West Brom manager Carlos Corberan hopes to make it third time lucky in Championship play-offs
West Brom are on the verge of quality for the Championship play-offs, and after failures in his previous two attempts, now is the time for Carlos Corberan to finally break his Premier League ceiling.
With just two regular-season games left for West Brom in 2023/24, just three points are needed to confirm their place in the play-offs. While currently tussling with Norwich City for fifth place, the Baggies have been in the top six for much of the campaign.
West Brom face Sheffield Wednesday and Preston, sides they’ve already beaten 1-0 and 4-0 respectively this season and with a four-way race for two automatic promotion spots above them, their play-off potential opponents are still a long way from being decided.
For Corberan, going all the way to Wembley and the Premier League beyond would represent the crowning moment of his managerial career so far, particularly after being part of two near-misses in the past.
Corberan can achieve play-off success with West Brom at Wembley
West Brom appointed Corberan as their head coach just a few months after the Spaniard had departed Huddersfield Town, where he recovered from a poor first season by taking the Terriers to third in the Championship and reach the play-off final.
That final saw Huddersfield lose 1-0 to Nottingham Forest after Chelsea loanee Levi Colwill’s own goal late in the first half. It proved to be the last match in which Corberan would lead the Terriers, but their unlikely run to Wembley showed that he was a coach able to get the best out of any side he turned his hand to.
He’s more than proven that during almost two years at The Hawthorns, coming in when West Brom languished at the foot of the Championship table and leading them up to ninth, just three points shy of the play-offs, by the end of his first season.
Corberan’s maiden campaign in the second tier came as part of Marcelo Bielsa’s coaching staff at Leeds United in 2018/19, as Leeds – like his Huddersfield and West Brom sides side – defied expectations to produce some scintillating football that took them to the top of the table.
Leeds fell away towards the end of that season and were confined to the play-offs though, and unlike Corberan’s Huddersfield, couldn’t even make it as far as Wembley, following an implosion against Derby County in the second leg of their semi-final.
Corberan has seen it all during his time in the dugout of three Championship clubs, and having steered West Brom to the cusp of the Championship play-offs, will it be his time to defy expectations once more and finally reach the Premier League?
In other West Brom news, Brendan Rodgers has sent on-loan Albion winger Mikey Johnston a message ahead of his potential return to Celtic.
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