"Fast pace" - West Brom: Tomasz Kuszczak on replacing Carlos Corberan with Raphael Wicky hire close | OneFootball

The former Albion keeper has been speaking about developments at The Hawthorns

Former West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak has issued his verdict regarding managerial developments at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies and former boss Carlos Corberan parted ways on Christmas Eve, with the Spanish boss opting to move to his hometown club, Valencia, with the short-term aim of maintaining the La Liga giants' top-flight status amid financial issues.

Corberan gained the tag of being one of the most tactically astute head coaches in the Championship, with the former Huddersfield Town boss winning 45 of his 98 league matches in charge of the West Midlands outfit, taking the side from a relegation battle to established play-off contenders, whilst also overseeing Shilen Patel's takeover from Guochuan Lai last February.

Since his departure, Chris Brunt, Boaz Myhill and Damia Abella have taken interim charge whilst enduring mixed fortunes in terms of results, as a rotated side were defeated 5-1 by AFC Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, despite holding the final play-off place in the second tier with a return of 40 points from 26 games.

Since Corberan's exit following a 2-0 victory over Bristol City on December 22nd, West Brom had been linked with a variety of replacements, such as Lee Carsley, John Eustace and Erik ten Hag's former assistant at Manchester United, Rene Hake.

However, after it was initially reported that Hake had 'verbally accepted' a deal to replace Corberan, John Percy of the Telegraph broke the news on Friday that Wicky had held 'detailed discussions' with the hierarchy in B71 and since emerged as the candidate likely to take the reins.

With that in mind, Kuszczak has reflected on the foundations laid by Corberan with a squad full of second tier experience, before also stating that whilst there is a risk when it comes to appointing a head coach with no experience of the division, it could bring rewards if momentum is gathered imminently.

“It’s a big blow for sure. Carlos was doing a great job at West Brom with tight budgets and delivering a team challenging for the play-offs," the man who made 35 appearances for the club told Football League World via 888sport.com.

“You can tell he is a good coach by the way he conducts himself and the team were playing. It’s a tough league and he was enabling the team to be compact and play good flowing football," Kuszczak explained.

“The team were difficult to beat, consistent and always in the mix in the top part of the table.”

He added: “It’s a tough one (in terms of a replacement) as you want someone with good experience at this level who has got a team promoted in the past.

“With the fast pace of the Championship and many games, it’s not an easy task, but one with great rewards if you can get the team promoted.”

West Bromwich Albion will be hoping Raphael Wicky decision pays off in the promotion race

Following Corberan's return to Spain, Albion have won one, drawn two and lost one of their subsequent five games, meaning that the task for the Swiss boss expected to move to B71 is to provide consistency.

That is one aspect which Albion have lacked in the season thus far, drawing half of their league outings with a tally of 13.

Many would also argue that whilst there is a core of Championship experience throughout the spine of the team, such as Alex Palmer, Kyle Bartley, Alex Mowatt and Josh Maja, who has netted 12 goals so far this season, Corberan got the maximum performance levels out of those at his disposal, which could be a hard task for his successor to replicate.

However, Wicky has a win percentage of over 52% from the 321 games he has taken charge of with the aforementioned Swiss Super League outfits, winning the title with Young Boys in 2022/23, although a spell with Chicago Fire inbetween didn't exactly go according to plan.

But, like Corberan, there is clear potential for Wicky to grow his managerial stature with the club that are hoping to end their four-year Premier League exile at the end of the season, although that could prove a difficult task straight away, given the congested nature of the table.