West Brom's Loss Shows Future Struggles | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion fans have not had a lot to celebrate in recent years following their relegation from Premier League, as even when it looked likely that they might be close to having the foundations back in place for a promotion push, their ownership thought different and decided to change the manager as opposed to repaying a debt they owed.

Remember, as West Bromwich Albion navigates the challenges of the Championship, staying updated with the latest odds and free bet offers can make all the difference.

The Midlands club finally seem to have a little bit of stability now though, and former Marcelo Bielsa disciple Carlos Corberan has lasted more than five minutes at The Hawthorns, and it appears their new owner trusts him.

Having been appointed to the role in late October of 2022, he managed the club to fifth place and the Play Offs this year, and although they ultimately lost out to Southampton (3-1) in the two legged affair, Corberan is rightly pleased with the progress so far, but he also understands and fully appreciates that there is still a massive amount of work to do at the club.

The 41 year old former Spanish goalkeeper may not have had the most illustrious professional playing career (if it can be phrased that way), but his coaching career is the proverbial different gravy. He has long been rated, and long impressed, and made his name in England as Leeds' Under 23 gaffer during Bielsa's spell, and stepping up to manager in his own right, he was with Huddersfield Town and Olympiacos before he arrived at West Brom.

It should be noted, back in 2012, now Manchester City manager and serial winner, Pep Guardiola actually recommended him for a role as he was taking his first steps into coaching.

He clearly has calibre, and bringing us back to 2024 and not his past, he will need all of that calibre if West Brom are to go one step further next year. 2023/24 was their first year without Premier League parachute payments, so he has clearly overachieved this year - however, there can be no denying Southampton out classed them and quite possibly could have won by more.

Corberan now goes into this summer with nine players soon to be out of contract, and there are some key players in that list - Matt Phillips, Alex Mowatt, Nathaniel Chalobah, Yann M’Vila and Adam Reach and defenders Cedric Kipre, Erik Pieters, Martin Kelly and Pipa.

But as much as their gaffer has lofty ambitions, and would love to truly build on their improvement this year, he is clearly financially constrained and potentially losing nine players, purely from the point of view of squad depth, well, it is hardly ideal, particularly if he then loses a player or two that he was absolutely desperate to keep.

Again these permutations will not be helped by the fact that the club posted a loss of £11 million for the 2022/23 campaign which was Guochuan Lai's final full season of ownership, and it is speculated that they continue to lose a seven figure sum on a monthly basis, so the next full accounts could well see a far larger loss.

Fans will hope new owner Shilen Patel was right when he said a plan was in place for the Championship again, and then we see what Corberan's calibre might be on an even more stretched budget.