David Prutton backs West Brom for promotion after sacking Steve Bruce
David Prutton has backed West Brom to “do a Nottingham Forest” and earn a playoff place in the Championship after sacking Steve Bruce.
The Baggies have won just one game in their opening 13 this season under Bruce, leaving them in 22nd in the table and him out of a job for the second time in a year.
But Prutton, speaking to Sky Sports [11 October], believes that the current squad at The Hawthorns should be “at least in the top six” and sees no reason why they can’t do a Nottingham Forest, who were promoted last season after hiring Steve Cooper when in the relegation zone.
“I think what Steve Cooper managed to do was nothing short of miraculous,” he said.
“He had the bones of a pretty decent team. He had good leaders in the likes of Joe Worrall and Ryan Yates, steady young talent like Brennan Johnson and a real team ethic.
“You can’t tell me that team, the best starting eleven for West Brom, is a bottom three team at all. They should be at least in the top six.
“I think there can be an element of someone coming in. As ever Mark, in this situation it’s the manager who gets the brunt of it because you can’t turn around and get rid of 25 players can you, in the middle of the season.
“You can move the manager on and his coaching staff, so yes they may have been unfortunate in games but fundamentally that’s a group of players who have underperformed for quite a long period of time.
“Now is the time if someone comes in and galvanises them to take them back to the Premier League. It’s a long way away but obviously we’ve got a big break coming up with the World Cup coming up.
“But I don’t see at all why West Brom can’t do what is now known as doing a Nottingham Forest.”
Miracle
Baggies fans aren’t exactly the most optimistic bunch around, but this from Prutton would surely even make the most expectant West Brom fan scratch their head if it happened.
Five managers in the last six years and an owner who couldn’t care less about the club are what have got West Brom into this situation to begin with, and a new manager won’t be able to fix things overnight.
Regardless of who comes in, the squad needs to be tailored and patience needs to be exercised for the club to really prosper, and the expectation for this season has to simply be to avoid relegation and climb the table as best they can.
Anyone expecting a promotion or a playoff push is up the creek without a paddle, and while the squad is clearly too good to be where it currently is, there is no such thing as being too good for relegation.
In other West Brom news, Chris Brunt is part of a four-man unit that has taken over training