Premier League: West Bromwich appoint Sam Allardyce as head coach; Slaven Bilic sacked

West Bromwich Albion confirmed the appointment of Sam Allardyce as their head coach on Wednesday. The former Everton manager will replace Slaven Bilic, under whom West Brom won just one of their 12 Premier League matches.

Allardyce has come on board on a 18-month contract. His last managerial job ended with Everton in May 2018 but West Brom believe that the 66-year-old can help the club in avoiding relegation. Allardyce has managed seven Premier League clubs in his career and None of those have ever been relegated.

“In Sam we have a man who has a proven Premier League pedigree with a track record of improving every club he has managed.

“We believe and, more importantly, Sam believes we have a group of players that have the quality needed to give the club its best chance of Premier League survival,” West Brom’s sporting and technical director, Luke Dowling, told the club’s website.

West Brom had also confirmed earlier that they were going to back Bilic.

“West Bromwich Albion have today parted company with head coach Slaven Bilic. Assistant coaches, Dean Racunica and Danilo Butorovic, and first-team coach Julian Dicks have also left the club with immediate effect.

However, the timing of the change came as a surprise as West Brom registered a convincing 1-1 draw against a strong club like Manchester City on Tuesday. Their defence showed signs of improvement. But the Board was probably of the opinion that such kind of performance wasn’t going to last under Bilic. The relations between the top officials at the club and Bilic had deteriorated a lot over the last few months.

“The Baggies are currently 19th in the Premier League table with seven points from 13 fixtures. Albion would like to thank Slaven and his coaching staff for their efforts in achieving promotion last season and wishes them all well in the future.”

Allardyce will join West Brom trauning for the first time on Thursday, ahead of their Premier League clash against Aston Villa. He is bringing with him Sammy Lee, his longstanding assistant. Allardyce will be hoping that the club would be more lenient in providing him with funds during the upcoming transfer window than they were with Bilic during the summer transfer window.