Victor Anichebe has gone berserk over West Brom’s decision to sack Darren Moore.
Albion’s board axed Moore on Saturday, not long after the 1-1 draw against Ipswich at The Hawthorns, where the club has not won a league game since Boxing Day.
West Brom’s shot at automatic promotion is effectively over after a run of three games without a win, and ex-Baggies striker Anichebe has claimed that Moore’s race had something to do with the decision-making.
“It actually made me sick, seeing it,” Anichebe told Football League World.
“I just thought it was a joke. A lot of people talk about the fact he’s black. And I honestly believe that if it were somebody else, he would not have been sacked.
“It’s an unconscious mindset that has been drilled into people. It’s not their fault but there are no black managers at all and people don’t want to look at this b***s***.
“He won eight out of 10 away games. Tony Pulis was horrendous and they kept him. Look at what happened with Pardew. He won one [Premier League] game and wasn’t sacked.”
OPINION
This is an extremely sensitive subject and a very strong claim to make about West Brom’s decision to sack Moore. There have been several journalists and ex-players making similar claims, but at the end of the day; the Baggies have one of the most well-paid squads in the league, they had aims to earn automatic promotion, they were not playing good football and they clearly didn’t have faith in Moore to win the play-offs. Anichebe’s decision to compare Moore with Pulis and Pardew is a bit strange because their dilly-dallying over those two last season was part of the reason why the Black Country club was relegated. Now, West Brom are scared of things going wrong and are reacting early by sacking Moore before things get worse. It’s not West Brom’s first bad run of the season. They won just one of six games, losing three, between October and November, and they have not won a home game in the league since Boxing Day. Moore’s tactics were not great either with him opting to put players like Dwight Gayle out wide and Tosin Adarabioyo at left-back and decisions to play a possession-based three at the back system with defenders who cannot pass under pressure. West Brom are lucky to be fourth.