Steve Bruce delivers honest verdict on West Brom squad
Steve Bruce has been unveiled as the new manager of West Brom and he has given his first press conference today (04 February).
The Baggies sacked Valerien Ismael on Wednesday (02 February) and they have moved quickly to appoint an experienced manager like Bruce who has been out of work since leaving Newcastle United towards the end of 2021.
Bruce feels that he has inherited a good squad but he will implement changes. He has vowed to bring the winning feeling back at the club.
“You can’t change it, but let’s be brutally honest – we have a squad which is as good as any in the Championship,” said Bruce, as quoted by The Birmingham Mail.
“I’m convinced of that, despite the bad results. It’s wise to assess what we’ve got. Every manager wants to play in a certain way.
“We’ll implement change. I understand what the supporters here, and I’ve been here many times when it bounces up and down. Let’s bring that back.
“We have two or three games coming up in a week. We’re not giving up on the top two, there’s a long way to go. Birmingham [in the play-offs] was a long long time ago, I’d love to replicate it.”
Time to move on
The 61-year-old has managed 1000 matches in his career and has vast coaching experience.
He has managed clubs like Birmingham City, Sheffield United, Wigan, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City and Newcastle.
The veteran manager has signed an 18-month contract at the club.
His time at Newcastle wasn’t memorable where he faced sickening abuse from the fans.
Whether or not he turns into success at the Hawthorns, he will hope that the fans will give him the respect he deserves.
West Brom are going through a wretched run of form, and they are in real danger of missing out on the play-off places.
They have managed just one win in their last seven Championship games, and Bruce has got work to do to fix the existing system.
Bruce certainly feels that he has got a talented squad. He is ambitious and still aiming for automatic promotion. They need results.
In other West Brom news, the BBC man regrets comments he made about Bruce before the appointment was made.