being linked with the Baggies job.