Express & Star

Meet the dedicated coaching team behind West Brom caretaker Darren Moore

Darren Moore has quite rightly received plenty of praise for turning Albion’s fortunes around, but he is not a one-man band.

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Neil Cutler. (AMA)

The caretaker boss also has a small but balanced team of support staff behind him who have been handed new responsibilities after the departure of Alan Pardew and John Carver.

Goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler is now also in charge of set pieces, while under-23s boss James Shan has stepped up to the first team and delivers popular training sessions each week.

Moore has also brought in former Bradford City team-mate Wayne Jacobs as an extra pair of eyes to bounce ideas off.

And as Cutler revealed to the Express & Star this week, the devil is all in the detail.

“Basically we’ve all had to pull together, roll our sleeves up and dig in,” he said. “I think the planning and preparation has been a massive part of it, how we plan for sessions, how we plan for games.

“The detail that Mooro, Jimmy Shan and Wayne go to has been absolutely different class and the lads have really bought into it.

“That’s a big reason to why we’re moving forward. They’ve bought into what we’re asking.

“It’s a lot of work, we’re starting early, finishing late, but I think that’s what you need to do in order to win games at this level, especially when you’re coming up against Manchester United and Liverpool.

“You need to find a way of not just containing them, but as Mooro says, throw a punch back. And that takes detail, time, and organisation.”

Moore has spent most of his first three games in charge bellowing orders from the edge of his technical area but at different times in the game Cutler and Shan will stand up from the bench and have a quiet word in his ear.

“Jimmy Shan is one of the best I’ve known in terms of being tactically switched on,” said Cutler. “When Mooro’s on the touchline, he’s in the game and he’s consumed by it.

“It’s so important for us to sit back and look at it from a different angle and tell him things he hasn’t quite seen yet. It’s set-pieces, who’s marking who, if there’s a change of formation.”

James Shan, right, with Darren Moore and Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford. (AMA)

Shan joined the Baggies 12 years ago as an under-11s coach and has progressed through the ranks in that time. Four years ago, he was promoted from the under-18s to what is now the under-23s.

He is one of the men who makes Albion tick, and is well liked at Baggies HQ and beyond.

“He’s got an energy, and a work ethic that’s fantastic,” said Cutler. “He’s got a wealth of knowledge having worked with the U23s for a long time.

“He works on real minute details, that’s a breath of fresh air. I’m sitting next to him going ‘Wow, I never saw that’.

“The lads really enjoy the sessions he puts on. We were in the dressing room after Man United and we gave them the Monday off.

"I spoke to Jake (Livermore) and asked if was going to rest up, and he said: 'I wish I was in to be honest.' They’ve enjoyed the sessions that much he said: 'I actually don’t want a day off.'

“That’s through the gaffer, and through Jimmy, what they put on. I’ve not seen them put on a session for the sake of it, it’s all geared towards the weekend.

“Even a Tuesday, it’s geared towards the weekend. Thursday is about what we’re doing out of possession, Friday is what we’re doing in possession. And the lads are buying into it. They’re enjoying it.”

Both Shan and Moore are familiar faces to many of the Albion players because they’ve been at the club for a long time, but Cutler and Jacobs provide a fresher approach.

There’s a balance to the group, and 49-year-old Jacobs is a key component to it, even though he’s more of a peripheral figure.

“He’s one of Darren’s best friends, someone he can really trust,” explained Cutler. “He comes in on a Thursday and a Friday and has a look from afar before saying have you thought about doing this or that?

“It’s good to have somebody who can do that because we’re in the heat of the battle.

“He’s got a nice relaxed manner about him and is a fresh pair of eyes on team shape or movement, can we play between the lines?

“I’m doing all the set pieces now and he’s said to me have you thought about doing this in your presentations? Just little ideas that add to it.”

Wayne Jacobs played at Bradford with Moore.

While the feel-good factor has returned to The Hawthorns in recent weeks, Albion could be relegated this weekend and there are plenty of fans frustrated this form couldn’t be found sooner.

“I can’t really talk too much about what’s gone on before,” said Cutler, who joined under Pardew. “We can’t affect that now. All we’re trying to do is galvanise the group, and there’s a closeness now.

“We can see the difference in the way they come through the door in the morning, they’re bouncing to work in the morning.

“That’s the atmosphere you’ve got to create. We’re working with lads that don’t necessarily get motivated by money.

“They want to learn, they want to keep moving forward, keep progressing. You motivate them by testing them every day, giving them something new, something fresh, something to buy into.

“That’s the key. But every day has to be something new and fresh, and in the right way with the right personality.

“So far we’ve got that right. There might come a time when we lose a couple and that’ll be another test.”

Despite the unbeaten run of three games, the coaching staff are wary of getting too carried away.

Moore has been consistent in his one-game-at-a-time approach, and it’s a sentiment echoed by Cutler.

“Everything is pinned onto the next game, that’s all we talk about,” confirmed Cutler. “Every last detail is Newcastle, everything is about Newcastle, everything on my desk is Newcastle, all the meetings are about Newcastle. The one after that isn’t even thought about.”