Luke Hatfield and Joe Masi discussed all of the latest West Bromwich Albion news on the most recent edition of the Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast and the journalists spent some time talking about Slaven Bilic and his future at the West Midlands club during the show.
It may be fair to say that West Brom haven’t enjoyed a great start to the 2020/21 Premier League season, as the Baggies have failed to win any of their first eight top-flight games this term, losing five. This leaves them sitting in the relegation zone at this stage of the campaign.
Reports emerged last week casting doubt over the Croat coach’s future, with Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer said to have been lined up as a potential replacement for Bilic at The Hawthorns but despite those reports, the 52-year-old coach ‘came out fighting’ in his press conference last Friday and urged his side to “never give up.”
While discussing the manager’s future during this podcast, Masi explained that while some doubts were creeping in for him with regard to whether or not Bilic wanted to remain at The Hawthorns, he now believes the Croat “really wants to stay” at the West Midlands club following last Friday’s press conference, saying:
“There was a niggling doubt [over whether or not Bilic wanted to stay at West Brom] and then that was completely dismissed at the press conference on Friday, where he came out fighting and he was so passionate and so determined to keep Albion in the Premier League and you can tell he really wants to stay. He really, really wants to stay.”
Do you want Bilic to stay at West Brom?
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TIF Thoughts on what Masi had to say about Bilic…
Despite their struggles at the start of this season, Bilic was positive in last Friday’s press conference ahead of his side’s 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and he shared some confidence in his team, with the manager stating that he believes they can achieve their goal of avoiding relegation, so with that in mind, it may be difficult to argue with Masi as it does seem as though the Croat coach wants to be at The Hawthorns to help this team achieve their goal.
Additionally, West Brom managed to keep a Spurs side that sits in second place on the league table goalless right up until the 88th minute on Sunday. So, perhaps the Baggies’ performance in that game indicates that the players are behind the manager, as Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho also suggested.
These are positive signs for West Brom despite their poor results and maybe this shows that Bilic is still the right man for the job at Albion.