'The worst group of players': Ex-West Brom Premier League manager makes big claim over 2015 Albion squad
It is almost eleven years since Tony Pulis arrived at West Brom to rescue the club from potential relegation out of the Premier League.
The former Stoke and Crystal Palace boss had just come off the back of helping the Eagles survive in the top flight - a 28 game stint that earned him the Premier League manager of the season.
In January 2015, Albion called upon Pulis to replace Alan Irvine who had been sacked just months into the season.
It was an underwhelming appointment in the first place - and a summer of poor recruitment had seen Albion slide down the table.
But Pulis came in and incredibly led Albion to a 13th placed finish, well clear of the drop zone.
A 14th placed finish followed - before in his final full season in charge they ended up as high as tenth in the table.
In November 2017 he was axed with Albion struggling - the first of two dismissals the club would make on their way to relegation.
Although Pulis' style of football was not for everyone - he his two full campaigns and that first half a season did see Albion finish in respectable positions in the Premier League.
But despite those finishes, the former Albion boss has insisted the squad he inherited when he arrived was the worst group of players he has ever taken over.
The 67-year-old Welshman, who has now stepped away from management and is working in the media, was speaking as a guest on an episode of That Peter Crouch Podcast, alongside former Wolves manager Mick McCarthy.
The pair currently have their own podcast, 'The Managers', and Pulis compared his Albion squad to a badly dressed man - and how it was the worst group he had ever inherited.
He said: "I go to West Brom and we have no wingers, Brunty (Chris Brunt), Gards (Craig Gardener) and James Morrison.
"We had to play 4-2-2-2, really, really deep, with Berahino and Brown up front.
"We had to play differently. We allowed every team to have the ball and we would not close down until they crossed the halfway line and played the first pass, then we would push out midfielders up and forwards onto their centre halves.
"We had to do it differently, and I enjoyed going into clubs with different strengths and looking at how we could survive.
"West Brom was the worst group of players I have ever taken over, it was shambolic.
"Kempy (Dave Kemp) said it, it was like taking over a fashionwear, where the man is wearing a red pair of shoes, white trousers, a pink shirt, and a green tie.
"How are you supposed to put something together?
"That was me, I enjoyed looking at things and saying what is the strength, lets see if we can add a bit and try and get results."
