Back in 2014, West Brom decided that Sébastien Pocognoli, then at Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga, would be the answer to their problems at left-back, and, for a while, everything went well for him.
The results weren’t necessarily there, but the defender was playing almost every game, but then Alan Irvine got sacked, and Tony Pulis took over and managed the Baggies until Monday, when he was sacked following a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Chelsea.
For Pocognoli, the arrival of the former Crystal Palace manager at the Hawthorns meant the beginning of a very difficult period in his career, which ended with him spending last season on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion in the Championship, all the while running down his West Brom contract.
Speaking to Sport/Foot, the defender went back over that strange moment when his up-until-then great Baggies experience started collapsing around him.
He said: “At West Brom, life was very good. More than very good at the start, even. Up until the arrival of a new manager, Tony Pulis. Overnight, it was over for me. Without an explication. All I understood was that he liked strong full-backs.”
It seems, over the course of covering many interviews with players who went through difficult periods at clubs, managers rarely give their squad members an explanation when they drop them.
Surely, and especially if it isn’t performance related, it would be better to tell them what the issue is and see what they can do about it.
For the former West Brom defender, that would have meant perhaps finding a new club sooner than he did, rather than staying at the Hawthorns for the 2015-16 season, playing just six competitive games over the course of the campaign.
