West Brom tipped to sack Steve Bruce whether Ron Gourlay agrees or not after Swansea collapse
Steve Bruce cannot survive the latest West Brom result against Swansea and Ron Gourlay could be bypassed to remove him believes Chris Lepkowski.
The Baggies battled back from a goal down to lead 2-1 against the Swans, before a late collapse saw them miss a penalty and lose 3-2, to leave Bruce with a single win in the Championship and the club sitting in 21st.
When Albion CEO Gourlay appointed the former Newcastle manager in February he confirmed that he was the only candidate in mind for the job [Express & Star, 4 February], which journalist Lepkowski believes has been proven to be a damning mistake.
Writing on his personal Twitter account following the game on Saturday (1 October) he said: “I suspect if Gourlay doesn’t act now – it will be an admission of his mistake if he does- then surely those above him will.
“Bruce cannot surely survive this? 1 win in 11 games. Tot up number of minutes we’ve been in the lead…doesn’t even reach 60 mins. Not good enough”.
He then added a second message, saying: “‘…there was no recruitment process…there was one man who was available…’ are words that should haunt Gourlay.
“Why, in such a huge community, should he have been the only candidate?”
Proof in the pudding
Bruce seems like a decent guy, and he was handed a difficult job when he replaced Valerien Ismael as he had to rejuvenate a rapidly declining side amid a thoroughly unhappy fan base.
Despite intermittent signs of encouragement it is currently impossible to look past the league table, which has some appalling numbers next to the Baggies.
This is a side that is used to either being in or challenging for the Premier League, and Bruce is currently taking them further away from that.
He was unable to rescue a play-off push last season, with the eventual 10th-placed finish the worst league performance for this club since 1999.
And so far this season West Brom are in more danger of relegation to the third tier than they are of getting back into the top flight.
Whether last season was Ismael’s fault, or this campaign is due to the lack of proper investment during the transfer window, the manager appears powerless to do anything about it.
Of course it’s easy with the benefit of hindsight, but it is now looking like a big mistake not to activate the break clause in Bruce’s contract during the summer and go after former Burnley boss Sean Dyche in a major way.
He kept the Clarets in the Premier League for years with minimal spend, and got them promoted from the Championship twice.
He is doing the rounds currently and clearly wants a new job, and while he is looking for a Premier League club currently he hasn’t ruled out the second tier so an offer he can’t refuse could be in order.
In other West Brom news, Bruce refused to answer a question about backing one of his players after the final whistle on Saturday.