Former West Brom boss Valerien Ismael takes aim at Guochuan Lai

Ismael took over at The Hawthorns following relegation from the Premier League in 2021 - and helped Albion go unbeaten in their first ten games.

However, after a rotten run of results Ismael was sacked in February 2022 after the club had slipped to the edge of the play-offs.

Following a spell at Besiktas, the Frenchman has taken over at Watford - and he spoke about his time at Albion and relationship with the owners during an interview with the Watford Observer.

He discussed how members of the Watford hierarchy having an office at the training ground is the opposite to West Brom - and a lack of communication with the owners made his short spell difficult.

He said: "I think it’s good. I have no issue with it. I know this way from Germany.

"I think it is actually an advantage, and I’ll tell you why: at least everyone can feel the intensity of training, the way we train, the work we put in on a daily basis and they can have an understanding of what we do quickly.

“As well as that, we can also have a chat very easily. We don’t have to wait two or three weeks or even months to meet each other. That gap is too big.

“It’s always an action situation when we can chat with each other at any time, and talk about training, transfers, the club in general, other things we need.

“I see the owner being here at the training ground as a big advantage.”

"Yes it was the opposite at West Brom and I was not happy. It was difficult to have that communication.

“You need to communicate and have that understanding between everyone, and if someone has a question then you can get an answer straight away.

"If I have a question, I would like an answer straight away and not wait.

“I had a good experience at Besiktas as we had the same situation as we have here, and I can only speak positively about this set-up. It is good for the manager.”