Relegation will have a disastrous impact on club – boss
ALBION boss Alan Pardew has warned his players about the catastrophic consequences relegation will have on all employees of the club.
Relegation looks probable rather than possible after the Baggies suffered a fifth successive league defeat against Watford last Saturday.
Pardew stressed to his players, long before the latest loss at Vicarage Road, jobs were on the line if Albion didn’t turn things around.
“I emphasised that about four or five weeks ago,” he said. “I made it very clear to everybody the responsibility we had. And to our fans as well, that stat of three wins in 37 games is what our fans have had to suffer.”
Jobs would be likely be cut in many departments at the club, from administrative staff to hospitality, banqueting and stewards, if West Brom go down.
There’s every chance Pardew will vacate his post before the summer too. The board have granted him a stay of execution, but the Londoner could be shown the door if Albion are blown away by Leicester City this weekend.
The players are relatively safe, though the vast majority are expected to face pay cuts should Albion drop down a division.
West Brom’s collective performance last weekend was far more spirited than in the meek surrender against Huddersfield.
And Pardew is confident his players remain committed, even though some know they could easily find another top-flight club in the summer.
“Yes, but that’s all Premier League clubs. You can’t get away from that,” he said. “There are always going to be players like that in a football team whenever you get relegated, whatever division you’re in.
“But that doesn’t impact on their motivation. I don’t see that so a player is a player. When he crosses the white line he wants to win and if he hasn’t got that in him, he shouldn’t be a player.”
With just one win in 15 Premier League matches, Pardew has clearly failed to bring the kind of ‘new manager bounce’ the hierarchy in China had hoped for.
He inherited an ageing squad with experienced British footballers at its core. Players keen to speak their mind, evidenced by the dressingroom bust-up led by Chris Brunt and his captain Jonny Evans after the Huddersfield debacle.
The players have embraced the manager’s methods, but results have done little to instil unswerving belief in Pardew’s practices. A fact the former Crystal Palace boss reluctantly accepts.
“I don’t think it’s an opinionated group, in terms of ‘it’s this way or that way’,” he said. “Like all footballers, their minds are open to change, but the change needs to happen and can only be reinforced through results. At the moment we’re not getting those results, so it’s easy to revert to type.
“When I first came here it was all great, ‘Alan’s going to open the pitch up, we’ll be flying down the sides, blah, blah, blah, three strikers and everything else’.
“But at the moment we can’t keep a clean sheet!
“It’s about getting the balance right in the team.”
Pardew isn’t ready to entertain the thought of a summer exodus as Albion slide towards the Championship.
Several of his top players are attracting interest from Premier League clubs ready to pounce when the seemingly inevitable happens, but Pardew does not fear a radical turnover in staff just yet.
“I don’t think that’s a question for today,” he said. “But I will answer that question maybe later on if I need to.
“I’ve only been relegated once in my career and I know the impact that had at that club.
“It was massive and I don’t want that to happen here so I’m going to try to fight for that not to happen.”