‘Sacked because he wanted rid of half the West Brom first team squad – he may have had a point’.
Pepe Mel arrived at West Brom as a relative unknown.
Remember Pepe Mel? That friendly ex-West Bromwich Albion manager that no-one had heard of when he first arrived.
He was a likeable chap by all accounts. Heck, some Baggies fans even introduced Spanish flags to The Hawthorns to welcome him!
Mel made it part of his remit to visit far off reaches of the Black Country to try to get the hang of the different dialects.
Some folk will tell you his English after a few weeks became better than many of the players’.
Speak to others and he couldn’t ask you the way to the beach, metaphorically of course – a very square-pegged foreigner in a very round domestic hole.
He will not go down in history as a great manager at Albion.
Diego Lugano – a name to bring a shudder to any Baggies fan – headed the first goal of Mel’s reign in a 1-1 home draw against Everton.
Then came Villa Park and Lugano – and the tide swiftly turned.
Six matches and 44 days into his reign and there were signs of trouble: huge headlines that he was about to be sacked.
The board had to choose: side with the players or Mel. And out went his training ground interpreter, technical director Dave McDonough.
His 17 games hauled in just 15 points and three wins: Swansea and Norwich City away.. the latter THE survival clincher. And West Ham at home.
Draws against Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton and Spurs should be lauded.
But Albion’s players just couldn’t take to his tippy-tappy, high tempo, high line approach.
Defeat at Villa after being two goals up in a flash was hard enough, then came Cardiff with James Morrison taking matters – namely Saido Berahino’s face – into his own hands, and Tottenham: 3-0 up and still can’t win. Then a final three game fizzle-out against Arsenal, Sunderland and Stoke.
The latter on a day when Albion’s board – the same board who had charged fans £25 to attend a Curry and a Pint night with Mel in March – further imploded any PR by ejecting Jeff Astle’s daughter Claire from the car-park on grounds of ‘crowd safety’.
PR wasn’t Mel’s remit though and perhaps he could have been great? He was sacked because he wanted rid of half the first team squad.
History suggests he may have had a point.
He wasn’t allowed to bring his backroom staff and had to work with Keith Downing and goalkeeper coach Dean Kiely.
Finally David Gomez did arrive but it was hardly firm backing from above.
Albion had sold Shane Long with a ban looming over Nicolas Anelka and replaced them with an untried Spanish kid in Thievy Bifouma who was incredible… for 25 seconds on his debut at Crystal Palace.
Life after Albion
Mel is currently head coach at Tenerife, a position he took up in September this yea
