A waiting game but a worthwhile one?
It's been a month since Albion sacked Tony Mowbray after a dismal defeat to Derby on Easter Monday put paid to their play-off hopes. The thinking behind the swift decision just hours after the game was to give the Baggies a head start in the recruitment process. The only problem is that since then, several clubs have also begun searching for new bosses, including Championship rivals Norwich, Hull and Watford; the latter of whom have already filled their vacancy.A small section of Baggies fans are getting impatient as time ticks by but the Baggies ownership group, Bilkul, know they must get this appointment right. Sporting director Andrew Nestor favours an analytical and statistical approach to finding the right person and that takes time to pour over and there's plenty of due diligence to be done on the character of candidates too.It's no surprise to me that the search is approaching the final days of May. Playing the waiting game has allowed the club to watch the managerial merry-go-round unfold and explore their options. If they'd have rushed the appointment, a more suitable candidate may have become available after the event. It could be argued that the appointment of Mowbray was rushed after the plan to appoint Swiss head coach Raphael Wicky collapsed but that's an old debate.The Baggies' aim is to mould a model where they can recruit players to fit a certain system, and the head coach does their work on the training ground, so arguments that the club need a manager quickly for recruitment reasons are largely unfounded in this day and age. However, the next head coach will want to get their feet under the table soon to begin planning for pre-season and figure out how they can craft a team that can compete for promotion again. The hierarchy have done a good job of keeping genuine rumours to a minimum this time, which has perhaps caused some of the impatience, but we could now be approaching the final days of the search and hopefully fans will have reason to be excited for the next campaign.
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