Their top target: West Brom could hire Mowbray 2.0 in 4-2-3-1 promotion winner

Nine games, zero wins, four draws and five losses later, Eric Ramsay has been sacked by West Bromwich Albion, who have seen their second young manager fail in the space of a few months.

The Baggies’ trust in the inexperienced is as admirable as it should be concerning for those at the Hawthorns and Ramsay’s tenure couldn’t have been more disastrous.

The 34-year-old didn’t even enjoy the classic new manager bounce. His side were doomed from the start – suffering a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Norwich City in just his second game in charge.

So, it’s back to square one for West Brom, who sit one point above the Championship’s dropzone and on the hunt for their next manager. But how did Ramsay’s tenure go so wrong?

What went wrong for Eric Ramsay at West Brom

First impressions matter in this life and particularly in English football these days. It’s a lesson that Ramsay has been forced to learn the hard way in recent months, with that aforementioned Norwich defeat dealing him an impossible task before he could even stamp his mark on the Baggies.

The 5-0 defeat set an instant record for all the wrong reasons as the club’s biggest-ever home defeat outside the top flight. The records only kept coming from there, too.

After facing the sack just 44 days into his reign, Ramsay endured the shortest tenure of any permanent manager in West Brom history, all whilst having a 0% win rate.

Goals were especially a problem during Ramsay’s reign. The Baggies scored just five in nine games, with two of those coming in the manager’s first game in charge against Middlesbrough.

It’s clear that, even after switching his 5-4-1 to a 4-2-3-1 system in the late stages of his time at the club, the young coach’s system never clicked at the Hawthorns.

So, how can they replace him?

West Brom can hire instant Mowbray repeat

Remember when West Brom sacked Tony Mowbray for failing to maintain their playoff push? Oh how the Baggies wish playoff failure was their biggest problem almost a year later.

The veteran manager was just three months into his second stint in charge of the club and whilst not perfect, it’s clear that he was the best man for the job compared to Ryan Mason and Ramsay.

It’s Mowbray’s first tenure that West Brom will be looking to repeat, however, given that he enjoyed Championship promotion in the 2007/08 season.

But who could be the man to repeat that achievement? Well, according to Sports Boom, Sean Dyche is West Brom’s top managerial target.

After turning to two young managers this season, it looks as though West Brom are finally ready to welcome some much-needed experience and perhaps a manager who is comparable to the great Mowbray.

Like Mowbray, Dyche’s preferred system is a 4-2-3-1 these days. But don’t be fooled by how expansive that sounds. Dyche is not a manager who will prioritise style over victory and that’s exactly what West Brom need if they want to avoid the drop.

Whilst difficult spells at Everton and Nottingham Forest are worth noting, Dyche kept the Toffees up against the odds after a point deduction and also had the latter on course for survival.

Dyche is someone who knows exactly what it takes to avoid the drop and could even turn that survival into promotion with the right backing, having done so previously at Burnley.

Like Mowbray, he represents a dying breed of old-school English managers who West Brom simply have to turn to in the face of Ramsay’s sacking.

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