West Bromwich Albion used to compete in the Premier League and inspire their fans with matches against the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal at their iconic Hawthorns stadium. But they are currently bottom of the EFL Championship and headed for the third tier of English football.Albion appointed former Marcelo Bielsa’s assistant Carlos Coberan as successor to Steve Bruce after the former Newcastle, Sunderland and Hull manager left the team in a terrible state. Bruce took over at West Brom from Valerien Ismael in February – four months after being sacked by Newcastle, a job he said would likely be his last – and only managed to oversee eight wins in 32 matches.West Brom have become the 23rd team in Championship history to have only won 2 games or fewer after 17 fixtures.15 of those teams were relegated.#WBA pic.twitter.com/KEVY92W3B8— The Second Tier (@secondtierpod) October 31, 2022 Corberan will have plenty of work on his hands immediately to reverse Albion’s current awful form, which reads just two wins in 16 league matches this season. The Baggies only have one win in the last 13 games. It looks like it will be a hugely demanding task to keep WBA in the division. It’s ironic, considering that the Midlands club was one of the favourites to win promotion back to the Premier League.The problems are not only in the dugout and the dressing room. West Brom reported losses of around KSh 2.8 billion over the past two years and were three months late in publishing last year’s accounts. It has caused their Chinese owner Guochuan Lai to be widely criticised by fans and media alike. There is severe anxiety over their club’s financial stability. This is also the final year of their parachute payments, the payments made by the Premier League to relegated clubs.##NAJAVA_MECA_6778741##The only hope WBA fans have now is that the new forward-thinking coach and the considerable number of remaining fixtures will be enough to see them climb out of the relegation zone. They are still relegation candidates, however, and should do their best to avoid repeating the fate of Sunderland, Wigan, Charlton, Ipswich, Portsmouth and many other former Premier League clubs that suffered demotion to the third tier.EFL CHAMPIONSHIPTuesday22.45: (2.65) Preston (3.10) Swansea (2.85)22.45: (3.10) Hull (3.20) Middlesbrou. (2.45)22.45: (2.04) Luton (3.40) Reading (3.90)22.45: (2.60) Coventry (3.10) Blackburn (2.90)23.00: (1.73) WBA (3.70) Blackpool (5.20)23.00: (3.15) Bristol City (3.30) Sheffield Utd (2.35)Wednesday22.45: (2.68) Huddersfield (3.10) Sunderland (2.85)22.45: (2.80) Wigan (3.05) Stoke (2.75)22.45: (2.04) Norwich (3.45) QPR (3.80)22.45: (2.90) Cardiff (3.10) Watford (2.60)22.45: (1.49) Burnley (4.30) Rotherham (7.75)22.45: (2.65) Birmingham (3.00) Millwall (2.95)***odds are subject to change
