West Brom to sack Steve Bruce surely after 3-2 derby day defeat v Birmingham City
West Brom will surely look to sack Steve Bruce after they suffered a humiliating home defeat at the hands of Birmingham City on Wednesday night.
Scott Hogan’s hat-trick earned a 3-2 win for Blues, their first at The Hawthorns since 2005.
Defeat for the Albion leaves them – staggeringly – 20th in the Championship table with nine games played and only their goal difference keeping them out of the relegation zone right now.
While it’s too soon in the season to read into league positions, it just goes to show the state of where this team is under Bruce.
Since he took charge of West Brom on 3 February, the 61-year-old has overseen just eight wins in 28 matches.
Last season, Albion’s promotion bid was already looked sketchy in the latter stages of Valerien Ismael’s leadership but it completely derailed once the Frenchman left and Bruce came in.
Ron Gourlay hired Bruce, apparently, because of his ability to get results [Express & Star].
But with Albion floundering at the wrong end of the Championship table, an inability to stop conceding first and woeful finishing in front of goals, it’s time for Gourlay to drop the axe on his old pal.
Bruce is done.
There really doesn’t seem as though there’s a way back for him at West Brom with results being so bad since his arrival in February and a second bid to win promotion seemingly over by mid-September.
While some fans will ask who’s out there to replace Bruce, that’s down to the club to decide whether they’ll be ready to pay a compensation fee to hire someone in work or they’ll go for the tired, old and predictable route of hiring an old boy who’s currently available. Ex-Stoke and Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill, who’s previously been linked with The Hawthorns, looks a contender based on that.
And many might point to the fact that West Brom’s issues lie above Bruce in the boardroom and that sacking another manager would be comparable to re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
While there’s truth in that, Bruce should be doing a lot better with the tools at his disposal. This squad is surely good enough to at least push for the playoffs.
But the issue always seems to lie in West Brom’s hiring process when they come to hiring managers.
West Brom have turned their noses up at Graham Potter and Chris Wilder in recent years and have churned through the likes of Tony Pulis, Alan Pardew and Bruce. Ugh.
It’s fine to sack bad managers.
But West Brom need to stop hiring them in the first place.
In other West Brom news, Tony Brown says Bruce was forced into a decision on this Albion player due to angry fans at The Hawthorns.