West Brom 'genius' Carlos Corberan shackled by Hawthorns restrictions

Don Goodman believes "genius" manager Carlos Corberan deserves even more praise for his work at West Brom given the restrictions he has had to operate under.

The Baggies are still feeling the damage done by the previous regime, meaning the club's summer transfer plans were limited once again.

Splashing out a reported £3million for Mikey Johnston [Express & Star, 30 August], following his successful spell on loan from Celtic last season, was a welcome piece of lavish business late in the window.

Despite working with one arm tied behind his back, Corberan guided West Brom to the play-offs last season and has them on course to do likewise again this season.

Speaking to West Brom News, Goodman said: "It just seems to be one thing after another. When he came through the doors, West Brom were badly struggling.

"He would have had an idea resources were restricted, but one look at the squad told him he could get them away from the relegation zone. He did more than that - they flew up the table and built on that.

"Ultimately, once the takeover went ahead, he must have been thinking at last he'd get some resources to work with than previously, but it comes to light that the club are still not financially where they'd like to be and the shackles are still on West Brom compared to others in the Championship.

"But it seems to me that this is a man who embraces challenges and this represents the latest in an ever growing list of challenges, yet he always seems to overcome them. Tactically he's a genius."

Carlos Corberan deserves more from West Brom

As Goodman says, Corberan would have been aware of the financial picture at the club when arriving under the Guochuan Lai regime, but he perhaps did not expect things to be as bleak as they were.

From feeding off free agent scraps and some loan signings, the Baggies did at least spend money on multiple players in the summer - Torbjorn Heggem being another - albeit nowhere near in the region of most of the club's promotion rivals.

The hope is that Corberan has Albion in top-six contention come the turn of the year, and then it is over to Shilen Patel to back the manager with a signing or two to help get the Baggies over the line.

Corberan really has been a genius during his time at The Hawthorns, and with some further backing in January, there is no reason why he cannot be the man who takes the club back to the Premier League.

In other West Brom news, Don Goodman has made a new Alex Mowatt claim amid an announcement made earlier this week.

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