Things have not been going to plan for West Bromwich Albion this season. After 13 games in the Championship, the Baggies have picked up 11 points, winning just once. The experienced Steve Bruce, who has won promotion from the second tier a record four times as a manager, was unable to channel his magic of the past to aid West Brom to a Premier League return.
Despite his side having one of the best expected goals (xG) records in the division, they have spurned far too many chances as their form reflects. Bruce was relieved of his duties at the beginning of the week following the Baggies’ goalless draw at home to Luton - their eighth tie in the league this season. Whoever comes in to replace him has to turn things around quickly because with the attacking talent that West Brom have, they should be easily pushing for a top-six spot or even for automatic promotion.
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It emerged on Wednesday that the club were going to approach Millwall about speaking to Gary Rowett with regards to the vacancy, but the speculation was swiftly put to bed - and the Baggies may have just dodged a huge bullet as a result.
There is no denying that Rowett's CV shows he has had positive impacts at previous clubs where he has been asked to improve teams on a limited budget. He worked wonders at Burton Albion, Birmingham City and now Millwall, but he has only seemed to thrive as a coach where there is no weight of expectation on his shoulders.
With the Brewers, he took a team from 17th in League Two in 2011-12 to back-to-back play-off finishes, losing the 2013-14 final at Wembley to Fleetwood Town. This earned him a move to St Andrew’s where he transformed the Blues from a bottom-three side to one that was on the cusp of breaking into the top six - only for him to be unfairly sacked having lifted the team into seventh in 2016. During these spells he had little money to spend and his brief when he was appointed was to stabilise the teams.
After leaving the Blues, his next command was at Derby County, where, in his only full season, he steered the Rams to the play-offs in 2017-18, losing to Fulham in the semi-finals. He did get to invest in his squad, with around £11m spent on a handful of acquisitions.
An appointment at The Hawthorns would have brought to mind his extremely disappointing stint at Stoke City. It was the first time in his managerial career that he had a decent budget to work with thanks to the parachute payments following the Potters' relegation from the Premier League in 2018. It was also the first time as a manager that he was in charge of a team that was expected to achieve promotion - something he struggled to deal with, which wouldn't have boded well for him at West Brom.
The club sanctioned £56 million worth of transfers, which saw loanees Benik Afobe and Ryan Woods have their buy options, from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford respectively, triggered for a combined £18.5m. But it was a car crash as Woods was allowed to leave the Potters on a free for Birmingham last summer despite costing around £7m.
Although his record at Stoke wasn’t awful (eight wins, 11 draws and seven defeats), the results were far below what was expected of him and he was sacked after eight months in charge in January 2019. The Potters were 14th in the table and eight points off the play-offs.
In terms of immediate impact, Rowett's introduction at Burton, Birmingham and Millwall prove he would have been likely to deliver instant results at The Hawthorns. However, if West Brom had appointed him and then come into a position where they were willing to inject more money to strengthen the squad, Rowett’s history in that department isn't great. With the Baggies being a club that should be fighting for promotion each year, as a Championship club, poor investments on the pitch can be extremely costly for a club who have ambitions of returning to English football's promised land.
The wide berth they've taken might be the best move Albion make this season.
