"Understood...": John Percy drops major WBA managerial update, fans will be seething - opinion

West Bromwich Albion are closing in on a deal to appoint Steve Bruce as the next manager at The Hawthorns.

That’s according to a claim made by John Percy, with The Telegraph journalist revealing in a recent post on Twitter that the West Brom hierarchy have offered the 61-year-old coach an 18-month contract to become Valerien Ismael’s successor at the Championship promotion-hopefuls.

In his tweet, Percy said: “Steve Bruce has held talks with new WBA chief executive Ron Gourlay this evening. 18-month contract understood to be on the table, with a decision expected on Thursday.”

While it is true that Steve Bruce’s record in the Championship is a decent one, having twice won automatic promotion from the second tier, as well as reaching the play-off final with both Hull City and Aston Villa, exactly whether the veteran manager is the exciting, forward-thinking and project-building coach Baggies fans are hoping for is another matter entirely.

Indeed, in a poll we recently ran on Football FanCast, the vast majority of Albion fans made it clear that they felt Bruce would not be a good appointment by the club, something that is most likely down to the brand of football the former Newcastle United head coach installs upon his teams.

During his time in the North East, the former Manchester United centre-back often received criticism for the negative and generally uninspiring football his Magpies side played, something which led to the club bringing in Graeme Jones because he is “a little more tactically aware and up to date” – as Callum Wilson put it.

As such, perhaps it would be a more intelligent move by Gourlay to appoint Jones instead of Bruce, as his former Premier League outfit clearly did not believe that the 61-year-old