When you think West Bromwich Albion have hit rock bottom under Eric Ramsey, they look like they’ve hit the rock bottom of misery.
Of course, it would have been a long shot for the Baggies to expect a win when they welcomed Championship leaders Coventry City to the Hawthorns at the weekend, but the 2-0 defeat was still bleak as the relegation-threatened hosts ended a tough game with just one shot on target.
Ramsey looks like a dead man walking around the dugout of a second-tier team, but he has won zero from eight games so far, pushing West Brom further into the dreaded relegation zone.
With reports emerging that the former Minnesota United head coach’s future at the club is in serious doubt, who could West Brom consider appointing to get their season back on track?
Now, if Ramsey is finally put out of his misery, he reportedly has several business goals in mind…
Who could West Brom replace Ramsey with?
Ramsey was certainly defiant in his post-match words, but according to Lewis Cox of the Express and Star, the former Wales assistant manager is currently under “huge pressure” and is expected to be sacked.
West Brom could take a more experienced route to replace Ramsey, but the new manager is clearly lacking in the hotly contested Championship, with reports suggesting Sean Dyche, who is out of work, is on the Baggies’ radar.
After all, Dyche has won Championship titles as a manager in the past and is no stranger to the drama of Premier League relegation battles.
There has also been speculation that Russell Martin may want to return to the West Brom manager’s job in late January, so another leave option will certainly be considered if the former Southampton manager is offered Ramsey’s place.
But West Brom may be best placed to look more inward if they are to immediately replace the doomed 34-year-old. Reports in the past 48 hours have suggested that Baggies legend James Morrison is likely to be given the reins again on an interim basis if he is sacked.
The desolate West Midlands club are in need of passion and know-how from the dugout, and with Morrison’s much-loved reputation as a great midfielder at the Hawthorns on their side, he could very well be the Baggies’ next Carlos Corberan if all goes well.
How can Mr. Morrison become Corberan 2.0?
West Brom never truly recovered from Corberan, who packed up his bags for Valencia during the 2023/24 season, and the Baggies have fallen from promotion material to relegation candidates here and now under the Spanish manager.
But rather than constantly chopping and changing, West Brom will need to stabilize their next appointment, and that could come in the form of a permanent job for 39-year-old Morrison, who played a staggering 341 games as a much-loved player at the Hawthorns and knows the West Midlands side inside and out.
Of course, he will need to back up his legendary status at the club (Tony Pulis said he has “the blue and white stripes” running through him) with vastly improved performances on the pitch, and it will likely take a Corberan-esque turnaround to bring a fractured fan base back into the team.
West Brom were on the brink of relegation when Corberan took over during the 2022/23 season, but the former Huddersfield Town manager somehow managed to turn the club’s fortunes around, with the Baggies winning a total of 45 league games and achieving an impressive play-off finish in 2023/24.
It would be a difficult task for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to pull off a similar dramatic turnaround if he were to step into the post-Ramsey hole, but the 42-year-old, who was only second-in-command at the likes of Leeds United, will draw inspiration from Corberan’s story as he aspires to take over the main managerial role.
After learning from the likes of Marcelo Bielsa at Elland Road, Corberan was ready to explode into his own head coaching role. Morrison’s long list of people he has worked with and held various leadership roles at the Baggies has undoubtedly helped him on his coaching journey.
Morrison played side-by-side with Corberan during his 46-game spell at West Brom, with the Scot also working alongside the highly experienced players Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce at the Hawthorns.
Morrison’s performance as interim manager (24/25) | |
|---|---|
status | morrison |
managed games | 2 |
victory | 1 |
draw | 1 |
loss | 0 |
Number of points | 5 |
Number of goals conceded | 3 |
Even when he has been handed interim gigs in the past, he shined with a two-game unbeaten run last season when everything went pear-shaped after Tony Mowbray.
It would be a bold next step, but given all the recent failures, taking a chance on an “unknown” club legend, as former West Brom manager Steve Clarke once called him, could be a masterstroke.
West Brom manager Eric Ramsey under ‘tremendous pressure’ and at risk of being sacked after Coventry defeat
The Baggies manager is yet to record a win.
