Chief Sports Writer Martin Swain explains how Albion’s gamble on new manager Roberto Di Matteo could pay dividends.

Jeremy Peace has taken a gamble. But at least he has taken a gamble with one of football’s classiest men.

Roberto Di Matteo comes to the Hawthorns with a reputation for settling for only the very best in everything he does and his arrival offers a welcome dash of exotic flavour to the Black Country.

Di Matteo’s late surge to sprint past the safer pair of hands offered by Preston’s Alan Irvine was both unexpected and dramatic and, at first glance, inexplicable.

If, for example, former captain Derek McInnes was not considered because of his lack of experience – which we must presume – how did Di Matteo answer that particular gap on his CV?

One season at Milton Keynes Dons, which ended in the heartbreak of a penalty shoot-out defeat at the League One play-off semi-final, hardly merits more than McInnes’s promotion with St Johnstone to the Scottish Premier League.

He has no previous connections with Albion in particular or the region generally, other than breaking Villa hearts with his FA Cup final 2000 winner.

The Italian is no headline-chasing media junkie either, preferring the quiet, under-stated manner of his predecessor – rather than one or two others we can think of who are keen to make a name for themselves.

It would have been easier for Peace, who has not emerged from the Mowbray walk-out without some of the mud his former manager flung not sticking, to go with the popular McInnes.

It would have been simpler to stick with Irvine. It would have been less of a surprise, although more expensive, had Darren Ferguson or Dave Jones pitched up

But Peace appears to have gone with something he is so frequently accused of lacking – a gut instinct.

This man of facts and figures, this chairman who believes cold, sober appraisal outweighs emotionally-driven decision-making, was simply blown away by Di Matteo in their face-to-face sessions which concluded on Monday afternoon.

It is difficult to believe the Baggies chairman was star-struck. He has been around the Premier League’s halls of fame often enough now not to be carried away by a man’s celebrity rating.

Also in former TV executive Jeff Farmer, he has a trusted adviser who has spent his career wheeling and dealing with the game’s biggest personalities.

No, I’m told it was Di Matteo’s calm authority, unmistakeable charisma, presence and aura which suddenly left Irvine, impressive enough and certainly nobody’s fool, looking a little, well, flat.

This should not surprise us, because this son of Switzerland born to Italian parents appears to leave that impression wherever he goes.

At Chelsea he is regarded as a member of the ‘Holy Trinity’ – the three key Italian influences of the pre-Abramovich era made up by Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola.

This trio transformed the club in a way which made it a natural target for the predatory Russian billionaire, when he decided he wanted some fun with football.

Di Matteo was a thinking man’s footballer. His belief in core Italian principles – technique, tactics and preparation – were evident from the off. He never charged around midfield but glided.

These are values he brings to management. Not unlike Mowbray, there will be no tea-cup hurling rants. A quiet, constructive word in faultless English is his preferred method of medicine.

Immaculately dressed – well, he is Italian – and presented, it is amusing to imagine what Albion’s homespun, down-to-earth populace might make of him.

Yet they have more in common than might first be obvious, especially when the object of their mutual devotion – the team – take to the pitch.

Albion’s players will return to find themselves governed by a manager who believes in so many of the principles which made Mowbray so popular.

If Di Matteo can stop defenders tripping over their feet or failing to mark at set-pieces, we could all be quids in.

Albion should be further encouraged to note that Di Matteo is not a man to do things by halves.

When he opened a restaurant in Chelsea’s Hollywood Road during his playing days, called ‘Friends,’ it swiftly became an award-winning venue where the rich and famous queued to wine and dine.

He was so successful he soon opened another called Baraonda, which translates to ‘chaos’ and proved he has a sense of humour.

But Di Matteo’s life is anything but chaotic. He will be no aloof stranger, we are told, but an approachable, articulate and friendly incumbent of a post which Mowbray filled with similar qualities but left perhaps besmirching them.

It could all go horribly wrong, of course. Maybe that inexperience will tell, maybe there will be a failure to bond with his new public, although let us not forget Albion’s other foreign appointment to the post – Ossie Ardiles – swiftly became an adopted son of the Black Country.

But there is pressure. Albion want to maintain that style, of course. Yes, season tickets, plenty of them, have been sold on the back of optimism for another goal-packed, adventurous march through the Championship.

Wolves are in the Premier League this season and the Baggies fans have got used to lording it over their arch rivals of late. Di Matteo will need to deliver something to sustain his public.

If it proves too much for him, Peace will kop for some more flak. Why take such a gamble?

But Di Matteo goes into the job having persuaded his new employers that they may be about to witness the start of a special career in management. His task is to now prove the paying customer likewise.

As Irvine goes, did he jump or was he pushed? He was told early on his return from a holiday in Madeira that the Baggies would be taking the job elsewhere. W

Within an hour, that was being conveyed to the Preston public - via an official statement on the club’s website – as the other contender for the Albion post choosing to stay at Deepdale.

His statement pulls short of saying he rejected the job and, when Sky began running a story inferring that had happened, they received a sharp call from The Hawthorns demanding its removal. They obeyed.

Peace refused to get drawn into any briefings during the speculation of the last 10 days because he was angry when Bryan Robson and Mowbray were appointed, approaches to Glenn Hoddle and Dave Jones were interpreted as job offers.

He is now hopping mad at any suggestion Di Matteo is a second choice and, in his defence, local media personnel were receiving signals as early as Monday tea-time that the Irvine bandwagon was running ahead of itself.