00:00Now, as West Bromwich Albion had turned to a familiar face in their promotion bit, with
00:08Tomi Mowbray returning to the Hawthorns. Having previously guided the Baggies to the Premier
00:13League in 2008, his experience in the Championship is undeniable. Mowbray's success at clubs
00:19like Sunderland and Blackburn show he can develop young talent while keeping a squad
00:24competitive. But with the Championship more unpredictable than ever, can his tactical
00:29approach give West Brom the edge? To get more insight on his impact and what it means
00:34for West Brom's promotion hopes, I spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Firmian World.
00:40Charlie, let's look at West Bromwich Albion and let's just start by looking at the play-off
00:46race. We've mentioned it so many times, it's so close up there, just three points or so
00:53separating the ones who are in and the ones who aren't. The top four are clearly drifting
00:58away from the rest. What's the stance? What are the important games coming up for them?
01:04They need to make sure they're there or thereabouts or a couple of bad results and they could
01:09be right back down the Championship table.
01:12Yeah, it's definitely a high-pressure situation at the Hawthorns. We saw this last season,
01:17even the season before that when Carlos Corbijn came in, they were in a relegation battle,
01:22pushed up, just about missed out on that play-off. It's always so competitive and a championship
01:27I think is one of the most exciting divisions in the world for that reason. This year, West
01:32Brom have kind of been fifth and sixth the entire time. It feels like somehow sticking
01:36in that place despite drawing so many games, more than any other team in a division. I
01:41think the important thing is they've been very difficult to beat. They've not had many
01:45defeats this season in the league, but they aren't scoring enough goals, I think is my
01:50concern. Just one in each of the last five matches, 1-1 draws all the time. It feels
01:55like 1-0s every now and then. It was a bit of a theme under Corbijn, quite a useful theme
02:00to win 1-0, but Tony Mowbray wants to play more exciting, high-action football, hitting
02:06the back of the net as much as possible, outscoring teams. They've not been able to do that yet
02:10and they've signed Adam Armstrong out front, on loan from Southampton, meant to be one
02:14of the most clinical players at this level. Someone like Will Lancashire, coming in on
02:18loan from Tottenham Hotspur, should be bagging goals at this stage. Tom Fellow is not quite
02:22in form. Like Grady Diangano, Jed Wallace, not able to step up off the bench at the moment.
02:27There are concerns, but I suppose having so much attacking depth isn't a bad thing and
02:31eventually it should click. It's just not doing so at the moment. Albion fans are getting
02:35a little bit anxious.
02:36Obviously, in terms of a play-off race, in terms of a run-in where you need to provide
02:43something, Tony Mowbray's got all that, he's got that experience under his hat. Do you
02:48feel that's going to be one of the biggest positives that Albion have right now to boast
02:53in terms of ahead of this run-in? They've got a manager who's been there, done that
02:57before and hopefully he can pull that string. And then if he doesn't, you've got to look
03:02at it on the flip side, if he does fail to get them in the play-offs, can you really
03:05blame him? He's had not long to work with this side. Corbran obviously leaving pretty
03:11much mid-season, breaking so many baggies' hearts and hopefully lays a good groundwork
03:17for the summer and then they can kick on next season.
03:21I think Mowbray is definitely the right man for the job. They wouldn't have appointed
03:24him otherwise. They did spend a long time to source the replacement for Corbran, quite
03:29a few interviewees, but Mowbray in the end, when he had his clean bill of health, he was
03:33able to take on the reins. I think West Brom fans were delighted about that. Maybe not
03:38so much now, considering the results haven't been flowing, or at least the victories haven't
03:43been flowing, but his personality is fantastic. His experience, as you say, recently, securing
03:48playoff football with Sunderland, his spell at the Stadium of Light, very impressive indeed.
03:53And he's got that experience in the high-pressure moments to get them over the line. I think
03:57he will. It'll be very tight. In my opinion, I think West Brom will just about have enough
04:02to finish in that top six. And it's the personality as well, his man management, when some players
04:07haven't got enough confidence, are struggling to hit the mark, struggling to hit the back
04:11of the net. He's able to give them that lift and just speaks to them about general life
04:16scenarios, kind of ignoring football at times, having those one-to-one meetings is so, so
04:20important. And I think that the squad, the team cohesion, very important as well.
04:24Now we've seen at the Hawthorns this season, just how much of an atmosphere it can generate
04:28the players after the game, even after not winning games, if they're drawing matches,
04:33they get a clap, a standing ovation from everybody there. Mowbray joining in as well. So important
04:38to have that kind of personality in the squad. And I think it will be just about enough to
04:42get them over that line.
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