Jody Morris in frame for West Brom job, tipped to emulate ex-Chelsea man Michael Beale at QPR
Jody Morris is the latest name in the frame for the West Brom manager’s job and would be a “really good choice”, according to Nizaar Kinsella.
The former Chelsea midfielder hasn’t coached since Frank Lampard was sacked at Stamford Bridge in January 2021, having also been the now-Everton boss’ assistant at previous club Derby.
He didn’t follow the ex-England star to Goodison Park in order to pursue his own managerial role, and is now tipped to emulate the current Championship leader and man of the moment Michael Beale, who just turned down the Wolves job to remain at QPR, as both began their coaching careers at Chelsea’s Cobham academy.
Writing on his personal Twitter account on Friday morning (21 October) the Evening Standard’s Chelsea and Fulham reporter Kinsella said: “I think Jody Morris would be a really good choice for West Brom. A Cobham graduate coach is currently top of the Championship with QPR and Morris is has earned that big chance to manage.
“He’s just one of the names in the frame at the moment though.”
Potential
The Chelsea origin story is sure to be of interest to various clubs currently as everybody looks to find their own version of Beale.
And the fact that the Loftus Road boss was highly rated as the long-time assistant of Steven Gerrard, who was sacked by Aston Villa on Thursday night (20 October), offers another element of symmetry as the Liverpool legend’s career has always been linked to his Chelsea counterpart Lampard.
Morris remains an unknown quantity in his own right however, and while Beale walked straight out of Villa Park into the Rs job, it has been approaching two years since Morris left Chelsea.
He has a good reputation from his time working with the youngsters in west London and everybody needs an opportunity to start somewhere.
But while Beale took over the QPR job in June and had plenty of time to prepare for the start of the campaign it would surely be a much bigger risk to throw Morris into a rescue job at the Hawthorns mid-season.
Steve Bruce couldn’t get anything out of this squad given the entire summer, and while Morris, 43, may turn out to be a better manager than the former West Brom boss it would be a tall task to expect him to turn this ship around on the fly.
In other West Brom news, as doors start closing the Albion job looms increasingly large for Sean Dyche.