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Pepe Mel appointed as West Brom head coach

By on January 9, 2014

West Bromwich Albion’s extensive search for a successor to Steve Clarke, who was sacked a little under a month ago, has finally come to a close as Pepe Mel has been brought in as head coach on an 18-month deal.  Although Mel was initially set to take over at The Hawthorns immediately after Clarke’s sacking the deal fell through the holes due to a failure to agree personal terms and West Brom’s attempt to keep their backroom staff in caretaker manager Keith Downing and goalkeeper coach Dean Kiely.

Yet a deal has been agreed upon for Mel to take over as head coach while Downing, who was in charge of West Brom for five matches as caretaker manager, and Kiely remain at their posts.  Downing is set to be in charge of The Baggies for their trip to Southampton on Saturday as Mel watches from the stands, with Mel’s first match in charge to be West Brom’s Premier League encounter with Everton on the twentieth.

Mel will take over a West Brom side struggling at the wrong end of the premier league, but has already had a considerable amount of experience leading a side from the relegation zone to a midtable position after managing Tenerife, Getafe, Alaves, Rayo Vallecano, and most notable Real Betis, which he lead from eighteenth in La Liga to seventh.

Richard Garlick, Albion’s sporting and technical director, said he was delighted to welcome the experience and leadership Mel brings to the club.  “I’m delighted to welcome Pepe to the club,” Garlick said. “His appointment concludes an extensive recruitment process during which we have cast the net far and wide to identify the most suitable candidate to take the club forward. Pepe was a strong contender from the outset due to his impressive achievements and has emerged as our number one candidate. He is a forward-thinking coach whose teams are renowned for playing an attractive and positive style of football.”

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.