West Brom boss Steve Bruce has come in for criticism after suggesting pre-season counts for very little despite the Baggies coming off the back of their worst league finish in more than 20 years.
Veteran boss Bruce took up the reins at Albion last February, after Valerien Ismael was axed. But after taking over a side sitting fifth in the Championship, the 61-year-old was unable to steer them to the play-offs.
Their final placing of 10th represents Albion's lowest finish since way back in the 1999-2000 campaign. Albion begin the new season away at Middlesbrough on July 30 and so have just over a fortnight to prepare for that tough-looking clash.
Now, after a shock 2-0 loss to League Two side Stevenage in their latest warm-up match, Bruce has risked the wrath of Baggies' fans by insisting the summer schedule is largely inconsequential.
Speaking post-match after watching a full-strength team beaten by Steve Evans' side, Bruce said: "Pre-season doesn’t really matter.
"We’ve worked really hard recently and there were a few tired bodies out there today, but that’s minutes in the tank for a lot of players. We are trying to get minutes into people who haven’t played for a long time, Kenneth Zohore, Daryl Dike and Cedric Kipre. Everyone is OK; only Grady (Diangana) is a bit sore. We’re two weeks in, three weeks to go. That’s the key to it, trying to get minutes into them. It’ll be the same Wednesday. And then we’ll start looking at picking a team for Middlesbrough."
But Bruce's comment did not go well with sections of the Baggies' fanbase, and he knows he will be under pressure to deliver promotion at a club that expects to be challenging every year it is in the second tier. Towards the end of last season he demanded that players live nearby the club's training ground or risk being sold or left out - despite insisting he would carry on commuting in from his Cheshire base.
Jed Wallace and John Swift have both arrived on free transfers from Millwall and Reading respectively and with 25 assists combined in the Championship last year, they should prove canny signings.
"I think we’ve tried to instil into them that we’re not going to accept that being 10th is adequate," Bruce added. "We know what the demands are of the club, there’s a determination amongst them, and hopefully we’ll see that at the start of the season.
“Everybody wants to get off to a good start. It’s a marathon in front of us, and then a break. But the amount of games we’re playing in August and September is huge – so it’s really important that we hit the ground running. That’s why we’re putting them through their paces and getting them ready for it."
Bruce, a four-time promotion winner to the top flight, sprang a surprise by taking up the Albion post especially considering his comments over how a tough time at previous club Newcastle meant it was likely to be his final job in football.
