Jake Livermore on 'too intense' Carlos Corberan - as former captain details reason behind repeated West Brom managerial struggles

At the moment it is very much a low for the players, the fans and new manager Eric Ramsay, who is trying to turn around Albion's fortunes.

Besides Carlos Corberan almost getting Albion to the Premier League - it has been tough period for West Brom managers, from Valerien Ismael to Steve Bruce, to Tony Mowbray.

Ryan Mason had a small bit of a success earlier this season - but it quickly faded away and Ramsay is now struggling to turn the tide at The Hawthorns.

Those spells prior to Corberan's departure have been laid out by Jake Livermore - the former Albion captain who arrived towards the end of club's eight year spell in the Premier League.

He was a consistent part of the side that returned to the top flight under Slaven Bilic - before spending three seasons in the Championship and then being moved on by Corberan.

Speaking to Ladbrokes at the launch of Ladisfaction, the former captain charted the issues Albion have faced over the years, leading into their current predicament.

He said: "I think we ended up running into a series of difficult periods over a few years, and that incident at Millwall in particular was a difficult one, because we really hit the ground running under Valerien Ismael. 

"It was a whole new style of football and we had some good players, but we were very direct. It was quick, fast, aggressive and intense football, and it worked for a long period of time.

"We just ran out of ideas for a couple of months, and because the results weren’t coming, it just turned toxic. The football wasn’t desirable to watch; it’s a case of things being all well and good with that kind of style as long as you’re winning. But when you’re that direct, and you’re not picking up results, then it wasn’t great for anyone to watch.

 "Steve Bruce then comes in, and he’s obviously someone I knew well from my time at Hull. Steve is a very feel-good factor manager. It was like the shackles were off under him and we played some really good football. 

"We really did play some great stuff under him, but we just weren’t getting results. We weren’t that far away though, it’s just that ultimately goals change results, results change opinions and sometimes they’ll cover a lot of cracks. 

"We just weren’t getting there with him. He definitely had a lot of positive traits though, and was good to work under for that feel good factor. Was he a Carlos Corberan? No. He was completely different, and perhaps there was a time where we needed both of those."

Livermore's time in the team became less and less under the final months of Corberan's only full season in charge at Albion.

Albion's result began to drift before Corberan decided to make the move to Valencia in La Liga.

And although complimentary of what he did at Albion - Livermore explained that even towards the end under Corberan it became 'too intense'.

He added: "I didn’t play under Carlos, but he was an amazing coach… he really was. I’ve got the utmost respect for him, and that’s coming from someone who was at the club for a long time and never played under him. 

"But I know he was very, very good at what he did. But, again, we got to a stage where things became too intense without the results to show for it. And, again, when you aren’t backing performances up with results, people turn. 

"You’d look around the dressing room for someone who’s been in that position before, someone who could drag you through, someone who has won titles before, got promoted before, been in a real scrap before, someone to calm everyone down, and I think a lot of dressing rooms are missing that these days."