West Brom have expanded their search for a new manager and are considering the services of the Leicester City assistant coach, Michael Appleton. The 42-year-old did serve as an interim boss for the Baggies 7 years back when Roberto Di Matteo was sacked from the head coach position. In his only game in charge, the Baggies drew 3-3 against West Ham United.
Appleton has been with the Foxes for over a year now and is still learning the trade from one of the top-flight’s best managers, Claude Puel. The latter has heaped the pressure on Burnley and Everton for the 7th place this season and has made significant improvements to last year’s 12th place finish.
After the short coaching stint at the Hawthorns, Appleton was signed by the then-Championship outfit, Portsmouth FC. Unfortunately, the team got relegated at the end of the 2011/12 season and the Englishman was fired from his post.
Blackpool offered him a one-year rolling contract but Appleton could not last for a long while. He managed only 11 regular season games within a span of 65 days and became the shortest-serving coach in the club’s history. Blackburn Rovers were pretty much a similar tale with the club stranded at the relegation zone of the League One during his tenure.
It was at Oxford United where Appleton got his big break. He finished his debut season in the 13th spot of the League Two and in the next earned promotion by placing second. He even took the side to 2 EFL League Trophy finals and also got the team up to the 8th spot of the League One in his third season.
He was assigned to Craig Shakespeare at the Stadium Of Light when the former took charge of the club last November.
West Brom are placed at the bottom of the Premier League table and are almost certain of facing the drop to the second division. They have the final two games of the season to make a miraculous comeback but the chances of that happening are slim to none.
Both Alan Pardew and Tony Pulis have failed to work with the squad this campaign and quite deservedly earned themselves the axe. It will take a lot of work for the Dareen Moore (current caretaker boss) to get his team back to winning ways.
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The Championship brings with it a host of challenges along with the headache of earning promotion through the playoffs and hopefully the Baggies can get someone good enough to help them head back to the top flight.
