[Slick_Footwork]

Sorry cannot agree with the above statement I support WEST BROMWICH ALBION not the manager. I will always be behind whoever comes in . But I know we will like some better than others. I don’t want Alladyce but if it’s him so be it . He will get my support.

I take your point and I also support the club, not the manager. In those 58 years, I’ve seen some unbelievably dumb decisions but I’ve continued to support and I know I’ll do the same in the future. It does not, however, lessen my feelings of anger and frustration; does this club never learn? From Pulis in 2017 to now, we have had five managers in three years,  including Jimmy Shan. A complete lack of continuity and consistency; change managers that often and what do you expect. I certainly don’t want us to be relegated but, as someone who loathes the Premier League, neither do I fear it. We are a club who has, and will continue, to move between the PL and the Championship unless we are taken over by a sovereign wealth fund or oligarch- and there are many other clubs similar to us. However, if we want to progress, then I believe we need to start developing a longer term plan beyond the short term thinking of “if we get relegated, it’s a disaster”. Included in that plan would be an ambitious, forward looking and young(ish) manager who we invest in and stick by for once, even when the going gets tough, as it always does at some point. Do Allardyce, Hughes or Pearson tick any of those boxes? Absolutely not.
I fully appreciate there are others on the board who would welcome Allardyce and that’s fine; it’s just that I’m not one of them. Bilic has made mistakes, I fully acknowledge that and I’ve also ranted about some of his selections but I just want us to stop this hire and fire approach which has not worked.

My belief is that it was a good decision to appoint Pulis at the time. We were in the doldrums with a crap squad, so we needed someone who can get the best out of a limited set of players. He did that and added some steel by signing Darren Fletcher in January and took us from relegation fodder to mid table. The bad decision was to make it a long term appointment, giving him money and complete control of the club.

And while I never liked Pulis or his philosophies, I do remember one game in particular in his first season because we watched it from a bar in Cyprus, during my mate's stag. It was against Mourinho's Chelsea side at home and we won 3-0. I remember at the time, the impact Pulis made in that season was incredible. He turned a team who couldn't buy a win into a side that gave everyone a game. Chelsea won the title that year, only losing 3 times. Beating them was a coup.

That season shows the impact a short term appointment can make...

And while we all pretty much dislike Pulis now, a balanced view is that he did a good job at first. Had he been only a short term appointment, it would've been perfect.

I believe the learning from that would be to appoint someone like Allardyce until the end of the season only, regardless of the outcome. If he keeps us up, then get that young manager in, so he can take over an established, experienced Premier League side. Rather than taking over now, with us deep in the bottom 3. If we go down, we get that younger manager with the intention of getting us back up, but at least with a full pre-season so they can have a proper go at it. That could be the start of the period of continuity.

Although I'm not sure if continuity exists in modern football. If you employ a younger manager and he does well, a 'bigger' rival just snatch them away anyway. Look at Pochettino when he was with Southampton, one good year and he was gone. Same thing happened with Macro Silva at Watford, a good few months and Everton were sniffing. Begs the question how long how long Hasenhuttl will stay with Southampton now, given he's the best performing manager in the league by some distance. Same could be said for Nuno at Wolves. They are surely on the radar of the likes of Man United, Arsenal, Bayern etc.