Livermore, O'Shea and free transfers as your West Brom questions answered

As we do every week, held a live West Bromwich Albion Q&A over on our dedicated Facebook page on Friday.

There was plenty to digest; we discussed Albion’s decision to appoint Steve Bruce, the defeat at Sheffield United, the sending off and subsequent suspension of captain Jake Livermore, the return to fitness of Dara O’Shea and whether Bruce needs to look at the free agent market to strengthen his hand.

Albion writer Joe Chapman’s thoughts are in full below...

Yes, to a degree. In the summer they had the best of intentions, they decided they’d proceed with a long-term vision. They were sick of the short-termism which had really held the club back.

They went and gave a man, who they thought could lead them in the long-term, who had a very set philosophy, a four-year contract. Regrettably it back-fired.

They’ve had to move him on within seven months. With Bruce, as Ron Gourlay said, he was the immediate man he thought of. He’s someone who has been promoted from this division four times, most recently in 2016 with Hull.

The track record and pedigree at this level certainly can’t be questioned. He has signed an 18-month contract, but I believe there’s the option for all parties to assess the situation again in the summer.

It’s back to square one a little, in terms of having a long-term plan in place. Albion probably needed in the summer a short-term fix, to get them back up in the way Bilic did in his first season.

They’ve had a consistency in the Championship over the last 20 years, when they’ve not been in the Premier League - of finishing in the top six and they’ve never taken more than a couple of years to get back up.

This feels like as precarious a situation for the club as they’ve had for 20 years.

They’ve a big big