Sean Fisher

Fri 14 October 2022 8:26, UK

Andy Carroll spent six months at West Brom last season under Steve Bruce, and the now-Reading striker couldn’t help but fire a dig at Steve Bruce.

Carroll was brought to The Hawthorns by Bruce last season, with the target man given a six-month contract to add depth to the West Brom front line.

But with his deal expired in the summer and Bruce not keep on keeping Carroll at the club, he returned to Reading – who faced West Brom this weekend.

Following the sacking of Bruce, it seems Carroll wasn’t a huge fan, and he joked that had Bruce stayed on with the Baggies, it would’ve been a “guaranteed three points.” for Reading.

“It’s always sad to see people get the sack,” Carroll said, as quoted by the Reading Chronicle.

“Especially when we were guaranteed three points at the weekend. It is a shame but that’s football.

“You don’t get the results, it’s a business at the end of the day. That’s why you have to keep the lads together and work hard as a manager and get the lads working hard for you.”

Lost the dressing room

Bruce was given plenty of time to turn things around at The Hawthorns. The board were extremely lenient and could’ve pulled the trigger earlier, but he was afforded time and he couldn’t make things work.

It says it all that rival players were considering West Brom a “guaranteed three points” with Bruce at the helm.

Carroll knows more than most about what the Baggies dressing room was like under Bruce, and it seems he may have started to lose the players before the season had even begun.

Carroll commenting on keeping “the lads together” suggests that Bruce was already losing grip on his players while Carroll was at the club.

It became clearer and clearer as time ticked on that the players had downed tools towards the end of his tenure. Hopefully, his replacement can drag West Brom out of the drop zone and up towards where they deserve to be.

In other West Brom news, Mulitple managers want to take the West Brom job according to journalist Alan Nixon.