Blog: Pepe Mel at a Crossroads with West Brom

Head Coach Pepe Mel has been unable to arrest a slump in form at Home and Away and Albion have certainly reached a Crossroads in the season. With rumour rife that he may be asked to Take the High Road, El Dorado man Mel will be keen to ensure his reign lasts longer than the doomed Mediterranean TV series and in doing so, avoid becoming the latest Hawthorns managerial Casualty.

Chairman Jeremy Peace has built a credible reputation over the course of his near 12-year tenure, a reputation for being a shrewd, decisive, calculated and, above all, successful leader. Albion have enjoyed significant cosmetic enhancement on-and-off the field during that time, an enhancement that even a Hollyoaks make-up artist would struggle to replicate, yet even Peace's most ardent supporter would struggle to defend some of the decision-making that's taken place over the course of this season.

If we're to believe what's written, recent departee Dave McDonough's contribution to the club over the past nine months was to recommend a number of failed signings against the advice of a department that had been the bedrock for much of Albion's success in recent seasons, generally undermine Richard Garlick, translate for the new manager and offer impromptu and unwelcome team-talks much to the annoyance of the players.

All this, of course, begs the question what was his brief to begin with? His role title, Director of Technical Performance and Scouting, even sounds like Richard Garlick's - Sporting and Technical Director. Was there a clear, unambiguous distinction between the two?

It's obviously difficult for any of us to answer that question, but given the unscheduled timing of McDonough's departure, you would be inclined to assume that his presence behind the scenes had become a hindrance rather than a help.

My understanding of the 'Ashworth' department (now Garlick department, a supporting function for the Football Department for those wondering) is that it's broadly designed to encourage continuity throughout a turnover of head coaches through the acquisition of playing and management staff that fit a certain style or model.

That obviously begs the question, why have we employed a head coach whose footballing philosophies seem to be almost the antithesis of his predecessor? It would seemingly defeat the object of operating under such a structure, and the millions of pounds of expenditure that go towards enforcing that structure to begin with.

For all the aforementioned indiscretions, Peace isn't a complete fool and will undoubtedly realize some of the glaring errors he has overseen since last summer, but where do Albion go now?

There's a suggestion that Peace's index finger will be firmly wrapped around the trigger of a firearm this Saturday afternoon down in South Wales, a suggestion born partly out of Albion refusal to publicly back their man through a backdrop of uncertainty. Is that fair? No, absolutely not. Will a change give Albion the best chance of survival? I'm not sure any Albion fan knows the answer to that.

Pepe Mel has quickly become the innocent victim in all of the chaos that's surrounding him. He's been thrust into a club where many of the players are accustomed to playing a different way to the one he is familiar with and has achieved success with before. He's conducted himself with dignity and, if reports are to believed, endeared himself on a personal level to the playing staff.

Many of Albion's deficiencies he is unable to address - you somehow doubt that Jose Mourinho would be engineer goals out of this Albion side - so what would sacking Mel achieve?

For my money, there are no obvious fire-fighters available to come to Albion's rescue. That we're even discussing it seems ludicrous.

There's also the argument that whilst senior players have reportedly expressed concern at the playing style Mel is trying to introduce, they seem to like him as a man. We've already sacked one manager this season who arguably hadn't lost the dressing room, we'll never know if that was the right decision, but you'd have to speculate that we wouldn't be embroiled in such a state of panic and unrest had we not taken that decision.

It's also difficult to arrive at any other conclusion than if head coaches who haven't lost the dressing room aren't achieving results, then the problem must run far deeper than the head coach.

At the moment there are a thousand questions and significantly less solutions, but we are where we are. Albion now face a run of four matches that will most probably define the short to medium term future of the club and many of it's employees - Swansea, Hull, Cardiff and Norwich.

You can't help feel that without a trusted lieutenant in the boardroom, Mel is a dead man walking, an unlikely sequence of victories seems to be the only route down which he might be offered the opportunity to build his own Albion Dynasty - yes, that pun was intentional too.

In recent weeks and months, we've probably all despaired at the goings on in our favourite soap opera, we've probably all had a quick look in the pantry to see if Goran Popov's hiding in there or whether he has genuinely been written out of the story line.

But this really is crunch time, any less than five or six points from the next four games and Albion are truly staring down the barrel of a gun, whether it's the one Jeremy Peace is holding, only time will tell.

The who-done-it inquest could go on for months, but it won't change anything. This isn't a time for finger-pointing or a shouting match in the Queen Vic, it's a time for the club to pull together and get out of this mess we've got ourselves into.

There are 2,000 Albion supporters heading down to Swansea at the weekend, let's get behind the players and head coach and try and make sure that this season's soap opera comes with a happy ending.

Come on you Baggies!!