West Brom continue talks today to hire Steve Bruce, Ron Gourlay in discussions
West Brom will continue to hold talks with Steve Bruce today as they aim to find a quickfire successor to Valerien Ismael, according to Rob Dorsett.
Writing via his personal Twitter account on Thursday morning [3 February], the Sky Sports journalist reported that Albion’s new chief executive Ron Gourlay will hold more discussions with the former Newcastle, Aston Villa and Birmingham boss.
West Brom sacked Valerien Ismael yesterday and also confirmed a boardroom reshuffle with Gourlay replacing Xu Ke in the CEO role and Guochuan Lai instating himself as chairman.
Writing on the Sky Sports website, Dorsett adds that Bruce, 61, is in discussions over a short-term deal “that takes them through to the end of the season”. Telegraph journalist John Percy reportedly differently on Wednesday, claiming an 18-month contract is on the table.
Bruce is back
It looks increasingly likely that Bruce will be the next West Brom manager.
In all honestly, it’s completely predictable but in a way, it also makes sense.
Bruce has won promotion from the Championship four times, he knows the club well, he lives locally in Staffordshire [Sky Sports] and he’s available without compensation needing to be paid.
Bruce ticks a lot of boxes except one – he’s known for his teams playing atrocious football.
One of the main reasons Albion fans wanted Ismael to go was because of how boring it was to watch his team play.
Bruce cannot be much worse in that regard than Ismael but we doubt he’ll be much of an improvement on the Frenchman.
Either way, sacking Ismael and bringing Bruce in should, theoretically, improve our chances of winning promotion.
No one is really expecting a top-two finish now but a spot in the play-offs and then promotion at Wembley has to be the aim.
In other West Brom news, a Midlands club’s manager has been mooted as a possible hire for the Baggies.