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John Wile: Tough time ahead for West Brom

Baggies legend John Wile believes it will be difficult to sort out Albion’s unbalanced and ageing squad this summer.

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John Wile is worried for West Brom (AMA)

The former centre-back, who is third on the club’s all-time appearance list, reckons spiralling transfer fees clouded the judgement of previous board members.

Wile is not concerned by the club’s overdraft, which is likely to be paid back in the summer, because he operated with one when he was chief executive.

But he is concerned by Albion’s ageing squad, which will need a summer facelift.

“During my time at the club we operated with an overdraft,” said Wile. “Back then there were not the huge sums of money you get now at the start of the season.

“When we left, the club was profitable and we had developed the ground.

“We had to make sure we got things right when it came to recruitment.

“When you have many millions to spend, as clubs do now, it can be easy to lose sight of the how much is actually going out.

“I am continually amazed when I hear people say thinks like ‘it was only £20million’ – to a lot of people £2,000 is still a lot of money.

“We are now left in a position where we have an unbalanced and an ageing group of players. It’s not going to be easy to turn things around.

“The team has lost so many games. It is not as if they are just going to be relegated.

“They have lost the habit of winning. They have got to get it back and they have to do so quickly.

“We have seen how tough Villa found the Championship in their first season down.

“We kept on being told how this was the best squad we had for ages. That might have been the case on paper. In practice things have been very different.

“At times they have needed to recruit one or two key players. Instead they have signed four, five or six. It is difficult when you are bringing that many in one go.”

Current chief executive Mark Jenkins is planning a summer reboot with the help of new technical consultant Guiliano Terraneo and Wile wants to see a more obvious plan in place.

“I think there was a plan before, under the previous owner (Jeremy Peace),” said Wile. “The plan was to keep the club solvent and it worked up to a certain point.

“I read Mark Jenkins’s comment about the club needing to offer fans value for money and I would agree with him. It is an entertainment business.

“I went to a game earlier this season, when Tony Pulis was still in charge. Afterwards I was asked my opinion about what I saw.

“I said I was embarrassed by it. Later on I was told the club hierarchy weren’t happy with my comments.

“But two weeks later they sacked Pulis, so maybe they agreed with me in some respects.”