Sacking and appointments are everyday affair in top soccer leagues around the world, especially in English leagues where a sacked official usually replaces another sacked official. This time, we are talking about Real Betis sacked boss Pepe Mel who has joined in place of another sacked head coach Steve Clarke at West Brom. Terms of the contract are not yet cleared, but tenure of the contract is eighteen months which should be enough for new coach to show his entitlement at The Hawthorns. It has been around one month passed by West Brom sacked its former coach Steve Clarke and they were since looking for a better choice for the top post and eventually found their candy in Mel who has already been linked with them by the media to assume the key responsibility. Though, details of the deal are not clear, close sources say club has agreed and allowed new manager to bring his backroom staff which they refused last month. He was actually not the only one in the preferred list for West Brom as they were also in talk with former Werder Breman coach Thomas Schaaf but things could not develop and they had to pick Mel.
Mel has been a prominent personality in soccer fraternity not for his qualities to lead a team well, but for his occasional shifts to various clubs, in fact, he is among the most nomadic coaches exist today thanks to his association with as many as eleven clubs since he started with Coslada back in 1999. Like everyone else, he lost his Betis job when he failed to live up to their expectations and ended their show residing on the seventh place. This is not new in English soccer where top officials are treated like hangers when they fail to perform well in the field.
Anyways, West Brom seems to be welcoming their new coach whole heartedly. Sporting and technical director Richard Garlick said while announcing their deal with fifty-year-old former Spanish footballer, “I’m delighted to welcome Pepe to the club. His appointment concludes an extensive recruitment process during which we have cast the net far and wide to identify the most suitable candidate to take the Club forward.
“Pepe was a strong contender from the outset due to his impressive achievements and has emerged as our number one candidate. He is a forward-thinking coach whose teams are renowned for playing an attractive and positive style of football.”