West Brom continue overhaul by sacking technical director Hammond

LONDON: Basement side West Bromwich Albion sacked technical director Nick Hammond as part of the club’s restructuring plan, the Premier League team said yesterday.

The club appointed Italian Giuliano Terraneo as a technical consultant on an initial six-month period yesterday and said that they would review their future plans after the 64-year-old’s term ends.

Hammond was instrumental in hiring manager Alan Pardew, who was fired earlier this month with the club lying bottom of the table, 10 points below 17th-placed Crystal Palace with five league games left to play.

“We would like to place on record our gratitude for Nick’s efforts during his two years in the role and wish him every success for his future,” chief executive officer Mark Jenkins said on West Brom’s website.

Hammond was previously director of football at Reading, where he worked with Pardew until the manager left in 2003.

“West Bromwich Albion are a great football club which I was honoured to be a part of, great people, great supporters. I wish them every success going forward as I move on to future projects,” Hammond said.

Terraneo, who was the sporting director with Turkish side Fenerbahce in his most recent role, will help in the recruitment of West Brom’s new head coach and restructure the squad.

“In the event of our losing Premier League status, it will be a squad we will want to compete strongly for promotion back to the top tier,” Jenkins added.

“Giuliano will assist in the recruitment long-term of a new sporting and technical director and he will also be involved in the complete review of the recruitment department.”

Meanwhile, Stoke City players must believe they can avoid relegation from the Premier League this season, midfielder Badou Ndiaye has said ahead of Monday night’s crucial league clash at West Ham United.

Fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur narrowly beat Stoke 2-1 last weekend extending the Potters’ winless streak to nine matches and leaving Paul Lambert’s side second from bottom in the table, four points adrift of safety.

With just five matches left to salvage their campaign, Ndiaye said Stoke would need to play even better against West Ham than they did against Spurs.

“The belief has to be there that we can stay up,” the Senegalese international was quoted as saying by the Stoke Sentinel. “If that isn’t there we might as well give up and everyone can go home ... It’s not easy, but we can look at each other and know that everyone has given everything.” – Reuters