This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
West Bromwich Albion’s season is surely going so much better than expected.
They had crashed out of the Championship playoffs, were left without a manager and saw the likes of Jay Rodriguez, Dwight Gayle and Salomon Rondon depart the Hawthorns.
Now the Baggies, under new boss Slaven Bilic, are playing at a canter and if they keep this level of form up into next year, then they will be shoo-ins to gain automatic promotion based on previous history, as outlined here.
But all of this wouldn’t have been able to happen without sporting and technical director Luke Dowling making a crucial decision back in March.
Albion were sat fourth in the table but had only picked up four wins in 12 matches, which led to the sacking of Darren Moore.
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This caused outrage across the country, pretty much.
Supporters are the club itself were left shocked while Paul Ince was livid with the potential consequences it could have caused BAME managers in the game.
While talkSPORT presenter Adrian Durham labelled the move as ‘the most disgusting sacking of recent times’ in a passionate rant a few days after.
Where are they all now? Moore is back in employment at Doncaster Rovers, so it’s fair to say that no careers have been ended or even hindered because of this controversial decision.
Dowling and the decision-makers clearly made the call to benefit the future of the club, and as every game passes by, it looks more and more justified.
That’s because he waited until the summer to clinch Bilic who has fully transformed the negativity into something of pure joy in the west Midlands.
His side were the first to score over 40 goals in the league this season while their battle with Leeds United could quickly become a battle for the first and second place alone.
It may be in hindsight to some extent, but the sequence of events in Dowling’s control have ultimately put West Brom in a very strong position. He deserves credit for that.
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In other news, could the January transfer window be a busy one for the Baggies? One journalist suggests so…