Steve Bruce ‘on the brink’ of being sacked at West Brom after 1-0 defeat v Preston
Steve Bruce is “on the brink” of being sacked by West Brom after they lost 1-0 away at Preston in the Championship on Wednesday night, according to The Mirror.
Emil Riis’ early goal was enough for the Lilywhites to win all three points at Deepdale while Albion dropped into the Championship’s relegation zone.
The Mirror reported via their print edition on Thursday (6 October, page 52) that Bruce, 61, is now close to the end of his reign as the West Brom manager.
He should be gone already
Bruce isn’t the core issue at West Brom.
Guochuan Lai has overseen a huge slump in the club’s stature within the English game, to the point they’re no longer battling against relegation from the Premier League – they’re battling against relegation to League One.
Lai has taken funds out of the club, he’s made bad appointments on the board and he’s failed to show any interest whatsoever in his £200million investment from 2016.
Bruce, though, isn’t doing what he should be doing.
Despite Lai’s flaws, you cannot blame him for the squad being quite in the predicament they’re in.
Sure, Lai’s held West Brom back. But you’d still expect this squad of players to at the very least be in the top half of the Championship table right now and showing some kind of top-six potential.
Despite the side boasting heaps of experience, big-money price-tags and international caps, West Brom are 21st in the Championship with just one win in 12 games.
It’s pathetic.
Bruce’s management has been terrible from the get-go and Ron Gourlay needs to act as soon as possible to remove the 61-year-old from his position.
Hopefully that’s already the case and he was dropped off in Cheshire on the way back from Preston on Wednesday night.
In other West Brom news, Don Goodman reacted live on Sky Sports to a controversial penalty incident against Preston.