By admin 
When I admit Slaven Bilic from the waiting area into the Zoom chat for our exclusive interview, his bright smile welcomes me. Since agreeing to split from Al-Fateh in August, the Croat has not been employed. He has just completed the school run for another morning and is back in the comfortable surroundings of his hometown of Split after leaving Saudi Arabia for the second time.
Bilic, 56, has a lot of travel experience. He has traveled to China and Saudi Arabia. He has played football in England for a significant amount of his career, both as a manager and as a defender. He will always have a special place in his heart for West Bromwich Albion, even if he is predominantly associated with West Ham United.
In the summer of 2019, Albion, then led by interim manager Jimmy Shan, is still recovering from their defeat at the hands of Aston Villa in the play-offs. Long before the decisive penalty kick in the shootout, which put a terrible end to the Baggies’ first effort to return to the Premier League, things had started to move. Soon after, Bilic was revealed and given the responsibility of raising the club off the ground. We start at the top.
He muses, “We’d lost goals,” In addition to Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle, there is also Harvey Barnes. Holgate left. Though occasionally it doesn’t work out, we had a plan. It clicked for us right away. We were given Sawyers. Semi Ajayi was the speedy center back we needed. Darnell Furlong and other dependable players were what we needed. We required objectives. Pereira was acquired. We thought he was a great player, and I saw him in Germany. Diangana arrived. Charlie Austin promises to score.
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“After Burnley defeated Jay, Dawson departed. Hegazi was hurt. You could say, “Oh my god, this is going to be hard,” but we had Jake Livermore, Kyle Bartley, and Sam Johnstone, who were the most crucial players on the field. Behind him were Gibbo, Hal Robson, Matt Phillips, and Conor [Townsend]. Then there were the great pros, Chris Brunt and Gareth Barry. The Championship needs men. It clicked right instantly.
A fresh appearance During the opening part of the campaign, Albion was frequently electric under Bilic. From this reporter’s perspective, they were a pleasure to cover because of the football on display, the manner they walked to victory, their enviable spine, and the forward line’s remarkable blend of solidity and flair. Speaking with Bilic, who was vibrant, endearing, and perceptive, once a week was also a pleasure.
Leeds and Albion nearly supported one another during that season. They both set an incredible pace in the play-offs earlier that year. Having mercilessly destroyed Swansea and pulled off an incredible comeback against Birmingham City, Albion had 50 points and were leading the league by Christmas. The image of Bilic and Marcelo Bielsa holding hands following a draw on New Year’s Day 2020 is still occasionally shared.
Everything changed after a nearly flawless February in which Bilic won manager of the month after returning 16 points out of a possible 18. Football was stopped in its tracks by the pandemic. Players tried to maintain their fitness for weeks, unsure of whether or not they would return and in what capacity. Could that be the end of the Championship? Bilic acknowledges that psychological uncertainties infiltrated the Albion realm.
“It’s easy to say now that, if not for Covid, we’d have gone straight up, ten points clear,” Bilic explains. “Life is unpredictable; nobody can predict what might have occurred. I’ve given it a lot of thought. Even so, I didn’t enjoy that we began training in groups of four and then extended to include more people during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, when we weren’t able to see one another for several weeks. You were paying close attention to the news at the time, and people inquired what would happen.
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Did we intend to go on that season? Or will we be promoted once it’s finished? When the players arrived in their group i recall that most of them told me, “Boss, it would be best for the season to end.” “Of course it would be,” I say, but I also wondered why they were asking me that. What took place? Pressure. You’re on a wave while playing, so you don’t have time to ponder.
“You don’t have time to rejoice since you’re playing a game every three days. Like a surfer, you are riding a wave. You’re soaring, and then—I can’t recall how long it was—three, four, five, or six weeks later, but the players had time to reflect. And then you think, ‘f****** hell’, nine games times three, 27 points—s***, we still have work to do! You begin to have doubts. That’s what occurred.
“They didn’t have to, yet Brentford won seven games. The other thing is that they didn’t play the two games that they were required to. The pressure is there. It was far worse for us. They played almost all of their games before us. ‘They’re not Man City, and they won’t win seven out of seven,’ you think. After that, everyone said, “Oh my God, they won again!” I give the guys more credit for their work the longer it has been done.
“You cannot participate in another preseason. Even whether it would resume was unknown to us. Your motivation isn’t that crazy. The question, “Why are we training?” occasionally crosses your mind. The papers occasionally stated that it wouldn’t restart. The players are beyond your control. They may believe, “I can relax, I can gain a few pounds, it won’t restart!” It was really peculiar.
Albion did get themselves over the edge in Project Restart, though not in a very convincing way. The difficulties truly started to arise for Bilic at that point. He and Luke Dowling had been able to acquire players who could assist the team go up from the Championship, but Guochuan Lai lacked the substantial resources necessary to stay there.
“It’s not all about money, but you need the players,” Bilic stated. It’s the most significant step. Football isn’t arithmetic; it doesn’t ensure you’ll win the league or stay up, but if you don’t invest, you’ll lose until something extraordinary occurs. I had hoped that some of the guys would have adapted more quickly. The quality is one thing. They realize they have to keep the quality high, which is why they give you the money to spend.
“We didn’t. Because of COVID, you don’t see the proprietor, who had some problems with his previous business. Ken [Xu Ke] was attempting to help you. He had never played football before. Luke had been there the year before he brought me, so he had experience. He’s got contacts. He is aware of the team’s requirements. However, the keys are not in his hands. You must have money.
“You didn’t make the team better, but the owner might have assumed we invested because we acquired Grady Diangana. We used it to permanently sign players who were already there. That’s one problem. The quality could not be added. Additionally, we had very few players with Premier League experience, so it was experience. I was hoping we could switch more quickly. I believed they were capable of playing there.
The fans aren’t on your side either. Almost everything can be explained by a single game, the first one versus Leicester. In the first half, we were dominating, but as soon as Leicester got their first opportunity, it was clear that they were superior to us. It’s simple to say now, but after those initial games, we got better.
They were like, ‘well, I don’t know,’ in the dressing room even when we were ahead 3-0 at halftime against Chelsea. “Today, they are only wearing Chelsea jerseys,” I told them. We’re superior to them; they’re bad! Although it’s simple to say that we would have remained in the Premier League after five years, we were becoming better; we simply didn’t make any investments. We had a list and a plan. Regretfully, they stated, the proprietor requires the funds for his other enterprise.
Only Karlan Grant felt like a “new” addition, even though Albion was able to complete permanent contracts with Diangana, Callum Robinson, and Matheus Pereira. Filip Krovinovic also returned on loan for another year. Chelsea loaned Conor Gallagher, and veteran Branislav Ivanovic signed a free agent contract. Albion waited three years to reap the advantages of Cedric Kipre’s affordable contract. Bilic acknowledges that if given another chance, Albion might have handled things differently.
“The ideal scenario is keeping your own players and then to add,” he stated. “You performed well, had a great season, and are growing close to those players. You are in the Premier League for these reasons. We didn’t know back then, but I would definitely sacrifice one of my “lieblings” to complete the task.
You’re constantly hoping and dreaming [that further additions might arrive] because the transfer window doesn’t close until the season, but it’s possible that those in charge don’t know all the details. Since trust is the foundation of any relationship, I firmly believe that Luke was also informed that the money will be forthcoming. Sadly, they didn’t, and it was too late to make that move in the end.
“Telling the player who got you promoted, ‘Listen, kid, you’re not joining the voyage,’ was too late. It’s part of the job, but it’s not easy. In certain roles, we were either too thin or simply not good enough.
Albion did look past Grant to the Championship. It was determined that the Baggies could proceed wisely by bringing in players from the division they had recently won. The ownership and the lack of any further financing beyond what Albion had earned by securing promotion in the first place were the issues, as they had been in many parts of the club for nearly eight years.
After defeating Brentford to earn automatic promotion, Albion looked into signing QPR star Eberechi Eze, Said Benrahma, and Ollie Watkins, the latter of whom would later sign with Aston Villa that summer. By other means, all three reached the top level. But in the end, Albion found those moves to be ineffective.
“We targeted Benrahma from Brentford,” is what Bilic affirms. “It was Brentford native Watkins. QPR’s Eze. They might spend money on West Ham, Aston Villa, and Spurs. It was different for us. We desired the return of a center that had an impact. Ivanovic was ultimately a fantastic leader and man, but he was suffering from injuries. Instead of stars, we had to rely on international players. Although there was no evidence, we may turn to Championship players because they are talented in the Premier League.
“They were reasonably priced. If not, we had little chance of competing with the rest. We ought to have a budget for them. The Premier League is where you’re heading. The reasons behind my frustration and p***** off. If I had requested a player from Espanyol, Bayer Leverkusen, or Roma, I could understand. There would be a certain amount of risk because we requested players from the Championship.
“You don’t have to go beyond budget when I say spend. Not in the Premier League, anyway. It doesn’t have to be a brand-new squad; you can obtain good players—two or three more are needed. Brentford was at St George’s Park for our preseason. I kept getting players saying, “Boss, we need players.” “Talk to Watkins, talk to that one,” they were saying.
“It was useless! Although they were conversing in the dressing room, I appreciated their candor. They were acknowledging their inadequacy if we needed players by doing that. You have to invest or learn from the season if you want to change that. It wasn’t as clear as the sky at Split; instead, it was sunny and you could see islands as you took off. It was more analogous to taking off in Birmingham, where the weather is erratic and overcast.