Kevin Campbell raises concern over ‘people person’ Steven Schumacher amid links to West Brom
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Campbell has given a glistening review of West Brom candidate Steven Schumacher but is still unsure whether he’s the perfect fit at The Hawthorns.
The search for Steve Bruce’s successor continues at West Brom, and Plymouth boss Schumacher joins a shortlist including Sean Dyche, Jody Morris and Carlos Corberan.
However, while Campbell spoke highly of Schumacher after working with him during his time at Everton, the former Baggies striker is worried West Brom could follow a similar path to Watford should they hire a lower-league manager.
Exclusively speaking to West Brom News, Campbell said: “He’s a lovely lad. I don’t know him so much as a manager but he’s been getting a tune out of Plymouth for a while. He’s a pretty smart kid.
“So as a manager I expect him to be the same. He’ll be good with players, he’s a people person. I think that’ll be a good shout.
“Obviously it’s a step up. The difficult ones are where you’re coming from lower leagues and you get into a dressing room – obviously West Brom’s setup is for the Premiership – a lot of those players have played Premiership football.
“They’re just not in the right frame of mind at the moment, you’ve got to try and get them there and win the men over.
“I’ve not been around him enough to know whether he can do that or not.
“We’ve seen it work and we’ve seen it not work at the likes of Watford who went for a lower-league manager to come up and it just didn’t work out there.
“So it’s a good shout to try and look at the likes of Schumacher, but whether or not that’s going to materialise or not I’m not sure.“
With West Brom needing a manager capable of leading them out of the relegation zone, experience will be vital and Schumacher’s lack of time in the Championship does pose a huge risk to the Baggies.
In other West Brom news, the Baggies hold multiple interviews with Carlos Corberan over vacant manager role