Since taking over the reigns of West Bromwich Albion in October 2022, Carlos Corberan has won over the fans in the Black Country, taking the team from Championship mediocrity back to near the top of the table - pushing for a Premier League return.
Following a hard-fought 1-0 win away at Cardiff last night, the Baggies are up to third with their fifth win in their last six. In that run, they have scored 11 goals whilst only conceding three alongside four clean sheets. Corberan has now taken charge of 52 games in the West Midlands and has a win percentage of 50%.
On the 1st November last year, West Brom were second bottom after 18 games with just three wins before Corberan's ideologies started to take shape. From that point, Albion went on to win nine of their next ten games in the league. However, it was not quite enough for a late playoff push come the end of the season as they missed out on the final day following a loss to Swansea as well as other results going against them. But Carlos and his team will hope to rectify that in May.
It is clear that Corberan has what it takes to be a top manager. He was Bielsa's understudy when he was at Leeds, before moving onto Huddersfield. He has also been rumoured several top flight positions during his time at West Brom. But it seems as if Corberan has found his home at The Hawthorns.
To compare this season so far to last, Albion are 15 points better off than they were after 18 games last year in a tough division. Leicester appear to be running away with the league as they search for an instant return to the Premier League. But the teams behind them are bolstered with talent and there are only four playoff places available and two automatic spots for around a dozen decent teams. Some teams will fall off, that is how the season always pans out, but Corberan and his West Brom side will be hoping that they will be up there. And is they carry on the wat they are going, they are certainly hoping to one of the contenders.
West Brom secured an impressive 2-0 home win against Ipswich Saturday, who are second in the table, but they now face Leicester in their next game, followed by fellow playoff hopefuls Sunderland the week after. The next month or so will prove to be a stern test for the Spaniards side, but equally, they will be up for the challenge in order to prove that they are indeed amongst the top dogs in the second division. If Corberan would be the one to engineer West Brom's return to the top division after a three year absence, then it would go down as one of the best managerial turnarounds in recent history.