Long serving West Brom star and first team mainstay Chris Brunt has been left raving over the job the Baggies have done this season after his startling revelation about last summer’s preparations.
The Hawthorns outfit are looking to secure an immediate return to the Premier League a year after being relegated from the top flight, with a play-off semi final against West Midlands rivals Aston Villa to overcome.
However, Brunt is proud of his teammates regardless of what happens, revealing that Darren Moore had less than a starting XI worth of first team talent when at their summer training camp back in June 2018.
He told the Express and Star: “If we could get promoted at West Brom, over my time here, it would be one of the things I’d look back on when I finish and be most proud of.
“Last season was a difficult season and his one was always going to be difficult given that in Portugal back in June we only had 10 or 12 first-team players. To get to this stage now and still have a chance of getting promoted, if we could do that it would be a fantastic achievement.
“It’s not been a smooth season, but obviously we’re there to do a job and get promoted automatically.”
Opinion
When you look at the sides in the Championship play-offs, none of them really had an easy time coming into the current campaign. Derby County were left licking their wounds after play-off heartbreak, as were Aston Villa, who were also hit by serious financial strife which required new owners to come in and steady the ship. Meanwhile Leeds United were coming off the back of a disappointing Championship campaign and a lack of transfer funds courtesy of Marcelo Bielsa’s appointment but it was West Brom’s lack of players which was perhaps the most worrying out of the quartet. It is easy to forget how far the Baggies have come in such a short space of time and as Brunt says, their achievements to date are still worthy of recognition. There are four sides out there who all believe they deserve to be in the Premier League – there are thousands of fans about to be bitterly disappointed.