A 2024 rewind for The Baggies.
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00:00Charlie, on to West Bromwich Abbey now obviously looking across their 2024, a bit of a missed
00:05opportunity, a chance to go to Wembley in the play-off final, they sort of slipped up
00:11in the play-offs, but to get there in the first place was very honourable for Carlos
00:16Corbijn, the shoe-shrink budget and the way he's got the players playing, it's not a top
00:22sort of championship echelon group of players, but they sort of have proven that they can
00:27perform like that, so maybe Baggies fans view 2024 as a bit of a learning curve, a
00:32bit of a chance to get the new sort of ownership structure right and go further, but how do
00:37you sort of review 2024 for West Brom, I mean it's something that you look at going into
00:432025 and you can maybe think there could be some positivity ahead.
00:48I think it's exactly that really, 2024, mopping up previous mistakes, the new ownership coming
00:53in, solidifying things at the bases of the football club, trying to remove the debts
00:57the club was in, not able to spend much money in the transfer window as a result, now in
01:01the next couple of years should be able to up their spending a little bit, it's against
01:04the Premier League would be a massive help financially, that hasn't happened, the disappointment
01:09last year of losing to Southampton in the play-offs, but Albion just weren't quite ready
01:14to make that step, the fact they finished in the top six was a positive step forward,
01:19but they weren't ready to go all the way to the Premier League, even Southampton themselves
01:23winning the play-offs, getting up and they've not been ready to compete just yet, obviously
01:28Russell Martin losing his job recently, rock bottom of the English top tier and it was
01:33like an absolute miracle, one of the best ever escapes for them to escape relegation,
01:38so don't think that'll be happening, that does put things into perspective for West
01:41Brom, maybe they shouldn't be too disappointed that they didn't go up and maybe it wouldn't
01:44have been the right time anyway, kicking on this season there's been a bit of a struggle
01:48at times, so many draws, especially the Hawthorns, I was there recently when they finally put
01:53an end to their draws at home as they beat Frank Lampard's Coventry City, they then go
01:58and lose away at Watford, disappointing, but they're still just outside the play-off positions,
02:03still so long to go this season and I think maybe if they can strengthen a little bit
02:07in January it should be able to help them kick on, but the shoestring budget as you
02:11mentioned is still an issue this season, it's going to be difficult to improve in key areas,
02:16but Carlos Corberán, such a good head coach, such good at getting the best out of the
02:20bad situations, so I expect him to kick on and finish in that top six.
02:24Looking at Bagi's best players across the calendar year, who sort of stands out there
02:29because there has been some big impacts made by Carlos Corberán?
02:34I think Alex Palmer, the goalkeeper, has been so impressive, won the Golden Glove last season
02:39in the Championship, he's already got 10 clean sheets in 21 games so far this season at the
02:44time of recording, which is an incredible achievement, just having that solid base,
02:48having an experiencing goal and the leadership as well is so important, it just gives the
02:53defenders in front of him more confidence and it means you can build from the back and
02:57hopefully push on and get those wins, so Alex Palmer, superb this year.