West Brom v Stoke: Carlos Corberan blames Championship sackings on big summer spending

Albion are set to face their third rival in a week to have made a change at the top, with tomorrow lunchtime’s visitors Stoke City without a boss having axed Alex Neil.

The Baggies have had mixed joy over the last seven days, first tasting defeat at Sunderland last weekend after the hosts sacked Tony Mowbray before beating managerless Rotherham on Tuesday night.

The Potters have a poor start to the Championship campaign having backed boss Neil with recruitment in his first summer at the helm. They enter the weekend’s action 19th and just two points above the drop zone. Ten of the division’s 24 clubs have changed their manager already this season, that’s 42 per cent of the league, 43 per cent of the way through the campaign.

Corberan believes the increase in change this term is down to clubs spending freely over the summer – something the Spaniard has been unable to do in his two transfer windows at The Hawthorns.

“This year the Championship is different,” Corberan said. “Why? Because there are teams that have put in a lot of money – they have been proactive in the summer.

“If you invest in your team you invest in result, you don’t invest not to get results, there have been teams that have invested a lot – one example of this is Stoke City.

“Stoke is one of the more proactive teams, you see they paid around four million for a midfielder, in a striker three millions, in a Korean player 1.5million, they have been very proactive signing players this summer. The full-back from Sunderland, the centre-back from Coventry, the other one was in Burnley last year, they have been very proactive. When you invest a lot you want a lot of results.

“This has been a massive difference, usually the team relegated invest a lot because they have a lot of possibilities. Sometimes new owners arrive and the new clubs promoted have a lot of ambition to do something. That’s why I say this is a very special Championship season.”

Neil, who had been in charge at Bet365 Stadium since August 2022, reportedly spent in excess of £10million on a raft of new talent, some from overseas, in an ambitious summer spend. They failed in a late move for Baggies striker Brandon Thomas-Asante, as Albion turned down £2.5m-£3m bids.

Dutch defensive midfielder Wouter Burger checked in from FC Basel for £4m, Moroccan striker Ryan Mmaee arrived from Ferencvaros in Hungary for £3m. Fellow attackers Joon-ho Bae, Mehdi Leris and Andre Vidigal were all signed for fees.

Stoke are to set to travel to The Hawthorns under the caretaker stewardship of Paul Gallagher, who oversaw a 1-1 draw with Swansea on Tuesday. Corberan added: “The clearer reference for the game is the one they have played with him (Gallagher), but like I always say it’s about knowing the level of the squad they have, more than coach’s ideas.

“You need to work with a little bit of skill to adapt to the game during the game. The fact you can predict things doesn’t mean much, for me there are always details you will manage in the game, that is the work we do in the week, depending on the type of game, you need to have the possibility to manage it.”