Comment: Kyle Bartley retirement latest in sweeping West Brom change in new era

Much of the club's 'old guard' have left The Hawthorns in that period. The latest - and not totally foreseeable but forced by injury - was the retirement of Kyle Bartley, confirmed last Friday.

In the space of two years, but mostly over the last 12 months or so, exits have included Jake Livermore, Matt Phillips, Conor Townsend, Grady Diangana, Semi Ajayi and now Bartley.

There have been others of notable service, but that half-a-dozen are a core whose time in the Black Country spanned at least five years during which, by and large, they were regulars in the side.

In that time they clocked up many, many hundreds of games. Some joined Albion at the tail-end of its near-decade in the Premier League. Others arrived for Championship tilts. All were 2020 promotion-winners and relegated the following year.

All were widely considered decent servants at least. But not all were totally popular, certainly throughout their Baggies careers. The days of Darren Fletcher, Jonny Evans, Gareth McAuley, Craig Dawson, Chris Brunt and James Morrison had more or less gone.

All carried significant experience and, as a result, were part of leadership groups in certain Albion squads under Darren Moore, Slaven Bilic, Carlos Corberan and others.

It is because of that their exits will be felt in the dressing room. Naturally when players of a certain stature, certainly those who are long-serving, depart there is a void of sorts. A loss of voice.

But, over time, some supporters grew suspicious of how influential, in a positive or not so positive manner, some were.

Barring Bilic's Covid-impacted promotion it has mostly been an era of underwhelm at best and, at worst, a loss of hope and total despair under previous owner Guochuan Lai.

Some of those players - and this is in no way their fault - enjoyed generous pay packets at The Hawthorns when the club was sinking without investment from Lai's Yunyi Guokai.

Some were signed when the club had a brighter horizon in the top flight. All helped Albion back there before dropping again and others were rewarded at questionable times with questionable contracts given the context.

Anyway, it was clear to new owners Bilkul - who saved the club in February 2024 - that certain earners near the end of their deals and whose value had depreciated at Albion would need to move on. Part of the financial and sporting strategy is also to bring down an inflated average age, which does not help value.

Four of those six departures were released - Townsend was snapped up by Ipswich and Bartley retired through injury - and none of the quartet came as a huge surprise. Diangana was of a peak age but had been unable to produce regularly. Ajayi, handy as a squad option, did not want to hang around as that.

The best years were behind Livermore and Phillips.

It leaves only Darnell Furlong, 29, as a senior player signed prior to 2020 (2019). Only Karlan Grant, 27, Alex Mowatt, 30, and Jayson Molumby, 26, (the latter as a loan) were in the building by 2021. Club captain Jed Wallace, 31, an influential leader, arrived in 2022.

Mowatt took the armband in the EFL Cup exit to Derby on penalties on Tuesday night with Furlong suspended.

There has been a lot of change over the last few years and Albion's squad is totally different for it as they prepare for another tilt at the second-tier's top six under Ryan Mason.

Many supporters would be right in arguing it was needed. And of that there is no doubt - but it does not take away from the club haemorrhaging experience.

Attracting an influx of youthful vigour was needed on several levels but it cannot be for a total loss of nous.

New head coach Mason, new to first-team management, needs nous and know-how if this squad can achieve anything. He has already called on some players to step up into the leadership void.

It can only be assumed he is looking to Furlong, Grant, Mowatt and Molumby as those who can do so.

Albion are into a new era and the next group of leaders must make their mark.