WELCOME back Gary Megson!
Albion fans all over the world will today be saluting the return of one the Club’s most revered figures following Gary Megson’s appointment as Assistant Head Coach.
Megson was the pick of Tony Pulis after his America-based and long-standing No.2 Dave Kemp decided to stand down.
Megson and Pulis go back to the earliest days of their careers although, apart from a brief spell at Stoke, have not worked in such an alliance before.
But arriving at the training ground today looking fit and fresh as he makes his return to the Baggies and the Premier League stage to which he introduced the Club for the first time in 2002.
“I’m really pleased,” said Gary as he began his ‘hellos’ to new and old staff including one of his most famous recruits, Darren Moore.
“I’ve known Tony a long time and although we’ve never lived in each other’s pockets we have similar views on how football should be played and how footballers should behave.
“He rang me just before I was about to go on holiday and said what he wanted to do. “I have been out of it for a while and you get used to a certain lifestyle. There’s only a few clubs in the country that I would do this for and this is obviously one of them.
“I loved my time here although it’s a long time ago now. You obviously have the club you grow up supporting which you always consider to be your club. But this is as close to that relationship as possible – and I can’t pay it a higher compliment then that. It’s a terrific club with terrific support.
“Tony has been with Dave (Kemp) a long time and it’s a difficult thing, the manager and assistant relationship. But the main aim is to support the manager in whatever way he asks.
“We have similar beliefs about how football should be played and footballers should behave – I don’t think there’s any difference. We both believe in similar things in terms of organisation, in terms of winning games and then getting the best players into the framework to improve and make progress.
“Tony has done these things in the past as his record shows and has continued it here.
“It’s nice to see the club doing so well. The training ground is in the same place where I did my first pre-season - only there was only half a rutted pitch back then! But I think it is only back to where it should have been.
“There is a feeling that the club has only been like this in the last 15 years but it’s been catching up to what it was in its best days.”