Cross-Sport Multiple: Back Saints to sink Baggies

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The Monday Football Column: Clarke and Baggies a perfect fit

"If you’re looking for a value bet for the season, then West Brom in the top half ticks all the boxes you could ask for."

Ralph Ellis explains that not all successful coaches turn into poor managers, and why he believes Steve Clarke will do a very good job at West Brom this season...

One of football's more illogical maxims is that a good coach will never turn into a successful manager. The theory goes that putting on great training sessions is one thing, managing the fragile egos of top players is another.

True, there have been plenty of examples to justify the claim. Brian Kidd, brilliant assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, had a nightmare 12 months in charge at Blackburn and has never worked as the number one since. Sammy Lee was such a good coach that he worked with a succession of different Liverpool managers before joining the England set up - and then managed to win one game in 11 in charge of Bolton while splitting what had been a united dressing room in the process.

But there are just as many who have made the success of stepping up. After all, if you've spent time looking and learning from top bosses, wouldn't that work as the perfect apprenticeship to take the helm?

I mention all this because many people have been lazily expecting Steve Clarke to fall flat on his face in his first management job at West Bromwich Albion. And despite an opening day 3-0 demolition of Liverpool, that is clearly still the view. The Baggies, tenth under Roy Hodgson last season, are anywhere between 3.3512/5 and 4.47/2 to finish in the top half this time.

Now I fully accept Romilly Evans' warning that you mustn't read too much into first day results. Otherwise after a 5-0 demolition of Norwich you would be putting down the £93 available on Fulham winning the Premier League at 1.000n/a and booking a Caribbean cruise for next May. But there were valid reasons for believing that Clarke could improve on Hodgson's work, even before the season began.

For a start, the players are the same. The list of those who have left The Hawthorns this summer covers only those let go on free transfers because West Brom didn't want them. Key defender and captain Jonas Olsson might not have signed a new contract but chairman Jeremy Peace has so far dug his heels in and refused to sell him either.

There have been, however, some excellent additions to the squad. Argentine international Claudio Jacob looked a sensational free transfer capture on the evidence of his debut on Saturday. A Bosman signing from Racing club de Avellaneda in Buenos Aires where he was club captain, he won tackles and used the ball with simplicity to dominate midfield.

On loan Romelu Lukaku is at the perfect club to take out his frustrations at getting so few chances at Stamford Bridge. And Swedish international Markus Rosenberg, as readers of his Betfair Big Interview will know, has scored goals in Holland, Germany and Spain.

Perhaps most important of all is that Clarke, while he will be picking the team, is still Head Coach under West Brom's well developed structure rather than manager. There is an established principle that football director Dan Ashworth handles all the contracts and recruitment. That leaves the head coach to concentrate on putting on good training sessions, and it didn't do either Roberto Di Matteo or Hodgson any harm in their career development.

In short Clarke has come to a club where he needs apply only a few tweaks to a well oiled machine to keep it running smoothly and maybe do better. If you're looking for a value bet for the season, then West Brom in the top half ticks all the boxes you could ask for.

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