West Brom’s recruitment process as they seek a viable candidate to fill their vacant manager role looks set to be extended after the club admitted that they’d faced set-backs in their attempts to aptly replace Sam Allardyce. Albion announced the departure of sporting director Luke Dowling on Monday as frustrations grew among the fanbase that an appointment hadn’t already been made as pre-season looms on the horizon. The club’s chief executive, Xu Ke (Ken), reiterated the club’s intentions to get the appointment right and to not rush things, while acknowledging the impatience of an increasingly irritated fanbase.
Xu Ken said: “While we have not yet formally offered the job to any candidate, it is fair to state we have faced setbacks and, with that in mind, I do not think it is wise to set a precise deadline by which an appointment will be made. As I have referenced already, the quality of our next head coach is of far greater importance than how soon they can be appointed. We are working tirelessly behind the scenes to identify the right person and we will share this with you as soon as an appointment has been made. I would like to thank supporters for their patience during what has been a frustrating period for us all. Like all fans, I understand having a vacant head coach position can lead to uncertainty, but this is not a simple search, and we must appoint the correct person, who shares our passion for the future of the football club. Our aim remains the same – to earn promotion back to the Premier League as soon as possible. We will have a healthy budget in order to succeed in the Championship and, with the right person as our head coach, I believe we will have a strong opportunity to be promoted. As we all know, the Championship is a relentless, difficult league, but we have succeeded there before, and I am hopeful we can do so again.”
Ken also paid tribute to Dowling and hinted that he might not even be directly replaced if the club look to venture down a different route at senior level.
Xu Ken added: “You will now be aware that we parted company with Sporting and Technical Director Luke Dowling by mutual consent. I would like to thank Luke for his work behind the scenes at The Hawthorns during his three years with us. Luke’s departure provides us with an opportunity to reassess how our football operation functions and I will provide a further update on this subject in due course.”
