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Comment - Time for Nick Hammond to emerge from Dan Ashworth's shadow at West Brom

Last summer’s transfer business was heralded in some quarters as the shrewdest in the Premier League.

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Albion appeared to strengthen from back to front with a series of experienced professionals, a talented prospect, and one of Europe’s forgotten elite.

But with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, recruitment was disastrous, morphing the Baggies into everything they were not.

Under former owner Jeremy Peace, but particularly when Dan Ashworth was technical director, Albion had a reputation for unearthing gems like Youssouf Mulumbu, Claudio Yacob, Graham Dorrans and Jonas Olsson for relatively cheap prices.

But last summer’s recruitment, which looked so good on paper, deviated away from that model.

Instead, the club brought in well-known experienced professionals on bloated wages like Grezgorz Krychowiak, Gareth Barry, Kieran Gibbs, and Jay Rodriguez.

The splurge has left the Baggies needing an overdraft facility for the first time in more than a decade.

The only young, up-and-coming prospect they bought was Oliver Burke, but £15m was far too much to splash out on potential for a club in Albion’s financial position.

Former head coach Tony Pulis should be in the firing line for this, because he was in charge of that summer’s recruitment with current technical director Nick Hammond sidelined.

But departed chairman John Williams and former chief executive Martin Goodman also need to shoulder the blame for agreeing to these deals.

Following this week’s news, it’s now easier to see why owner Guochuan Lai gave those two the bullet, even though it appeared ruthless at the time.

Last season, Albion finished 10th and turned a profit. This season, they will likely finish bottom and be in debt.

The Baggies used to be the model mid-level club in the Premier League. It had its ups and downs like any, but it survived while making a profit and, when the stars aligned with a team or a manager, was capable of having strong seasons with top half finishes.

By letting Pulis feed his addiction for holding midfielders and Premier League experience before replacing him with the disastrous appointment of Alan Pardew, Williams and Goodman have helped send the club down.

It’s worth noting this increase in wages and transfer fees is somewhat destined to happen to clubs who stay in the Premier League for a significant period of time.

Over the years, those players who laid the foundations get bigger and better contracts, and selling clubs demand more when they believe they are negotiating with an established top tier club rather than a fledgling upstart.

It should also be remembered that plenty of clubs are in debt, and Jenkins is planning to get Albion back into the black after July.

But the finances could, and should have been run far tighter. It’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t have been under Peace.

Dan Ashworth's shadow looms large at Albion.

There is a raft of new players the Baggies have signed over the past two years who do not appear to be up for the fight this season.

While more familiar faces like Ben Foster, Chris Brunt, Gareth McAuley, Craig Dawson and Salomon Rondon give everything into every performance before clapping the supporters afterwards, certain newer additions seem content to shy away from the fight before shying away from the fans.

Pulis always prided himself on recruiting decent characters, but three of his signings were involved in taxi-gate and several others have given up the ghost this season.

The worrying thing is that this flawed recruitment policy has continued under Pardew, when an injury-prone Daniel Sturridge was brought in on £120,000-a-week. He’s played 77 minutes so far and is now set to miss the next two games as well.

Albion need to return to their prudent days when unknown gems rather than star-studded names were sought after.

Hungry players who saw playing for the Baggies as the pinnacle of their career, not a step-down from previous clubs higher up the league.

The promising thing is that the successful era under Ashworth coincided with Jenkins’s time at the club. He wasn’t always the most popular figure then, but has said all the right things on his return.

Williams and Goodman did that too, so the proof will ultimately be in the pudding, but one thing is for sure, the recruitment policy will have to change this summer.

With uncertainty clouding the managerial position, a lot now rests on Hammond’s shoulders.

If Lai’s business associate Li Piyue is indeed installed as chairman, the technical director will be the only footballing expert on the board.

Experience tells us Jenkins will make sure the club is run financially prudently, but it is down to the Hammond and whoever is head coach to work within those parameters.

Ashworth’s shadow looms large at Albion, but that is precisely what Hammond now needs to step out of.