As West Bromwich Albion remained in the Championship following another unfortunate play-off charge. What are the priorities and objectives set for the Baggies as they look for more successful times under Carlos Corberan, we discussed with BirminghamWorld.
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00:00And on to West Bromwich Albion, in terms of their objectives, obviously so close to a
00:06play-off push again, lost to eventual winners in Southampton. I mean, we've discussed how
00:11important Carlos Corberán is as well, that they ensure he's their boss going into this
00:16new campaign as well. What are the sort of objectives for Baggies that they'll surely
00:20be looking to make another play-off push or even better this season?
00:24Yeah, I think they'd like to get a bit closer to the automatic promotion spots, but the
00:29issue is they're going to lose a number of key players with their contracts expiring.
00:33Okaya Kuzlu as well, he's not expiring, but it's in a year's time and there's talks of
00:38a move back to Turkey. He's absolutely vital in that central defensive midfield role, can
00:42drop into centre back when needed out of possession and even in possession playing out from the
00:46back, he's likely to go. Cedric Kipray as well, one of the best players last season
00:51for West Brom and in the championship altogether, hardly missed a minute, so crucial to so many
00:56of their wins. And he's probably going as well because his contract's up and no agreement
01:01has been reached. Losing those kind of players and they haven't got the funds, crucially,
01:05to bring in those that can replace them already be at that level. Those two I've mentioned
01:10weren't brought in for big transfer fees at all. If anything, they were free, I believe.
01:14So it's going to be difficult to try and replicate that. We know how competitive the market is.
01:19So many clubs at the moment struggling to meet all of the financial fair play and sustainability
01:24regulations. So it is going to be tough. I think the playoffs is probably a more realistic
01:29target with that in mind. They've still got a decent squad. They can't go out and splash
01:33the cash like some teams can.
01:34Yeah, and obviously, you know, the championship is probably one of the hardest divisions to
01:39predict. It can go any way before a ball's kicked. Is sort of Cor Brown the key for West
01:45Brom to ensure that they've got him at the helm and that can be a sort of base to work
01:50on? Obviously, you touched that they might lose some key players.
01:53I think so. Yeah, he's already displayed that he can get the most out of a bad situation
01:58in terms of not having that money to spend. I don't think there's even really been a transfer
02:02fee spent whatsoever since he took over. Just shows the position West Brom have been in.
02:07Thankfully now with Shilan Patel, the new Florida based businessman at the helm in terms
02:11of the ownership, there'll be a bit more investment. He's written off some of the debts that were
02:16as the previous ownership. So that's a step in the right direction. But still, it's these
02:19regulations I mentioned, they've got to stay on the right lines of things for profits and
02:23losses. And at the moment, they can't make those investments. So Cor Brown, someone who
02:27can get the most out of the cheapest squads is very important. He did it at Huddersfield,
02:32got them to the playoff final, obviously missed out in the first season at West Brom just
02:36about, but then got them to the playoff semifinals in the 23-24 season. If they can do that again,
02:42I think it'll be a big success and Cor Brown will be very key to that.
02:45On that right hand side, that's someone they don't have to spend any money to create that
02:49issue. It's fixed already. I think there's a lot of hope there and there's a lot of quality.
02:53It's just about keeping them around, keeping Cor Brown there and hopefully adding to the
02:58squad as well in the summer.