Matt Maher: James Morrison has the chance to write his greatest West Brom chapter yet
Whatever happens over the next two months should do nothing to change the huge regard in which James Morrison is held by Albion supporters.
Yet if the 39-year-old succeeds in keeping the Baggies in the Championship, it would surely add the greatest chapter yet to an association with the club which now stretches back almost two decades.
A little over a week after ending Eric Ramsay’s brief tenure, Albion provided necessary clarity on Wednesday when they confirmed it will be “Mozza” who has the reins until the end of the season. Russell Martin’s long-time assistant, Matt Gill, has joined to add another voice and more importantly, another pair of eyes to the effort of halting the team’s nosedive toward League One.
Only The Hawthorns hierarchy will know just how the seven-and-a-bit days between Ramsay’s exit and Morrison’s anointment played out. Reports of tentative approaches to Darren Moore and Slaven Bilic among others were quickly shot down.
The truth is the club’s board wouldn’t have been doing its duty if it didn’t take a breath, step back and see what options might be out there.
That said, it was never going to be an easy sell.
Albion are far from sunk but sure have the look of a team sinking, fast. Winless in 11, their last 25 Championship matches have delivered just 18 points. That’s not a situation too many experienced managers would be willing to inherit, at least not without the kind of financial guarantees which from the club’s perspective would have made any deal prohibitive.
From the moment Ramsay walked out of The Hawthorns for the final time following a draw with Charlton a week ago last Tuesday, Morrison always looked the most likely short-term successor. There was never any chance he would refuse the challenge.
A two-time promotion winner with 341 first-team appearances to his name, more than 300 of those coming in the Premier League, no-one needs reminding of his contribution as a player to the club’s most successful era since the 1970s.
