[wba13]

If WBA have proved one thing since the inception of the Premier League, it is that there are worse things for a club than going down.

My team Chesterfield went out of the EFL ........ after missing out in Division One play-offs we lost our manager Paul Cook and the best half of our team was out of contract. Dean Saunders got the Managerial post on the basis of a good after-dinner speech. He got a bit of investment from our owner, but not much. It wasn't enough, he used it unwisely and the team was soon heading down and out of Division One. We made a Sam Allardyce style decision and appointed Danny Wilson, a beloved ex-player and safe pair of hands. He saved us from relegation. But our owner by this time was beginning to want out, wouldn't really invest and Danny was left with a deteriorating team and a relegation fight the following season. We sacked our safe pair of hands and we went down by a country mile. Bad decision then followed bad decision and only now in the National League does our ownership issue appear to have been solved and perhaps we might become a football club again.

Loyal WBA fans think staying up and the rights or wrongs of sacking a decent man are the issues. I fear for you in both the decision that was made and the way it was taken. What if Sam keeps you up and isn't given the firepower to keep you clear of the relegation zone next season? Is it then stick or twist time on the managerial merry-go-round? Will a considered decision be taken, or will it be done from thousands of miles away on the basis of old hat information? My fear for you is that this really might not be part of your regular, joyful boing boing, this could that maelstrom that sucks you all down after tasting its first victim. The chants of you don't know what you're doing won't be understood back in China, not because of the language barrier, but because they really don't know.

No disrespect but things are a lot different to Chesterfield, I would not have sacked Bilic but as nice man as he is his record over the last 12 months is abysmal and the last 13 games even worse. I understand why he’s gone with the breakdown between him and the board and the results. We have also been led to believe he nearly walked out in October and if the right man had been available after the Fulham match he would have been sacked then. Allardyce became available after Newcastle so we moved quickly to appoint him. How the news broke was all down to a disgruntled agent of a manager who thought his client should have been appointed. As for the owners I genuinely  believe that they are selling up and staying in the premiership is detrimental for them to get a decent price as it will drop dramatically if we are relegated. I must admit I think that Allardyce gives us a better chance of staying up.