West Brom player demands must be followed by Steve Bruce too
With the 2021/22 season winding to a close, West Brom manager Steve Bruce has already made a big demand of his players ahead of next season.
The Baggies boss wants every single one of his players to live within an hour of the club’s training ground, presumably so he can call them in at short notice.
But when quizzed about whether he would move, he had a very different answer to give.
“I have told them all (they all have to be within an hour of the training ground). People are going to throw it at me and say: “Are you going to relocate from Cheshire?” Bruce said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“But it doesn’t work with managers. When we sign a contract we usually get sacked. I have put forward what I would like to do next year – that is a rebuild of the squad.
“And the players that are here – along with the ones we bring in – have got to commit. We have too many people travelling.
“Professional athletes shouldn’t be spending three or four hours a day in a car. It catches up with you and probably takes a little bit of your career.
“You can have an apartment around the area. But you have to be here the majority of the week.”
That’s all well and good but what kind of leader is he showing himself to be if he doesn’t also up sticks and move to the area as well?
By not following his own mantra and moving closer to the training ground, Bruce is portraying himself as someone who is above the law of the football club and that might even give players a reason to do the same.
If he isn’t willing to commit himself, the players will just say ‘Well why haven’t you moved then’ whenever he tries to bring the subject up.
West Brom need a fully committed manager at the helm and if that means someone who is close to the area, as Bruce suggests is the case for the players, then he needs to either move or shove off and let someone else have a crack at it.
In other West Brom news, the manager made a blunt statement regarding his team selection after the 0-0 bore draw against Coventry at the weekend.
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