HARTY: On Gus Poyet taking over at The Albion

As I understand it, former boss Russell Slade was never the preferred choice of Tony Bloom and was almost a "dead man walking" from the moment Albion miraculously avoided relegation last season.

When the axe came, the other Saturday evening, after the home draw with Hartlepool, former manager Steve Coppell was the prime target.

After an initial phone call on the Sunday, I understand that Messrs Bloom and Coppell met on the Tuesday '“ with the former Manchester United and England winger not ruling out a return to the south coast.

But as I understand it, one of the main stumbling blocks, and an indication of the current state of our domestic football, was that Coppell was looking at parity with his wage at his last club Reading, which equated to 1 million a year.

Bear in mind that 12 years ago when the Albion had their final season at the Goldstone, the entire club wage bill, from chief executive, manager, players, office staff, to the lady who made the tea, came to about that in total.

All credit to Tony Bloom for holding firm. Don't get me wrong, Steve Coppell is a good manager and I'm sure someone in the very near future in the Championship will meet that figure. But with a plethora of quality applicants, the chairman realised that both parties were never going to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

The following week has been both intriguing and encouraging when looking at the people putting their names in the frame. And, testament to Bloom and his poker prowess, because he kept his cards close to his chest to the point where even on the morning of new manger Gus Poyet's appointment, the local media were still running with about half a dozen candidates.

Never mind my media duties. The appointment of Poyet excites me as an Albion fan.

It almost harps back to the days of Clough and Taylor coming to the club in 1973, although I actually think there is more comparison with Alan Mullery coming to the club in July 1976.

Back then, Mullers had recently retired from professional football after a long and distinguished career. Although untried in management, he had, on the face of it, great pedigree and a lot of promise.

In the long hot summer of 76, Mike Bamber and Harry Bloom, Tony's grand-dad, got their man, and the rest is history with Albion ending up in the top flight less than three years later.

Although with impressive coaching credentials and experience with Spurs as an assistant manager, as a manager Poyet is untried '“ as was Mullery 33 years ago.

But just watching the footage from the press conference, he's got something about him. And, hopefully, with Tony Bloom's backing, when the Albion get to Falmer they will put out a team playing attractive football that will fill the ground week-in, week-out.

And on the subject of filling grounds, with Poyet's first home game being the cup replay against Wycombe Wanderers, I hope the Albion faithful turn out in their numbers to give the new boss the ideal start.

And finally, while channel-hopping earlier in the week, I ended up seeing the legendary Ricky Hatton taking part in a WWE wrestling "bout" against some bloke called Guerrero.

Whatever next, Sir Henry Cooper locking horns with Mick McManus at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall?

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