West Brom comment: Thank you Slaven Bilic
There are two words that need to be said to Slaven Bilic now he has left The Hawthorns. They are, very simply, ‘thank you.’
Thank you for achieving the most important promotion in the club’s history.
Thank you for doing it with such style, with entertaining, breathtaking, football that – for two-thirds of last season – was incredible to watch.
And thank you for the character and charm that played a huge part in reconnecting a disenchanted fan base with the club they love.
Bilic may have left Albion yesterday, but his 18-month tenure at The Hawthorns can only be described as a huge success.
Appointed in June 2019 with a two-year plan to get the club back into the Premier League, Bilic did it in just one.
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And it’s important to remember just how good the Baggies were for the majority of the 2019/20 campaign.
With Matheus Pereira’s outlandish flair, Grady Diangana’s wing-wizardry and Jake Livermore’s relentless energy, they lost just one of their first 21 league games.
To do that in any league is impressive. But to do that in the Championship is remarkable.
Then, at the turn of the year, there were yet more outstanding displays including those at Millwall and Bristol City that will live long in the memory.
Yes, it is true that Albion just about dragged themselves over the line to win promotion post lockdown.
But the pressure on the players’ shoulders was intolerable.
They knew jobs at the club were on the line if they didn’t go up.
They knew Albion’s wait to return to the Premier League could have been put back years if they didn’t get the job done.
But in the end they did do it – with Brentford helping to reaffirm that the pressure to get up last season really was too much to bear.
It quickly became clear after promotion that Bilic faced an uphill task to try to keep Albion in the top flight.
The Baggies’ summer transfer budget was a measly £20million. They managed to get deals done that could eventually see them shelling out £45million.
But that initial £20million undoubtedly made it much harder to bring players in.
Yet Bilic has managed to keep with the team in with a fighting chance of survival.
The fantastic draw at Manchester City on Tuesday means the Baggies are just three points behind 16th-placed Brighton.
And they are so unfortunate not to have more points on the board.
In this writer’s opinion, VAR has shown it isn’t fit for purpose with the decisions it’s made against the Baggies this term.
While Albion’s last three defeats – with the exception of Crystal Palace when they played for an hour with 10-men – have all been by a solitary goal.
With just a bit more luck, Bilic would have this side much higher up in the table. They really have had the world against them.
So why has the board decided to act?
Albion have now won just once in their last 17 league outings.
In fact, they have won just nine league games in 2020. That is a dreadful record.
And it is understood senior figures at the club believe they are simply too easy to play against.
They believe, if it wasn’t for heroics from Sam Johnstone, Albion would be much worse off in the table.
And they feel another man can make them harder to beat and get more out of this group of players.
They've decided that man is Sam Allardyce – a manager whose record at keeping teams in the Premier League is outstanding.
His appointment is a logical one.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly hard to bid Bilic farewell.
There are very few managers who are as charismatic and charming.
There are very few managers who could rally Albion’s fans in the way he did.
And there are very few managers who could have got the club up at the first time of asking – with Bilic inheriting a side in need of a complete rebuild and on it’s knees after losing to Villa in the play-offs.
When Gary Megson took Albion up in 2002, it changed the course of the club’s future.
But as former CEO Mark Jenkins said, the promotion achieved back in July was even more crucial.
It was the most important in the club’s history.
Bilic’s impact on Albion over the past 18 months and going forward will be huge.
He leaves the club, after a great performance against Manchester City, with his head held high
There really is just one thing to say. Slaven, thank you.
