Earlier on Wednesday, the news many West Bromwich Albion fans were both expecting and dreading dropped: Slaven Bilić was relieved of his duties.
While the Baggies had endured a poor start to the season, the majority of supporters understood it was through no fault of the Croatian, with the team fighting for their manager, but mostly down to the owners refusing to back their club substantially during the transfer window.
Only £35m or so were spent, compared to Leeds’ £96m, and many felt the former West Ham manager should be given more time at the helm to turn things around after guiding them to promotion from the Championship last season.
However, Lai Guochuan’s and Li Piyue’s patience appeared to run thin quickly, leading to Bilić’s dismissal and Sam Allardyce replacing him on a short-term basis.
This isn’t because they have an unfounded dislike for Bilić, but because they have a soft spot for Kamil Grosicki, who had found himself out of favour under the now departed manager.
Goal.pl have an article on the matter on Wednesday afternoon, claiming that for the winger, ‘the appearance of Allardyce is good news and a chance for a new hand’.
They believe Grosicki will now ‘be able to prove through his work in training that he deserved to play regularly in the league’.
That being said, should he fail to do that, ‘the solution to the stalemate could be a transfer during the January transfer window’.
This means ‘the next three weeks will be crucial in the context of the Pole’s future’.
