Phil SumblerThe dust has not even settled on West Bromwich Albion’s relegation from the Premier League and the Swans may have a play off campaign ahead of them but a Baggies journalist believes that they should consider Steve Cooper to replace Sam Allardyce if they are targeting an immediate return to the Premier League.
The Baggies were relegated from the Premier League after just one season and with three games to go last weekend leaving the future of Sam Allardyce – a manager under contract – under some doubt as to whether they would retain him for next season’s promotion drive.
And, should they decide that Allardyce is not the man to lead that promotion drive then Express & Star journalist Joe Masi believes that they should look at Steve Cooper to take over at the helm.
Speaking via the Baggies Broadcast Masi said “The one I would like, I’ve said before, is Steve Cooper at Swansea. I think he plays good football, I think he’s got something about him and I think he’s destined for a good career in the game.
So if Swansea don’t go up, I’d be knocking on his door and saying ‘we’ve got a bigger budget than Swansea, we’ve got some good players here. Do you fancy it?”
West Brom is the second of the three relegated teams to be linked with Cooper. It has already been suggested that he is on the wish list of Sheffield United who parted company with Chris Wilder earlier in the season and he has also been linked with other clubs because of his track record at Swansea.
This is journalist speak and nothing else at the moment but what it does tell you is that the stock of Cooper is high amongst football folk in general and there could be some competition for him this summer, particularly if we do fall at the play off hurdle again.
Time will tell.
For a start he might be in the PL and Albion not, but we’d never go after somebody needing to pay compensation when there are alternatives available for whom we don’t.