A huge disappointment for Baggies fans.
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00:00Charlie, starting with West Bromwich Albion and just to catch up on the situation,
00:05obviously, Tony Mowbray sacked after the disappointing Easter weekend.
00:09Obviously, we mentioned that Easter weekend can be so important in terms of championship
00:13and the EFL in general, six points up for grabs in the space of a few days.
00:18West Brom really failed to excite the fans and it all sort of came crashing down on Mowbray's tenure.
00:25What went wrong? What do you feel was the issue?
00:29And do you feel it was the right decision to let Mowbray go?
00:31Obviously, you know, the championship experience is undeniable, but the results just weren't there.
00:37Yeah, it was a real shame really to see Tony Mowbray leave the way he did and to see the games go the way they did
00:43because obviously such a legend at the football club, 18, 17, 16 years ago, winning the championship as well.
00:50In the past, the fans absolutely loved him and they welcomed back of open arms,
00:54but it just didn't work out as they would have hoped.
00:56His tactical style, just not quite there.
00:58He went on a lot about trying to dominate games and wanting to play entertaining football,
01:02but a lot of the time, passing was sideways, it was backwards, it wasn't very quick, it wasn't fast flowing.
01:08I know it's difficult when you face up against a low block and that was often the case,
01:12but West Brom just not able to penetrate enough and swinging balls into the box when there wasn't really a target man there
01:18or vice versa, when there was a target man, they weren't putting crosses into the area.
01:22So, it just didn't really make sense at times and the results weren't there.
01:26Losing as many as he did just wasn't acceptable.
01:28To fall away from the playoff fight when they did, not acceptable as well.
01:32I was there for both games over the Easter weekend.
01:35The Coventry City defeat was just horrendous.
01:38They could have lost by far more goals than they did.
01:40Just such a lapless, a hapless performance rather.
01:43And then against Derby County, a team that's fighting relegation, losing 3-1 at the Hawthorns as well.
01:50Meant to be a fortress, it's been anything but that recently.
01:53And you could just feel the discontent from the fans, the booing.
01:56And then after the game, sat in the press room and we had half an hour with Tony Mowbray in his final press conference.
02:03We didn't know at the time it would be his final press conference.
02:05Trying to work out as well if he knew at that stage.
02:09But then about half an hour after that ended, he was sacked by West Brom.
02:13So, a real whirlwind weekend over Easter.
02:16And since West Brom, of course, is falling away, guaranteed not to get into the playoffs.
02:21A complete failure of a season in the end after.
02:23It looks so good at the start.
02:26Yeah, I mean, ignoring Carlos Corbran and the success he had with such a small squad, small budget.
02:32Before that, it's sort of a bit of paper over the cracks.
02:35Xalbion's recruitment in terms of managerial stints.
02:37I saw a stat not long ago that the number of permanent head coaches that have been in the Hawthorne's dugout has been incredible in the last five, six, seven years or so.
02:50It's so important that they do get the next recruitment right because it's just sort of a recurring problem.
02:56Who do you feel could be any candidates to come in and maybe to look at this summer?
03:01It just sort of shows back to square one.
03:03They need to reset and they need someone with a bit of a fresh identity and a bit of a fresh bit of passion to get the fans back on board.
03:12Yeah, it's so important to take the right amount of time and patience with this one.
03:15That was the approach with Mowbray and it didn't quite work out.
03:18I think with Shilam Patel, the new owner, the honeymoon period is over because of that decision.
03:23They need to get the next one right.
03:25They need to make sure the next manager is the correct one because if they don't get a playoff football next season,
03:32there's a risk they could just get stuck in a championship for years and years and years.
03:35Like we saw with Birmingham City, just stuck mid-table mediocrity for so, so long.
03:41Obviously, the debts being paid off helps.
03:43There'll be lots of high earners leaving this summer.
03:46It seems as if there might be a big rebuild.
03:48Mowbray mentioned in his last press conference that there could be about five, six, maybe even seven signings made this summer.
03:54You might think, well, Mowbray's gone.
03:55It means that's not going to happen.
03:57But a lot of the recruitment at West Brom is done by the recruitment team with the manager quite distant from all of that.
04:02Mowbray moaned a lot about the distance between and the lack of communication, but that's the reality.
04:08Whoever does come in, there haven't really been too many names directly linked just yet.
04:13Marty Cifuentes from Queen's Park Rangers was one that West Brom spoke to briefly, but he's not on the short list of candidates.
04:20The likes of Gary O'Neill, Steve Cooper have been mentioned by the bookies.
04:24But at the moment, it seems as if West Brom are taking their time and it could take a few weeks for them to get their new man through the door.
04:29Yeah, no doubt. A failure of the season because of where they have been sort of sat throughout the whole campaign.
04:37Is there any positives maybe to reflect on in terms of, you know, whether it's a young player breaking through or someone having a slight standout?
04:44I mean, obviously, it's incredibly tough to look at.
04:47I mean, there was some decent runs for West Brom to start the season while Josh Magic was in incredible form before his injury.
04:53You know, is there any positives for Albion fans to take into this new campaign?
04:58It won't feel like it just because of the way they were fifth, sixth all year until the last kind of 10 games.
05:04It just feels like a huge failure. It feels like the whole season's fallen flat.
05:09I think Tom Fellow's emerging as a bit more of a talent and developing a bit, but even he's fallen off in his form.
05:14I'm really trying to scrape the barrel here. There aren't too many positives to consider.
05:20Maybe Jason Molumby at times stepping up as a bit of a leader, but that is scraping the barrel.
05:25It is unfortunately a failure of a season for the Baggies and they'll need to have a very big summer if they're able to recover next season.
05:30Let's see.