For all his experience, West Brom’s 2022 decision proved to be an absolute disaster: View | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion have an excellent manager in charge, with Carlos Corberan managing to guide the Baggies in the play-offs despite the fact they have endured a lengthy ownership saga.

Currently sitting in fifth place, the Midlands outfit could potentially compete for a place in the Premier League at the end of this term, with a top-six finish a real possibility now.

This is a remarkable achievement, not just because of previous ownership uncertainty and financial worries, but also because Corberan came in when the Baggies were sitting in the relegation zone back in October 2022.

Guiding them to safety at the end of last term, he has taken his team into the promotion mix this term, managing to do a much better job than his predecessor Steve Bruce.

Bruce came in to succeed Valerien Ismael, who didn't do a great job at The Hawthorns.

The German's time in the Midlands may have started promisingly, but his style of play was questioned and he was dismissed in February 2022.

Bruce was appointed on an 18-month contract just a day after Ismael's departure, with then-CEO Ron Gourlay revealing that the 63-year-old was on a shortlist of one.

Gourlay, who had been very unsuccessful at Reading previously, put his neck on the line with those comments and they came back to bite him.

Following Ismael's last game in charge of Albion, they were still in fifth place.

But Bruce failed miserably for the remainder of the 2021/22 season, with a disastrous start to his reign contributing to their 10th-place finish.

And they could have finished even lower if it wasn't for their two wins at the end of the campaign.

Despite the Baggies' failure to get into the play-offs, Bruce was given the summer to put his stamp on the squad, with the likes of John Swift, Jed Wallace and Okay Yokuslu all coming in.

Even with these excellent additions, Albion struggled during the early stages of 2022/23, and that inevitably led to Bruce being sacked.

They found themselves in the relegation zone after the 63-year-old's last game in charge, with the experienced boss not enjoying a happy time at The Hawthorns.

Ron Gourlay made a huge error by appointing Steve Bruce at West Brom

Following such a turbulent time at Newcastle United, with plenty of media attention on Bruce during the latter stages of his time at St James' Park, the 63-year-old needed an extended period out of the game.

But he was back in management just a matter of months after his time on Tyneside.

He wasn't popular with Newcastle supporters - and even with his experience in mind - it always looked as though he was going to struggle at The Hawthorns.

You can understand why his experience would persuade clubs to hire him, but a young and up-and-coming manager like Corberan was the remedy needed instead of Bruce, who came under fire at both Newcastle and Aston Villa.

Albion went backwards under Bruce and there's even a chance they could be in League One right now if they hadn't sacked Bruce during the early stages of the last campaign.

His time at The Hawthorns was nothing short of a disaster, especially when you consider the top-quality players he had at his disposal, including Swift, Wallace and Yokuslu.