Emotions are high for West Brom boss on eve of return

The Baggies boss spent five years at his previous home in Leeds, where he met wife Claudia, who was working as an interpreter nearby, and they had first child Marcos.

The head coach, who is 41 next month, didn’t have to move home when he switched Elland Road for the John Smith’s Stadium. But he admits the decision to leave Huddersfield in July 2022 – because he and the club “were not aligned” – was a wrench.

He has since experienced the pitfalls of managing a European heavyweight swashing with expectation in Olympiacos and found a new home in Birmingham, where the couple have welcomed a second son and Corberan feels like “magic”.

Tomorrow, the Spaniard returns to relegation-battling Huddersfield Town for the first time since his departure, which was met by some discontent among Terriers fans. He managed 102 games there – a feat Corberan cherishes (he is on 72 at Albion) – and took a low-budget, unfancied outfit to third and the play-off final, a hair’s breadth to the Premier League. It was quite the ride...and then he left.

“It was 102 games – because the day I finished I put a t-shirt with the number of games you have made in the club, I like to have this,” Corberan told the Express & Star.

“Then hopefully I achieve more games here, that will be a positive thing too!

“When you have been defending a club for 102 games is time for a lot of memories and a lot of learning to be the coach I am right now and for every experience I try to be better.”

He added: “Yes, in terms of (looking forward) to the game, this stadium brings back a lot of memories – the stadium and the people working for the stadium, I have an exceptional relationship with some of the people working in the stadium.

“To come back to one place where you were working for two years is always special, but I am looking forward more to play a game, which is what I like.”

Maybe, in the eyes of Huddersfield fans, there has already been a sort of revenge on Corberan after Terriers midfielder Jack Rudoni scored a stoppage-time winner at The Hawthorns in September.

Corberan recalled summer 2020, when he was with Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds: “First of all when I arrived to Huddersfield, in the interview before, I remember the chairman was Phil and asked “Carlos do you want to live in this project now or wait one year more? Because the first season is going to be tough.

“I said that to be tough or not tough is not important, it was if he was convinced or not if I was the right person. If I was the right one then the faster the better to start the club’s future.

“I remember we arrived to the January market in 12th (Huddersfield went on to win three more games and finished 20th) but I knew that after it would be a challenge, we had some injuries that we couldn’t replace and lost some players we financially had to lose to survive.

“After we started to lose some games and I understood the words of the chairman in my first meeting very well in that moment!

“In time we learn, I like to always learn, everything that didn’t work how we wanted, I make responsible for this because only when you make responsibilities you can make the change and improve.

“In the second year I think we were one of the lowest Championship budgets and we tried to learn from everything and we achieved third in the table and the play-off final – it is an achievement that when you take some time you value more.”

The following 2021/22 campaign was magical for Huddersfield but ended in Wembley heartbreak.

It took Corberan a few weeks after confirming his decision to quit the John Smith’s Stadium in July 2022 to receive contact from Greece.

“When you decide to leave you never know what is going to happen, I left the job without knowing if I’d have a quick next job or not, whether it would be in my country, in England, or where,” he explained.

“Of course no (didn’t know Olympiacos) I just decided I didn’t feel aligned as much, I don’t know if it was three or four weeks later, until Olympiacos contact me. It was difficult because being without football is difficult to me.

“Working as a manager is difficult. Being a manager in the Championship...it was a lot. To stop a contract of two years more without watching what the future would be for you...now I am calm, because I had the experience of Olympiacos and after I came to West Bromwich Albion. But in that moment I didn’t know anything.

“You never know if the people always value something as third in the league as enough to have you work again, you don’t know anything.

“But what I felt in this moment was that the best thing for Huddersfield was to start a new era with someone aligned with the project and the best thing for Carlos Corberan was to be aligned with another project. It was not enough to go again for a third season in a row.

“I left players that I loved that were giving a lot of things to achieve. It was a team achievement, the players, staff, board and coach, so it was a hard decision to make.”

Leeds was the Corberans’ English home but it is now very much Birmingham.

The couple still have “family” – close friends – they visit up north, but the family are very much settled at the club the head coach sees his long-term future.

He smiled: “The Leeds home was bigger than the one in Birmingham! Even though now we have more people!

“It’s been different. England is a country that keeps some of the same habits and values, of course, and some characteristics. Sunday roast is here in the north and the south!

“But every city is different too and every club, accents too! But I feel well and very happy here, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy in other places because Leeds as a city has impacted my life because I met my life and had my first son, Birmingham the same because I had my second son. Leeds was my first club in England and Huddersfield my first as a manager in the Championship.

“And West Bromwich is like a dream that I would like to extend.”

The chances are there could be some disgruntlement among the stands when he makes a return tomorrow, but the head coach doesn’t expect a reception one way or the other. At the end of the day, he was grateful for the chapter in his career and life and opportunity to grow.

“I don’t expect anything,” he said. “Being honest I don’t know. I know I respect them a lot and I gave my best in my time there. If I didn’t keep working it was because I was thinking I couldn’t give my best.

“Some people understand my decision, some people not, this is life, not everybody needs to be aligned with what you make or do in life. In these 102 games I tried to give my best every single day.”

The Baggies boss added: “I try to improve! I try to use every experience to improve, I hope so. I hope I am a better coach than in that moment – I like to grow not to shrink or decrease my level. I always try to use those 102 games, plus Olympiacos games plus all those West Bromwich Albion games to make better decisions and improve my quality as a coach.”