OPINION
Football management is a brutal environment to work in and Darren Moore found that out the hard way at West Brom on Saturday evening.
With his side sitting comfortably in the play offs and a little way off the automatic promotion battle, the Baggies decided to get rid of the man who impressed in the Premier League and demonstrated great management skills to navigate his side – which was admittedly filled with quality players – into the position they currently sit in.
It seems as though the West Brom top brass had lost faith in his ability to secure a decent finish to the end of the season in a bid to secure an immediate return to the Premier League and the candidates which have been named as potential successors all scream Championship experience.
The Telegraph report that Slavisa Jokanovic is their number one option but that Preston’s Alex Neil as well as former Premier League duo Carlos Carvalhal and David Wagner are also on the list to take the currently vacant seat in the dugout.
Notice a pattern emerging with those names?
If you said that they have all experience of both the play off finals – only Carvalhal failing to seal victory – as well as the Premier League, you would be spot on.
Unfortunately for the Baggies, all but Wagner have failed to impress in the top flight and that lack of success demonstrates a worrying amount of shortsightedness from the West Brom chiefs – which is why Wagner looked the most impressive candidate.
For those Baggies fans wanting the German, which must have been most of the Hawthorns faithful, Sky Sports claim he is not interested, leaving Jokanovic, Carvalhal and Neil in the running.
None of those names are inspiring and for a club supposedly seeking a return to the top flight, hiring any of them with their records there is a recipe for disaster.
All the West Brom fans must be fearing the worst and they will no doubt be wondering why Moore is not still in charge.