West Brom set for significant summer says reporter

The latest West Midlands sport headlines, from Daniel Wales. 06/06/25

Transcript

00:00Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenton believes that West Bromwich Albion are in for a significant summer of overhaul

00:07following the appointment of Ryan Mason as the club's new head coach.

00:12Haffenton made clear that West Brom will be moving players on as well as bringing several new faces in to the Hawthorns

00:19in an attempt to get the club back fighting towards the top of the championship

00:23and competing in and around the playoffs and automatic spots.

00:27The recruitment side of things, it's going to be a big squad overhaul in the summer.

00:31Grady Dean Garner, John Swift, Semi Ajayi all leaving at the end of their contracts.

00:35They all need to be replaced. Lots of low knees leaving. They all need to be replaced as well.

00:40I think one positive is Top Yorn Hegem and how good of a signing he's been.

00:44Being the player of the season, signing for peanuts and playing at left back, playing at centre back, being brilliant.

00:49I think he's a Premier League standard player. So if you can get a couple more of those through the door,

00:53bargain deals, create a decent core on the team, then I think that's all you need really to go and push on and get that playoffs again.

01:00So West Brom, it might feel like they're miles away from the Premier League right now.

01:03And quite frankly, they were at the end of the season, but all it takes is a few adjustments

01:07and getting the buzz back around and they can go and do it next season.

01:11And reporter Haffenton has also been reflecting on Birmingham City's record-breaking season in League One,

01:17in which they achieved 111 points in England's third tier and got themselves promoted back to the championship.

01:25111 points is a world record for a 46-game season, a professional league anyway.

01:31That's incredible in itself and I can't ever see that record being beaten, to be honest with you.

01:35I know they spent a ridiculous amount of money in the summer transfer window, utterly unprecedented.

01:41Splashing £13 million on one player and Jay Stansfield was about four or five times the amount

01:46of the previous League One record transfer fee. That's outrageous, I know.

01:50But they still had so many new players. I think it was 20 new signings in total that had to gel.

01:55So many departures. The football club, the morale around it was just on the floor.

01:59So it was a lot of challenges and Chris Davies had never managed properly before.

02:03He'd been an assistant, the likes of Tottenham and Celtic, and he'd been in the Celtic set-up as well.

02:09Leicester, and he'd have experience winning an FA Cup in that run with Leicester, but he hadn't managed himself.