[drewks]

I'm pretty ambivalent about Allardyce. If he stays, I'd be Ok about it although it would not fill me me with any great optimism or enthusiasm, although I concede the benefits of continuity and experience. If he doesn't, then I agree with Stairs that a young, ambitious manager would be my preference, someone who would take a different direction to how we've been managed these last twelve months. If that was the case, I think we should not expect an immediate return to the Premier League, which would likely upset many fans but which, I honestly think, might be for the better long term interests of the club.

I take issue with the description of Bilic as "clueless" and his squad as dreadful. He clearly made signing errors - although its less clear whose signings some of these were (Bilic or Dowling)  - particularly the failure to recognise the need for a strong, defensive midfielder. However, we were all very happy to see Pereira and Diangana sign permanently, and, in my view, Gallagher was the stand out midfielder for us in the first half of  the season. He also kept faith with Johnstone, when many - including some of us on this board - were castigating him as not being good enough. I think that faith has been vindicated. Bilic has achieved success in his profession, just as Pulis has, but these are not always reflected in trophies or glowing accolades from TV pundits. I think the only manager we've had in recent years who comes close to 'cluelessness' is Pardew, but that's a whole different discussion thread.

I'm not anti Allardyce because I do recognise the improvements he has made to the squad, most notably the signing of Yokuslu. But let's also not gloss over the crap by damning Bilic and laying Allardyce's failure at Slaven's door. Bilic was criticised for signing Grant, who has been completely underwhelming I'll fully admit, but let's get real on what is affordable for a team like West Brom when looking for a Premier League striker. That was the pool we were fishing. Allardyce's signing of Diagne, for me, confirms that.....he's a million miles away from being a Premier League level player but that was about all that was available to us. I have no idea why he signed Lonergan (but I'm happy to be enlightened on that) and I've absolutely no idea why he continued to not play Robinson (even ignored as a sub in favour of HRK) for many games, and why Diangana has been completely sidelined, particularly when we've been crying out for some creativity up front.

As I said, I'm OK about Allardyce staying but let's please not regard Bilic's time with us as some dismal failure because it certainly wasn't.

Spot on Steve