Jonny Drury on why promotion is not the 'be all and end all' for West Brom this season

Express & Star

Jonny Drury and Nathan Judah discuss West Brom's run in during the final weeks of the season - and why promotion is not 100 per cent essential for Albion.

Transcript

00:00In terms of promotion, every team wants to be in the top league, of course, and the money's

00:04ridiculous at this moment in time. We've seen a lot of Premier League clubs, Championship

00:07clubs go promoted and not really give it a decent go. And then when even you do give

00:12it a go, you look at someone like Ipswich Town, they're going to be getting relegated

00:15and they spent close to £120, £150 million. So, you know, in terms of Albion's promotion,

00:22if they did go up and let's hope that they do, would it be almost, let's just go with

00:28this squad, let's make a few improvements, let's collect the money and we'll be back.

00:32But with the likelihood that they potentially go down, but then they'll come back stronger

00:35with the money that they use, or is it a case of not being the end of the world if they

00:40don't go up and then they can build to maybe having a, you know, a competitive side and

00:44a really good run at things maybe next season?

00:46Yeah, I think there's positives on both sides. Obviously, everyone wants to go up, you know,

00:51you'd be lying if you said you didn't want to go up to the Premier League. But it is

00:54like we've seen talked about, I think this year it's going to be the second consecutive

00:57year that all three promoted clubs have fallen straight back down to the Championship because

01:01the gap is getting, you know, bigger and bigger, trying to be like, you know, Brighton or Bournemouth

01:06kind of seems like a bit of a pipe dream at the moment for clubs. But I think obviously

01:10the positive is the money side of it. And I think if Albion did go up, I think they'd

01:14give it a good go, they would spend, they would try and improve and really have a go.

01:18You know, the odds are they're going to come straight back down. But I think the positive

01:22in that aspect is the ownership at the moment, and they would use that money, spend it wisely,

01:29you know, build again, you know, and they're still trying to rectify things behind the

01:32scenes and put Albion on a better footing, which they've done a very good job of doing

01:36in the last year since they took over. So that's the kind of positive to it. You know,

01:40you're back in the Premier League and the financial aspect. But like you say, if Albion

01:43don't go up, I, for me, I've had this conversation a few times over the last couple of weeks,

01:49I don't see it as the be-all and end-all. And if they don't go up, it'd be a very,

01:52very similar situation to one that they went through under Mowbray in his first tenure.

01:58You know, he came into a side that was littered with Premier League talented players, didn't

02:05quite get them up, lost in the playoff final to Derby somehow. But a lot of big players

02:12sold that summer for decent money and moved on. I don't think that'll be the case this

02:16time. But they were moved on, he managed to put his own side together. And I know it

02:20was a different era with different people involved, but he put together a side that

02:25absolutely romped the championship and played some of the best football we've seen. And

02:30you know, the early signs of kind of Mowbray's tenure, but a lot of these players are kind

02:35of Bill Cullen side players, you know, the likes of Isaac Price who've come in, you know,

02:40Torbjörn Hegum, Tammy Baniwar, obviously I haven't seen much of lately because he's injured at the moment,

02:45but he's very, very highly rated. Those players that have been brought in, you know, that's

02:51going to be the mould that Albion are looking at in the summer as they try and build, you

02:55know, a better side and improve the kind of squad, bringing in young, hungry sort of saleable

03:02asset players that could really go on and do well for Albion. And that's the reason

03:06why I'm kind of pretty relaxed in the promotion race, because if Albion go up, fantastic.

03:11Great day at Wembley, fantastic memories. You get back in the Premier League, some really

03:15memorable days out, you know, and who knows, Albion might sign some very good players,

03:20their recruitment might be really prudent in the summer, and they may just stay up in

03:24the Premier League. Because I think if you stay up once, you've got a very good chance

03:26of doing it again. But if they don't, you know, they're back in the championship, you

03:33know, they've got good owners who know what they're doing, the recruitment's fantastic,

03:36and they could be, you know, they'll obviously be, I think they'll be in for the better

03:39shout of going up next season. But I think there are, you know, that's why I'm sure,

03:43and a lot of Albion fans are pretty relaxed, you know. The last couple of years it's been,

03:46we need to get to the Premier League, parachute payments are running out, the ownership's

03:49kind of running the club into the ground. That's not the case anymore. And that's why

03:53it's kind of, yeah, I'm pretty chilled out. I'm sure with three games to go when they're

03:58sort of going from the sixth spot, I'll be sort of sweating and jumping up and down.

04:02But, yeah, I think most people are pretty relaxed about it because there's obviously

04:06the positives are going up.

04:07I get that. But at the same time, you at least want to get into the playoffs, don't you? You

04:12want to have a chance. You don't want to finish eighth or whatever. And, you know, there's not,

04:17you want to have a sweat. You want to have that feeling of knockout football. You want

04:21to have a playoff game at the Hawthorns, don't you? You want to hopefully have, you know,

04:2550,000 fans travelling down to Wembley. You want to have that experience at least. You

04:29know, ultimately, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But I feel like with this

04:32season, with the ups, with the downs, with everything this club's been through, through

04:34ownership, that they at least deserve that. I know they haven't had it too, you know,

04:39last season was fine, et cetera. But you feel like it's a different, you know, different

04:44man behind the helm at this moment in time and that you would love to have a bit of knockout

04:48football because I feel like they almost left a little bit on the table last season and

04:52just have a really good go. And if they ultimately fall short, they do. But you don't

04:56want to be eighth or ninth and just looking at the playoffs, do you?

04:58No, you don't want that. That was the case kind of two years previous. Obviously,

05:02last you got to the playoffs, only secured on the last game of the season.

05:06But, you know, yeah, that game against Hampton was fantastic. You know, we hadn't seen a game

05:09like that and an atmosphere like that and the Hawthorns rocking for a long, long time. And,

05:14yeah, unfortunately they didn't win the first leg, which they probably should have done and

05:17then fell short in the second. But yeah, you want to be in there. You want to be in there

05:20and have a shout. And like you say, you know, everyone wants to go up. If you said you didn't,

05:24you're a liar. But if they don't, then, you know, there are still many positives to take from it.

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