Shadow squads, data, Tom Fellows and PSR: What we learned from Andrew Nestor's latest West Brom update

After a busy window, that saw Albion bring in a significant number of players but sell some key assets - Nestor sat down with the club's media over the weekend to provide fans with the latest picture.

He discussed the squad, how Albion have been working throughout the window and the big issues of PSR.

Jonny Drury looks back on some key takeaways to come from Nestor's latest update.

'Everything went as planned'

It was clear to see Albion have had a clear plan throughout the transfer window.

As soon as a key player left, they could bring someone in. On the issues of Tom Fellows and other sales, they were prepared for these, they didn't just come out of the blue.

And he basically spelled out how much planning goes into it by saying the latest window was, 'three years in the making'.

These owners and Nestor have their finger on the pulse, and that is why we have seen in three windows now they have moved quickly at the start and when it is needed to make sure Albion address the areas they need to.

Data, shadow squads and scouting

Albion's scouting network seemed to be pretty basic a few years ago. Signings were made up of domestic loans and frees - with the old, thorough model no longer in place.

But Bilkul and Nestor have pieced it back together. In his update he spelled out that he had built up a process between the 'scouting team' and the data team at Albion.

Nestor has been big on data, as everyone is in this day and age. Some are sceptical in the game, but Albion's recent business shows it very much works.

He explained how Albion built a shadow squad that they do not move away from. That squad is made of of players in every position who they could target if a player leaves. 

It has worked in this window. Torbjorn Heggem goes, Krystian Bielik and Chris Mepham come in. Darnell Furlong goes, Alfie Gilchrist comes in.

Like point one, it shows the level of planning and nothing is a knee jerk reaction.

The Fellows decision and the 'player care'

In situations like Fellows', most clubs are looking at how much money they can get.

On that in isolation, Nestor explained that Albion did that. They were patient to get the right amount. They waited and got the best value they believed they could.

But some of Nestor's comments were eye opening around the fact that Albion were not just looking at the pound signs. They outlined how the player's welfare came into it.

He said: "There’s also the human element of it. We knew that this could be an eventuality. Back in January I spoke with Tom one-on-one and we had spoken with his agent about what we would do in certain cases and how the club sees the situation, but also wanting to make sure that whatever move happened, if there were to be one, that it would also be right for Tom.

"We do that for every player. The deal at the end of the day has to work for us and has to be at our valuation, but we also don’t want transfer drama and we don’t want to put players in a bad position because you won’t get good deals done."

Not many clubs would do this, certainly in modern football.

The dreaded PSR

It as been a big topic over recent windows - and even more so with a number of sales this summer.

As we discussed on last week's Baggies Broadcast - it looked like Albion were out of the woods when it comes to battling a big PSR issue.

And Nestor confirmed that when he said: "What we’ve done over the past three windows gets us to a point where we feel comfortable and we can now be in a position where instead of worrying or having to fix our PSR position, we can now move forward managing it."

That is huge for Albion. No longer is PSR a shadow over the Hawthorns. It is more someone that laps up every window but can be managed and kept at bay, much like it is for many other clubs.

The work over the last three windows has all been building to this - and it is arguably Bilku;'s biggest achievement since they arrived.